North American NA-64 Yale

Ordered as a follow-on to the NA-57 as a two-seat advanced trainer, the NA-64 P-2/NAA-64 P-2 represented a major structural improvement, with a longer all-metal fuselage replacing the fabric covered fuselage of the NA-57. As well as metal skin replacing the fabric on the fuselage, the fin was changed from having a corrugated skin to being a smooth stressed skin structure and was moved slightly aft, lengthening the rear fuselage while the engine was moved forward to maintain the center of gravity. The rudder was also changed from the rounded shape used previously to one with a roughly triangular shape with the broadest part being at the bottom to improve handling at high angles of attack. In one respect however, it was a step backwards from its immediate predecessor, the BT-14, with which it is often confused, in that the earlier straight wings were used with the result that in RCAF service, when compared to the later and more powerful Harvard II it was flown alongside, it had different handling characteristics and lower performance.[3]

Yale 3416, which appeared in the movie, Captains of the Clouds

 Canada

• Royal Canadian Air Force
  • No.1 Service Flying Training School (No. 1 SFTS) Borden[8]
  • No.2 Service Flying Training School (No. 2 SFTS) Uplands[8]
  • No.6 Service Flying Training School (No. 6 SFTS) Dunnville[6]
  • No.14 Service Flying Training School (No. 14 SFTS) Aylmer[9]
  • No.1 Training Command (1TC) Toronto, ON[10]
  • No.3 Training Command (3TC) Montreal[11]
  • No.4 Training Command (4TC) Regina[9]
  • No.1 Flying Instructor School (1FIS) Trenton[9]
  • No.1 Wireless School (1WS) Winnipeg, MB[7]
  • No.2 Wireless School (2WS) Calgary, AB[7]
  • No.3 Wireless School (3WS) Montreal, QC[7][12]
  • No.4 Wireless School (4WS), Guelph[7]
  • No.12 (Communications) Squadron[6]

The first North American NAA-64 P-2 NX13397 before delivery. Due to the fall of France, this aircraft was instead delivered to Canada as a Yale Mk.I, and still exists.

 France

• French Air Force (Armée de l'Air)
  • Escadrille d'Outre Mer 82 Niger (post-WWII)[13]
• French Navy (Marine Nationale)
  • French Naval Aviation (Aéronavale)
    • Section Liaison Port Lyautey 51 S squadron (Khouribga)
• Vichy French Air Force (Armée de l'Air de Vichy)
  • Groupe de Chasse II/9 (fighter-trainer) – Aulnat
• Free French Air Force (Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres)s

North American NAA-64 in its shipping crate for delivery to France. Most of those that made it to France had not even been unpacked when the Germans overran northern France.

 Germany

• Luftwaffe captured 93 aircraft and assigned 96 registrations,[14] and they published their own pilots manual for it
  • Fliegerzielgeschwader Fl.Z.G. 2 target towing wing[15][16]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 9 pilot school[15][17][18]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 16 pilot school[18]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 42 pilot school[15]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 43 pilot school[15][18]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 71 pilot school[18]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 82 pilot school[15]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 110 pilot school[15][17][18]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 111 pilot school[15]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 116 Göppingen pilot school[5][15][17][19][20]
  • Flugzeugführerschule A/B 117 pilot school[15][18]
  • Jagdfliegerschule JFS 2 Neustadt Weinstraße/Speyerdorf advanced fighter pilot school[15]
  • Jagdfliegerschule JFS 6 advanced fighter pilot training school[15]
  • Jagdfliegervorschule JFVS 2 Lachen-Speyerdorf preliminary fighter pilot school[15][19]
  • Jagdgeschwader JG 103 fighter squadron[15][18]
  • Jagdgeschwader JG 106 fighter squadron[15]
  • Luftdienst-Kommando 7 air service command[15]
  • Luftkriegschule LKS 1 air war school[21]
  • Luftkriegschule LKS 5 air war school[15]
  • Nahaufklärungsgeschwader NAG 102 short-range reconnaissance wing[15]
  • Stukaschule StS 1 Wertheim dive bomber school[15]
  • Sturzkampffliegervorschule StVS 1 Bad Aibling preliminary dive bomber school[15][16][17][18][19][20][22]
  • Stukavorschule SVS 2 preliminary dive bomber school[15]
  • Zerstörerschule ZS 1 Neubiberg heavy fighter school[18]
  • Zieldarstellungsstaffel ZD-Stf 102 target towing squadron[15][17]
  • Zirkus Rosarius used to familiarize aircrew with U.S. aircraft.[5]

