Andy Goodall and the T6 Harvard
By a piece of good fortune, Men’s File was introduced to pilot and WWII re-enactor Mr Andy Goodall, by Derek Harris of Lewis Leathers, who supplies much of the flyer’s kit. Based at Duxford Aerodrome, itself a Battle of Britain base and now home to the Imperial War Museum aviation collection, this 51 year old, who served 22 years in the Parachute Regiment, flies a 1951 T6 Harvard, known as the Wacky Wabbit. His attire is as close to period correct dress as is practical. Apart from the spectacle created by the informal event of a flight, it’s actually possible to fly in the aircraft with him. The Harvard first came into service in the mid-1930s and acted as both a combat aircraft and trainer for several decades. Men’s File asked Andy how his relationship with the Harvard and period clothing came about.
Men’s File: How did you come to fly WWII aircraft?
Andy Goodall: A friend of mine bought some spitfire wreckage and started on a project to rebuild it back to flying condition. He said if I was qualified I could fly his aircraft when it was restored, however 10 years later the Spitfire to date is still about 2 years from completion. So in the meantime, I had to look at the skills required to fly such an aircraft.
At the time I had approximately 1000 hours flying which is the magic number to be considered to fly a warbird for insurance purposes, however my hours were all on the wrong type of aircraft. Aeroplanes have either tricycle under carriage or the traditional undercarriage which is known as the ‘tail dragger’ I had 1000 hours on the tricycle type undercarriage and desperately needed a minimum of 200 hours on the traditional set up or tail dragger such as the mighty T6 Harvard.
As a result of this gaping hole in my skill set, I invested in a small Auster ‘tail dragger aircraft’ Just to get the tail time required. The Auster is a small, wartime spotter plane that is great for honing the coordination between stick and rudder. After 60 hours I transferred to the Harvard to gain ‘heavy’ tail time and to date I have over 230 hours on the Harvard and have completed two display seasons performing at various UK air shows in the Wacky Wabbit.
MF: When did you get interested in the clothing?
AG: After extensive research I realised that many pilots in the battle of Britain were actually very poorly dressed to fly and fight at high altitude. Many wore cricket jumpers or wooly hand knitted sweaters under or over the issued tunics for warmth. I noticed that many pilots wore white flying overalls over their uniforms. I later found out that these white overalls were all the rage in the 1930s as this was the colour worn by racing car drivers and high-speed boat racing pilots. So this was the natural colour for the daring and dashing pre-war pilots of the RAF. Many pilots before the War wore very expensive Barathea uniforms with in many cases red silk linings, these were protected by the flying overall which was either white, black, dark blue and in some cases a light tan. After further research I understood that many of these overalls were a private purchase from such companies such as D Lewis (Lewis Leathers) and these private purchase items set apart the "pre-war" professional pilots from the war time "hostilities only" pilots. So naturally I was intrigued by this class driven uniform and why, who and when was this worn?
As I was about to fly a warbird I wanted the top part of my body, the head, visible to the photographers to be at least in period kit. I set about converting a WWII leather flying helmet and Oxygen mask in to a fully working model with new internal wiring, mic and speakers. I then had a parachute harness made to original 1936 pattern which houses a modern 28 feet round parachute. Not stopping there I actually got a 1941 pattern Mae West survival vest and again got it working with a modern internal bladder and CO2. I have continued to get old wartime kit back in the air and fully functioning again and now with the beautiful Lewis Leather 1936 and 39 pattern boots, my fully serviceable flying kit is operational again.
To find out more about flying with Andy Goodall or the T6 Harvard itself go to:
www.T6Harvard.com
Instagram @warbirdexperience_uk
www.t6harvard.com/uk-harvards/aj-841-wacky-wabbit
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Issue 18 (June/July 2018)
