I'm always happy to see
interesting planes flying over when I'm out Birding so I was keen to
grab some shots of this US heritage plane as it went over Littlesea. I'm even happier if they are flying over Studland as they look good over the patch. I was struggling to
identify it, but fortunately, local Birder Jol Mitchell knows a lot more
about historic planes than I do. Jol identified it as a T6 Harvard,
which was used as a World War II trainer for pilots. It's call sign is G-DHHF. It has relatively recently changed hands &
is now owned by DH Heritage Flights.
T6 Harvard (G-DHHF)
It is based at the Compton Abbas
airfield near Shaftesbury in Dorset. Since changing ownership, it has
been repainted to these new colours which didn't help trying to figure
out which T6 Harvard it was. It was built in 1942 & served initially
with the US air force & later the US navy until 1959 when it was
sold to a private owner. It has been owned & flown by a number of
owners in the US before finally being sold to DH Heritage Flights &
coming to the UK in Nov 2016. More information about its history & the other T6 Harvards that are still flying can be found here.
