Aviation Classics 22 Dakota preview

22

THE COMPLETE STORY OF THE IMMORTAL DAKOTA,THE GREATEST TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT IN AVIATION HISTORY

ISSUE 22

Aviation Classics – Douglas DC-3 / C-47 Dakota

www.aviationclassics.co.uk

DOUGLAS DC-3/C-47 DAKOTA

www.aviationclassics.co.uk

D-DAY TO THE RHINE A GLIDER PILOT TELLS HIS AMAZING STORY

PARATROOPER

D-DAY AND MARKET GARDEN WITH THE 101ST AIRBORNE

SPOOKY

GUNSHIPS OVER VIETNAM No.022 ISBN :978-1-909128-01-9 £7.99

Contents 8

Douglas Aircraft Company

54

Operation Wildhorn

16

In the beginning

62

20

Commercial viability and military developments

The Dakota as a glider tug in Europe

70

American paratroop forces on D-Day

80

Operation Market Garden with the 101st

83

Running return

84

Postwar plethora

28

Enter the legend

36

Pratt and Whitney and the R-1830

44

Ready for war

50

Licence built Dakotas

Editor:

86

A Dakota’s tale

90

Blockade busters

96

Spooky – the AC-47

Publisher: Contributors:

Tim Callaway editor@aviationclassics.co.uk Dan Savage Luigino Caliaro, Norm DeWitt, Keith Draycott, Julian Humphries, Steve McCabe, Liz Matzelle, Constance Redgrave, Clive Rowley, Dan Sharp, Adam Tooby

Designer: Reprographics:

Libby Fincham Jonathan Schofield

102 The Super DC-3

Group production editor:

Tim Hartley

104 New power

Divisional advertising manager: Sandra Fisher sfisher@mortons.co.uk Advertising sales executive: Stuart Yule syule@mortons.co.uk 01507 529455

108 A pilot’s tale 114

Inside the legend

122 Survivors

Subscription manager: Circulation manager: Marketing manager: Production manager: Publishing director: Commercial director: Managing director:

Paul Deacon Steve O’Hara Charlotte Park Craig Lamb Dan Savage Nigel Hole Brian Hill

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© 2013 Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher ISBN No 978-1-909128-01-9

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Donald Wills Douglas Snr. San Diego Air and Space Museum

douglas

aircraft company compa

From dirigibles to bombers, the early years of Donald Douglas

The stor y of the Douglas Aircraft Company is the stor y of one visionar y businessman and engineer, Donald Wills Douglas. Founded on July 22, 1921, the company was to build some of the most famous transport aircraft in aviation histor y, as well as a family of naval aircraft, prior to its merger with McDonnell in 1967. The early stor y of Douglas’s aviation career is a complex and fascinating one, not to mention having its dangers, as at one point, he was almost shot by the US Army.

Y

ou may have noticed that I put businessman and engineer in that order in the introduction to this piece about Donald W Douglas and the Douglas Aircraft Company. I did this because I feel that it was his business acumen and his ability to spot talent and nurture it that truly made his company great.

Looking at the list of famous designers and engineers who worked for Donald Douglas reads like a who’s who of aviation history; 8 douglas aircraft company

Edward A Heinemann, James H ‘Dutch’ Kindelberger and John K ‘Jack’ Northrop; their stories are all inextricably linked to Don Douglas. These were the minds that created the great aircraft that rolled out of Douglas’s factories, but it was his business sense that allowed Douglas to undertake such an expensive development as the DC-1 in the middle of a recession, because he nurtured his company as carefully as he did his people.

His foresight meant the aircraft was ready at exactly the right time as the economy

recovered, giving Douglas a market lead for many years and creating the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States. It was not just for transport aircraft that Douglas gained fame; the family of naval combat aircraft the company produced was to serve in an unbroken chain from the US Navy’s DT-1 of 1921 to the A-4 Skyhawks still in service around the world today.

