North American NA-64 Yale

Seen here reflected in melted snow waters at Camp Borden (with an Airspeed Oxford in the background), the North American Yale was very similar to the Harvard, the most obvious difference being fixed landing gear as opposed to the retractable undercarriage found on the Harvard. Ordered in quantity by the French, 119 were diverted to the RCAF after the fall of France. Yale Aircraft instruments were annotated in French and calibrated in the metric system so all were placarded with conversion tables. Other faults found in this design included engine and propellor controls which worked in opposite directions to standard practice, electric starters were not included so the engines had to be hand cranked, and the Aircraft were chronically underpowered. Aircrew often noted--with tongue held firmly in cheek--that at least the fixed landing gear meant they would never suffer the embarassment of a gear-up landing.
CF Photo