 United Kingdom

• Royal Navy
  • 31 SFTS Kingston, ON (Canada) – eight loaned from RCAF from March to April 1941 in exchange for eight Fairey Battle trainers.[23][24]

Ex-RCAF North American NA-64 Yale painted to represent a USAAC BT-14, in a diorama at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio

There are many surviving NA-64 Yales today because of Ernie Simmons, a farmer from near Tillsonburg, Ontario. Simmons bought 39 Yales in 1946,[25] along with seven Fairey Swordfish and a Westland Lysander[26] and kept them on his farm until he died in 1970.[27][28] Most were auctioned the same year, and many have been restored by museums and warbird enthusiasts. Most surviving Yales are from the Simmons collection, but there are at least six surviving Yales that came from Western Canada. Three Yales have been subsequently lost, a major hangar fire took the Musée de l'air et de l'espace's NA-64 3415/64-2224, and 3454/64-2165 & 3395/64-2159[29] were destroyed as the result of flying accidents. Several Yales have been painted or partially modified as BT-14s. Additionally, over a dozen are privately owned in Canada, the US, and Europe or are not accessible, and additional airframes may be held by some museums as a source of spares.

3 view line drawing of North American NA-64 Yale trainer

Data from North American Aviation, Manuel de Pilotage de l'Avion NA-64 P-2 (Avion de Perfectionnement), 1940, pp.8–9

General characteristics

• Crew: two (instructor and student)
• Length: 28 ft 4 in (8.64 m) [47]
• Wingspan: 40 ft 1.4 in (12.228 m)
• Height: 8 ft 10.5 in (2.70 m) [47]
• Wing area: 241.67 sq ft (22.42 m²)
• Empty weight: 3,324 lb (1,057 kg) [47]
• Gross weight: 4,500 lb (2,040 kg) [47]
• Max takeoff weight: 4,291 lb (1,946 kg) normal weight per NAA
• Fuel capacity: 104 gallons/394L including 16.5 US gallon/2.45L reserve tank
• Oil capacity 9.5 US gallon/36L[48]
• Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-975-E3 Whirlwind[47][49] radial engine, 420 hp (310 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed Hamilton Standard 2D30 hub & 6101A-12 blades, 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) diameter [50]

Performance

• Maximum speed: 166 mph (267 km/h, 144 kn) sea level
• Cruise speed: 146 mph (235 km/h, 127 kn) 64% power
• Never exceed speed: 300 mph (483 km/h, 261 kn) [51]
• Range: 730 mi (1,175 km, 630 nmi) cruising speed
• Combat range: 475 mi (765 km, 413 nmi) maximum speed
• Endurance: 5 hrs at cruising speed, 2 hours 48 minutes at maximum speed
• Service ceiling: 17,500 ft (5,350 m) full load
• Rate of climb: 1,120 ft/min (5.7 m/s)
• Time to altitude: 11.36 min to 10,000 ft (3320 m)
• Wing loading: 17.76 lb/sq ft (86.7 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 10.22lbs/hp

Armament

• light bombs (French and German examples only)

• 1940 in aviation

Related development

• North American NA-16 – initial design, with fabric covered fuselage
• North American BT-14 – similar aside from outer wing panels and Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine.
• North American T-6 Texan – ultimate development of design

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Arado Ar 96
• Curtiss-Wright CW-19R
• Fleet Fort
• Kyushu K10W1
• Vultee BT-13 Valiant

Related lists

• North American T-6 Texan variants
• List of aircraft of Canada's air forces
• List of aircraft of the French Air Force during World War II
• List of military aircraft of the German Third Reich

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North American NA-64 Yale.

• Warbirds Directory – North American T-6 and Yale
• IMdB – Captains of the Clouds