Here, we will cover the history of the company up to the introduction of the DC-1, as the full story needs an entire issue in itself

The Martin MB-1 or GMB bomber. USAF

Glenn L Martin at the controls of one of his early aircraft designs. Martin

Donald Douglas at work at his drawing board at the Martin Company. Martin

Professor Jerome C Hunsaker, Donald Douglas’s mentor and friend. MIT

and will be the subject of Aviation Classics in the future. Oddly, for a name so often associated with California, our story starts in New York City, in 1892.

Donald Wills Douglas was born in Brooklyn on April 6, 1892, the second son of William and Dorothy Hagen-Locher Douglas.

William Douglas was a cashier at the National Park bank on Wall Street, and it was from him that Donald was to learn and appreciate the value of a dollar. His mother was a strong and vital woman who passed on to her sons a great enthusiasm for life and her personal sense of determination.

The family also shared a mutual passion for sailing, and a love of the sea was to shape the young Douglas’s early lives. Donald’s elder brother Harold enrolled in the US Naval Academy at Annapolis while Donald attended the Trinity Chapel Preparatory School in New York, following his brother into the academy when he graduated from the college in 1909.

However, a new passion had become prevalent in Donald’s life. Just prior to joining the Naval Academy, he had been present at the trials of the Wright Flyer on July 30, 1909, having convinced his mother that he needed to attend. These trials, flown by Orville Wright at Fort Myer, Virginia, were the final tests of the aircraft prior to its acceptance by the US Army. Donald had already shown great interest in the developments in aviation, but witnessing these events was plant a seed that was to grow rapidly.

Once at the Naval Academy, aside from his studies, Donald found the time and resources

to build a succession of powered model aircraft. His brother Harold graduated from Annapolis as a midshipman in 1911, but by the following year, Donald could no longer deny that his interest in naval matters had been replaced by a fascination with aeronautical engineering.

He resigned his cadetship and went to find work in the aviation industry, approaching Loening and Curtiss, both of whom turned him down for lack of training and experience.

Ever the pragmatist, Donald decided to address both these drawbacks with a single action, so in mid-1912 he enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a four year degree course in aeronautical engineering, the first of its kind in the world.

Here the grit and determination ingrained in Donald Douglas first showed itself clearly.

His early wind tunnel experiments into the fundamentals of aerodynamics was groundbreaking and he spent long hours in research and writing. Realising his three years at Annapolis had put him behind his peers, he vowed to complete his four year course in only two. This he did, receiving his Bachelor of Science diploma in the spring of 1914, making him MIT’s first aeronautical engineering graduate.

He so impressed his professors with his drive and performance that he was immediately hired by MIT as an assistant professor in aeronautics for the next year. The professor who recommended this hiring was to play an important role in the life of Donald Douglas, another Annapolis graduate who

respected Donald’s decision to leave the academy to pursue his passion, Jerome C Hunsaker. Later, Commander Hunsaker would become the director of the Bureau of Construction and Repairs, Aircraft Division of the US Navy, and he and Douglas would work together again, but for now, between 1914 and mid-1915, Douglas remained at MIT as Hunsaker’s assistant.

A year of the academic life was enough to convince Douglas that his passion lay in the creation of aircraft, not in teaching. He was hired as a consultant engineer by the Connecticut Aircraft Company in New Haven, who put him to work on the designs for the DN-1, the first dirigible for the US Navy which was taken for testing at Pensacola, Florida, in 1916.

By this time, Douglas had already left, only spending a few months on the project before moving to the Glenn L Martin Company at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California in August 1915. Here, Glenn Martin gave him the job of chief engineer, a remarkable responsibility for the 23-year-old graduate. He was to work on a number of early Martin military training aircraft, including his first solo design for the company, the Martin Model S. This was a conventional two seat tractor biplane with equal span wings, the fuselage being mounted between the wings on struts.

The pontoon undercarriage consisted of a large forward and small tail float, with outriggers near the wing tips. Two were acquired by the US Navy and a further six by the US Army’s Signal Corps, who used them as the first US Military aircraft to be based overseas in March 1916.

