This reviewer's first experience with a Canadian-built Harvard was in Singapore, in 1954. It came about that I had my first never-to-be-forgotten flight in a Harvard at night, when with Sqdn Ldr Langor at the controls, we did mild aerobatics over the Singapore waterfront.
Thus, when asked by one of the co-authors of HARVARD! to do a review of this book for R/T, it was with a certain sense of relish that the task was taken on, while at the same time trying not to let the bias show through too much.
HARVARD! is simply a book written by enthusiasts for anyone interested in the aircraft, aviation historians, both professional and amateur, and anyone else who appreciates a first class quality book on an aviation related subject.
The book is divided into fourteen highly readable chapters that, while not skimping on the technical aspect of the subject, make it possible to breeze through its pages in one or two sittings. The authors have been able to inject several items of humour that give a lift to what could have been a weighty tome.
By my count, there are 425 black and white photos that fairly leap off the pages, only 10% of which show bent aircraft, included in the main to show either markings or to emphasize that training on the Harvard at anytime could be a tricky business.
There are seven 5-view drawings in 1/72nd scale of every significant mark of the North American trainer, plus colour profiles, some colour photos and an aircraft appendix that traces the history of just about all the Harvards used in Canada.
If you are at all interested in Canadian aviation, then this book is a must. It is hard to imagine that so specialized a subject will ever be covered again, or that this book will ever go to a second printing. The authors have yet to get their houses out of hock! So be warned, once it is gone it will be a collector's item.