NZ1044 and the war

Manufactured at the North American factory in Dallas, Texas, NZ1044 made her first post-production flight on 19th April 1943, before being shipped to New Zealand and arriving at Hobsonville in Auckland on 26th June 1943. Her first test flight in New Zealand took place on 8th October 1943, with Flying Officer D.A. Chanale at the helm.

Based at Ohakea for the duration of World War II, she was operated by No. 2 Fighter Operational Training Unit, training pilots to become fighter pilots in the Pacific theater, flying P-40 Kittyhawks and Corsairs. Many of the pilots who flew NZ1044 during this time even went on to become fighter aces, including Jesse de Willmoff and Allan Emett.

After the war, the aircraft was placed in to storage until the early 1950s when she went through a major RNZAF upgrade program, flying again in 1954 with the Central Flying School at RNZAF Base Wigram in Christchurch.

By the time of her last flight in 1958, NZ1044 had accumulated a total time of 2547.25 hours.

In 1971, NZ1044 was demobbed and sold to the Technical Training School at National Airways Corporation in Christchurch, which later became Air New Zealand.

She was used as a training aid for systems installation and control rigging training until 2004 when she was sold by private tender.

NZ1044 remained in storage for 16 years until 2020 when she was purchased by Bevan Dewes and transported to Wanaka for the long process of returning her to flight.

It was decided that the aircraft would be restored to its wartime configuration and colors, as it appeared during its time at the Ohakea No. 2 Fighter operational training unit, and equipped with its original armament.

While many of these features are not used during day-to-day operation, NZ1044 is now the only Harvard in the Southern Hemisphere that still has its wartime features intact and operational.

On March 10th 2023, under the control of Bevan Dewes, NZ1044 took to the skies for the first time in over 64 years. An achievement that would not have been possible without the dedication and skill of a wonderful team of mechanics, painters, avionics engineers and many other specialists who helped during the three year restoration.

A few weeks later, she made her debut appearance at the Classic Flighters Airshow in Blenheim, where she went on to win the prestigious title of ‘grand champion warbird’.