They were assigned to the 1st Company, 2nd Aero Squadron at Fort Mills on Corregidor in the Philippines, where, equipped with radios, they assisted the coastal artillery to adjust their fire by reporting the fall of shot. Douglas’s first aircraft design proved to be a winner, not just in the sales it generated for Martin, but in setting three ➤ The Douglas DC-3/C-47 Dakota 9

A Douglas publicity shot of a later production DC-2 with the enlarged ďŹ n which brought the leading edge forward of that of the tailplane. Douglas

commercial viability and military developments The DC-2 and B-18 The publicity gained by the DC-1 demonstrated the tremendous capabilities of the aircraft for its time. TWA initially ordered 20, but stipulated that two additional seats would increase the type’s commercial viability. The new aircraft was known as the DC-2.

20 the dc-2 and b-18

TWA was not only the launch customer for the DC-2, but was the driving force behind the development of the aircraft. Editor’s collection

F

itting a 24in (61cm) extension to the DC-1’s forward fuselage design allowed for another row of passenger seats, bringing the total to 14. Externally therefore, an additional window on each flank and the repositioning of the port side crew entrance door further forward were the most obvious differences between the DC-1 and 2.

Many other minor improvements were incorporated into the design; and since no prototype was necessary, the first production DC-2, NC13711, quickly made its maiden flight on May 11, 1934, from the Douglas factory at Clover Field where the production line was already well established. Passengers were delighted with the new levels of comfort afforded by the new Douglas product. The wide spacious cabin allowed meals to be served on china crockery from plush seats that could be rotated to face a companion behind.

The whole passenger compartment was extensively insulated and the seats were even mounted on rubber bushes to reduce vibration. Other modern comforts included a reading lamp, curtains and ducted warm air for each passenger. A handrail running each side of the 26ft 4in (8m) cabin supported mesh netting which provided overhead storage.

A small toilet was installed at the rear starboard side of the cabin opposite the passenger door and luggage was carried in the next rearward compartment. This area of the aircraft could be accessed from the

ground via a rectangular external door or via a hatch in the toilet compartment. Mail was carried in a second compartment directly behind the well-appointed cockpit which had an escape hatch in the roof between the two crew positions.

De-icing boots were fitted to the leading edges of the wings and tail surfaces and the two circular landing lights in the extreme nose were retained from the DC-1. Extensive use was made of flush riveting and most civilian examples retained a bright natural metal finish which set new standards in both aerodynamic efficiency and corrosion resistance.

The DC-2’s wing span was increased to 85ft (25.91m) and had an area of 939sq ft (87.236sq m). The generous trailing edge flaps, when extended, reduced the landing speed ensuring safe operation from the small runways of the day. It was designed from the start to be capable of easily accepting several different American radial engines and later even foreign engines including the British Bristol Pegasus VI. When powered by the Wright SGR-1820F52 it had a maximum speed of 210mph (338kph) and could cruise comfortably at 190mph (306kph) at 8000ft (2440m). The tail fin was increased in size to improve directional stability, especially when operating with a dead engine, which still presented the crew with some difficulties but was considerably easier to control than the older types, including the tri-motors. The great

An unusual General Air Lines DC-2 with a non-standard broader chord fin and fin fillet. Douglas

Pan American Airways purchased 16 DC-2s, supplying them to their affiliates such as Pan American Grace Airways (Panagra) which used them in South America. San Diego Air and Space Museum

An early DC-2 of American Airlines with the narrow fin.These were used on the New York to Los Angeles route. Douglas

majority were powered by the Wright Cyclone and known as DC-2s. The two Pratt and Whitney Hornet powered aircraft were known as DC-2As and the two Bristol Pegasus powered aircraft, built for Polish airline LOT, were known as DC-2Bs. Douglas wisely decided not to follow Boeing’s example and entertained orders from several airlines, providing that its main customer’s needs were satisfied. TWA received a total of 31 aircraft from the 78 DC2s supplied to US airlines, which included 16 for American Airlines and nine for Pan American. TWA put its first DC-2 into immediate service, just three days after its maiden flight, on the Columbus to Newark (New York) via Pittsburgh service. As the DC2 took over more routes, flight times began to tumble, effectively breaking United’s stranglehold on the market. The DC-2 became profitable for Douglas after the 50th example had been delivered; the company would go on to complete a total of 193 civil and military ➤

