Ordered as a follow-on to the NA-57 as a two-seat advanced trainer, the NA-64 P-2/NAA-64 P-2 represented a major structural improvement, with a longer all-metal fuselage replacing the fabric covered fuselage of the NA-57. As well as metal skin replacing the fabric on the fuselage, the fin was changed from having a corrugated skin to being a smooth stressed skin structure and was moved slightly aft, lengthening the rear fuselage while the engine was moved forward to maintain the center of gravity. The rudder was also changed from the rounded shape used previously to one with a roughly triangular shape with the broadest part being at the bottom to improve handling at high angles of attack. In one respect however, it was a step backwards from its immediate predecessor, the BT-14, with which it is often confused, in that the earlier straight wings were used with the result that in RCAF service, when compared to the later and more powerful Harvard II it was flown alongside, it had different handling characteristics and lower performance.[3]
French Air Force NAA-64 in service after World War 2, in French controlled Morocco with a replacement rudder.
The NA-64 P-2 was built for the French Armée de l'Air and Aéronavale in 1939–1940, which ordered 200 and 30 respectively. Of these, 111 had been delivered before France surrendered to the Germans after the Battle of France.[2] In France, the NA-64, like the NA-57 before it, was known as the North,[4] and was designated as NAA-64 P-2 (abbreviated from North American Aviation modèle 64 perfectionnement, 2 places (North American Aviation model 64 advanced trainer, 2 seats)[4]) but were sometimes attached to reconnaissance units. A small number escaped the Germans to be used by the Vichy French Air Force. Two examples in North Africa survived into the postwar years, having been operated alongside NA-57s, the last only being retired in 1949.
RCAF Yale shortly after being taken on strength as an intermediate trainer, at Camp Borden.
The remaining 119 undelivered aircraft were bought up by the British Purchasing Commission and transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan between August and September 1940,[2] and all were operational by November[5] The type was named the Yale Mk.I[note 1] following British naming practice of naming trainers after education institutions and US-supplied aircraft after American locations, in this case, Yale University, and were used initially as intermediate pilot trainers taking pilots from the de Havilland Tiger Moth and Fleet Finch to the much faster and more complex North American Harvard,[4] until this category was dispensed with as being unnecessary. They were then relegated for use as airborne wireless radio trainers, along with the contemporary Fleet Fort intermediate trainer in 1943.[6][7] Prior to service entry, the throttle and engine mixture controls were modified from the system used by the French whereby the throttle was pulled back to increase power, and the mixture control pulled back to lean out the mixture, to the system used on the Harvard.[5] The Yale appeared in the movie Captains of the Clouds. The RCAF sold all surviving examples off as scrap in 1946 but over 30 survive today as a result of a large number of them being bought surplus by a single farmer, with about 15 currently in airworthy condition.
The NAA-64s captured from the French were used by the German Luftwaffe for all types of flight training, from basic flying to advanced fighter tactics. Dive bomber schools and target tug units and even combat squadrons all used the NAA-64, as they were designated by the Luftwaffe, from the tail markings of the French examples. At least one was used by the Zirkus Rosarius to familiarize German aircrew with the handling of American aircraft before they evaluated captured aircraft.[5]
The first North American NAA-64 P-2 NX13397 before delivery. Due to the fall of France, this aircraft was instead delivered to Canada as a Yale Mk.I, and still exists.
North American NAA-64 in its shipping crate for delivery to France. Most of those that made it to France had not even been unpacked when the Germans overran northern France.
Ex-RCAF North American NA-64 Yale painted to represent a USAAC BT-14, in a diorama at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio
There are many surviving NA-64 Yales today because of Ernie Simmons, a farmer from near Tillsonburg, Ontario. Simmons bought 39 Yales in 1946,[25] along with seven Fairey Swordfish and a Westland Lysander[26] and kept them on his farm until he died in 1970.[27][28] Most were auctioned the same year, and many have been restored by museums and warbird enthusiasts. Most surviving Yales are from the Simmons collection, but there are at least six surviving Yales that came from Western Canada. Three Yales have been subsequently lost, a major hangar fire took the Musée de l'air et de l'espace's NA-64 3415/64-2224, and 3454/64-2165 & 3395/64-2159[29] were destroyed as the result of flying accidents. Several Yales have been painted or partially modified as BT-14s.
Additionally, over a dozen are privately owned in Canada, the US, and Europe or are not accessible, and additional airframes may be held by some museums as a source of spares.[citation needed]
Fletcher, David C; MacPhail, Doug (1990). Harvard! the North American Trainers in Canada. San Josef BC/Dundee ON: DCF Flying Books. ISBN0-9693825-0-2.
Fletcher, David (1995). "North American Yale". Random Thoughts. 17 (2). International Plastic Modellers Society of Canada: 31.
Griffin, John A. (1969). Canadian Military Aircraft Serials & Photographs 1920 – 1968. Publication No. 69-2. Ottawa: Queen's Printer.
Hagedorn, Dan (1997). North American NA-16/AT-6/SNJ (WarbirdTech Volume 11). North Branch, MN: Speciality Press. ISBN0-933424-76-0.
Kostenuk, S.; Griffin, J. (1977). RCAF Squadron Histories and Aircraft: 1924–1968. Toronto, ON: Samuel Stevens, Hakkert & Co. ISBN978-0888665775.
Milberry, Larry; Halliday, Hugh A. (1990). The Royal Canadian Air Force at War, 1939–1945. Toronto, ON: CANAV Books. ISBN978-0921022046.
North American Aviation (1940). Manuel de Pilotage de l'Avion NA-64 P-2 (Avion de Perfectionnement). Rapport No 1552. Inglewood, CA: North American Aviation.
Skaarup, Harold A. (2000). Canadian Warbird and War Prize Survivors, Updated Edition. Lincoln, NE: Writers Club Press. ISBN978-0595122165.
Smith, Peter Charles (2000). North American T-6: SNJ, Harvard and Wirraway. Wiltshire, UK: Crowood Press. ISBN1-86126-382-1.
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France
Vichy France
Free France
Nazi Germany
United Kingdom
