Fly Past

42 RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS

DAKOTA

DOUGLAS

DAKOTA

N

o tribute to transport aircraft

would be complete without

mention of perhaps the most

iconic freighter of all time – the

Douglas C-47.

Developed from the pre-war DC-3

airliner, the military C-47 differed

in having a large cargo door on the

port side of the fuselage, an internal

hoist attachment and a strengthened

floor, an astrodome in the cabin roof

and a shortened tail cone for glider-

towing shackles.

The type entered USAAF service

in 1941 but the first of more than

1,900 examples provided to the RAF

did not arrive until March 1943.

The majority of RAF examples

were provided under the ‘lend-lease’

agreement and would serve in every

theatre of World War Two.

Although referred to as the C-47

Skytrain or C-53 Skytrooper in

USAAF service, the type was known

simply as the Dakota in the RAF.

The Dakota I was the equivalent

of the C-47, whereas the Dakota

II corresponded to the troop-

carrying C-53 (without the C-47’s

strengthened floor). Later examples

included the Dakota III (C-47A)

and Dakota IV (C-47B).

INTO BATTLE

The first RAF Dakotas were

allocated to 24 Squadron in

Gibraltar, in March 1943, and a few

days later other examples joined 31

Squadron on the Burma front to

replace battle-weary Douglas DC-2

and DC-3 airliners.

Middle East units were next to be

equipped with the type, with the

aircraft joining 117 Squadron from

June 1943.

The Dakota fleet was subjected

to combat operations from almost

its first day of usage, but it was in

the summer of 1944 that it earned

its notoriety. On D-Day, June 6,

1944, 108 Dakotas from Transport

Command dropped the main

body of the 3rd Parachute Brigade

into Normandy, and other aircraft

towed Horsa gliders

into action. RAF

Dakotas would form

vital elements of

all subsequent air and para-drop

assaults, from Arnhem to Burma.

They dropped the 11th Parachute

Battalion onto the Greek island of

Kos, delivered paratroopers and

gliders across the Rhine in March

1945 and two months later provided

a vital contribution to the recapture

of Rangoon.

Throughout the war, this legendary

type also served as air ambulance,

cargo aircraft and VIP transport.

POST-WAR USE

The end of the war in August 1945

did not spell the demise of the

Dakota’s usefulness. Together with

the Avro York and Handley Page

Hastings, they played an important

role in the Berlin Airlift of 1948-

49 and although the type was

1943 TO 1970

1918 2018

Below

Together with USAF

examples, RAF Dakotas

played an important

role in the Berlin Airlift

of 1948-49.