An early DC-2 of General Air Lines with the original narrow chord fin. San Diego Air and Space Museum The Douglas DC-3/C-47 Dakota 21

licence built

The nose of a ShĹ?wa L2D3 clearly showing the extended cockpit glazing and the spinners that identify the type. Note the additional circular window below the centre cockpit window. San Diego Air and Space Museum 50 licence BUilT dakoTas The li-2 and l2d

Dakotas

The Li-2 and L2D

Douglas and other licensed companies in the United States were not the only organisations to build the DC-3. Three other companies were to produce the aircraft under licence, Lisunov in the Soviet Union and Shōwa and Nakajima in Japan.

A

s already mentioned, the performance and quality of the DC-2 had led to production licences being purchased by Nakajima in Japan, Fokker in the Netherlands and Airspeed in Great Britain.

Its successor was to attract similar interest, with a DC-3 production licence being acquired

by Japanese trading organisation Mitsui and Company Ltd on February 24, 1938, for $90,000. This licence allowed the DC-3 to be built and sold in Japan and Manchukuo, which at the time was part of the Japanese Empire.

Mitsui and Company was the US registered arm of the Mitsui Bussan Kabushiki-kaisha (KK) or Mitsui Trading Company, and had been involved in the acquisition of the earlier DC-2, the licence for Nakajima and Douglas built examples for Japanese Airlines. However, the major interest in the DC-3 was not from airlines in the region, but from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS) which was looking for a new transport aircraft and had been impressed by the DC-2.

Japanese production

Aside from the production licence, Mitsui also purchased 22 Douglas built examples of the aircraft between 1937 and 1939. These consisted of 13 DC-3s powered by Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines, along with seven DC-3As powered by the Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp.

These aircraft were delivered to Japan by ship with the wings and tailplanes removed and all of them were used by Great Northern Airways and Dai Nippon Kōkū KK, or Imperial Japanese Airways. The final two airframes were again R-1830 powered versions, but were completely unassembled to serve as factory patterns for licence production.

Along with the specifications and design drawings, these two aircraft were supplied to the Shōwa Hikoki Kogyo KK, or Shōwa Aircraft Company, which had been founded in October 1938. Beginning in 1939 and working in concert with Nakajima, Shōwa used the pattern aircraft to modify the DC-3 to suit production by Japanese industry as well as adapting it to take the 1080hp Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial engine. The first of these two aircraft was completed in October 1939, powered by R-1830 engines.

The aircraft was evaluated by the IJNAS as the Navy Type 0 Transport, with the short designation of L2D. This first aircraft was known as the L2D1, sometimes referred to as the LXD1, was joined in the evaluation programme by the second example in April 1940. Nakajima began production of the Mitsubishi powered L2D2 that same year, with 10 being delivered by December followed by an additional 49 during 1941.

Altogether 71 L2D2s were built by Nakajima until production ended in November 1942.

Nakajima’s limited production of the type was

for two reasons; firstly, the Shōwa production line was fully established by then, and secondly, the company wanted to get back to producing its own military types which were seen as a greater priority by that time.

While the L2D2 was a personnel transport similar in most respects to a DC-3, there were a number of differences, especially in the engine cowlings to accommodate the Mitsubishi engines and the addition of propeller spinners. The IJNAS’s requirement for a cargo transport led Shōwa to follow a similar line to Douglas when it produced the C-47 military version of the DC-3. The fuselage floor was strengthened and a large rear cargo door was added to the port side of the rear fuselage to produce the L2D2-1. Of the 416 L2Ds built by Shōwa, 75 were the cargo version with the ‘barn door’ as it was known.

