North America’s Largest Fleet Of The Workhorse Trainers

The Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association (CHAA) is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2025 with a number of special events planned including a FREE ADMISSION Open House Fly Day on Saturday July 5, 2025.

The CHAA was founded in 1985 by three aviation enthusiasts with the dream to preserve the Harvard as an honor and remembrance to the men and women who flew them and maintained them to help preserve freedom during World War II.

The association is based at Tillsonburg Regional Airport (ICAO: CYTB) in Tillsonburg, Ontario, and is home to the largest fleet of Harvards in North America. It has eight Harvards and one Yale, the lower-powered and less expensive version of the Harvard. Some of the CHAA aircraft were built by North American Aviation in Inglewood, California.

As readers may know, the Harvard is a North American Aviation-designed pilot trainer for the military. In the U.S. they were designated variously as the AT-6 by the Army Air Corps and the SNJ  by the Navy. The British Commonwelath air forces designated them as Harvards.

The Harvards are now 80 years old and was the workhorse of the Canada’s pilot training program during World War II. They played a crucial training role for the Royal Canadian Air Force under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Canada. The aircraft trained more than 130,000 Canadian and Allied air crews including pilots, navigators, gunners, and engineers from around the world.

The CHAA is a 100% volunteer and registered charitable organization.

Walther Irie, President of the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association said, “Keeping these warbirds in flying condition is a colossal task. Yet our volunteers are dedicated to keeping the legacy of the Harvard alive, and preserving its historical significance.”

Irie added, “We’ve had Second World War veterans visit us with their flight logbooks, and when they climb into the cockpit again their faces can either light up or fill with tears. It’s difficult to comprehend what is going through their minds, but for us, it makes all our efforts worthwhile to give them this opportunity.”

FMI:  harvards.com/