Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I thought some of you might be interested in the background of the photo of my '40 coupe with the Yale trainer. First a brief history of the Yale. Known officially as the NA-64 , it was built for several countries as a basic trainer early in WW2. Quite a few were shipped to France and were even used by the Luftwaffe after becoming spoils of war. Many more were turned around in mid-Atlantic after the fall of France and used by the RCAF in the British Commonwealth Air Training Program.After the war, they were sold off as surplus or scrapped. An old acquaintance of mine , Ernest Simmons ,a farmer from near Delhi, Ontario , bought 36 of them ! The story goes that he figured he could sell them back to the RCAF for a profit if we declared war on Russia ! Ernie had a large collection of old motorcycles as well. Unfortunately ,they attracted the wrong crowd. Ernie was shot seven times in his own yard by thieves and died of pneumonia a few weeks later.The resulting auction sale took three auctioneers three days to complete. Quite a few of Ernie's aircraft have since been restored (the auction was in 1970) and two were present at the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association's Wings and Wheels show recently. I received permission to pose these two 1940s together as a tribute to Ernie.
Jim

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