The first Shōwa built aircraft was delivered in March 1941, a total of 22 being built that ➤

An Imperial Japanese Navy crew with their Shōwa L2D3. Note the large spinners that readily identified the L2D from the DC-3 and C-47. San Diego Air and Space Museum

A very early production Shōwa L2D2 with the original cockpit similar to that of the DC-3. Editor’s collection

A Shōwa L2D3 with the extended cockpit and the large rear loading doors. Editor’s Collection The Douglas DC-3/C-47 Dakota 51

BLOCKADE BUSTERS

C-47s and Dakotas during the Berlin Airlift

The sheer scope of the airlift is difficult to grasp, until you consider that the contents of this hangar at Wunstorf represent half a day’s operations from the airfield by the Dakotas alone. Editor’s collection

When tensions in occupied Germany boiled over in 1948 and the USSR blocked all ground traffic to West Berlin, the beleaguered population had to get supplies by air.

The C-47 was the only transport aircraft immediately available in large numbers to both the RAF and the USAF and so it became the mainstay of the Berlin Airlift.

B

erlin had been devastated by the final battles against the advancing Soviet tank armies in 1945. Once the city was in their hands, the Russians revelled in their victory – an estimated 100,000 Berlin women were raped by Soviet soldiers, 25,000 skilled workers and their families were forced to relocate to the Soviet zone or even back to Russia and everything of value was looted right down to items of clothing.

The city had been divided into four zones under the Potsdam Agreement – one zone each for Britain, America, France and the USSR. Germany itself had also been split into four with the divided Berlin lying 100 miles within the Soviet zone.

Three years later, Berliners, even in the Western sectors, were still living amid ruins and subsisting on around 1600 calories per person per day. The erstwhile allies had argued over everything, with the Russians vetoing any measure which looked as though it might restore some degree of freedom or economic stability to the city.

This antagonism gathered pace throughout 1947 with the Russians refusing to recognise a democratically elected non-communist city mayor, spreading rumours that the Western powers were planning to abandon Berlin, arresting anyone in the Soviet sector seen carrying a Western newspaper and even kidnapping anti-communist activists from the Western sectors.

The city was primarily supplied by road and rail but the Russians had also formally agreed to three 20 mile wide air corridors. Two originated in the British zone, in Hamburg and Hannover, and terminated at Gatow in Berlin.

The third was between American controlled

Frankfurt and Tempelhof. They were 95, 117 and 216 miles long respectively.

Gatow had been a Luftwaffe training college and had no concrete runways before the RAF took it over in 1945 and laid one 4500ft long made of pierced steel planking.

Work on a concrete runway was begun in 1947. Tempelhof had been Berlin’s principal civil airport before the war and on occupying it the USAF had constructed a 4987ft long runway out of steel planking but with a taxiway and apron made of concrete.

During early 1948, it became clear to the Western leaders that the Russians were attempting to force them out of West Berlin all together. In January, the Russians started to insist that they be allow to board and check all trains bound for Berlin once they had entered the Soviet zone. The identity of every passenger was checked and if there was any opposition, the train was delayed for hours.

Autobahn traffic was stopped and turned around or forced to take long diversions on the pretext that the road surfaces had become unsafe and needed repairs.

On April 1, the Russians brought into effect a requirement that all Western nationals travelling to Berlin by road or rail would have to have their documents examined at Soviet checkpoints and freight would now require a Soviet permit to enter or leave the city. No one was told what sort of permits would be required or even where they could be obtained.

When Britain, France and the US protested, the Russians responded saying that there was no written agreement allowing unrestricted access to Berlin over land – which was true and an unfortunate oversight on the part of the Western allies. The following day General Lucius Clay,

commander of US forces in Europe, ordered the 61st Troop Carrier Group based at RheinMain Air Base, near Frankfurt, to fly supplies into Berlin with its 25 C-47B Skytrains.

The 61st encountered no problems with what later became known as the ‘Little Lift’ but three days later a Vickers VC.1 Viking airliner belonging to British European Airways on a scheduled flight into Gatow was buzzed by a Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter. The Soviet pilot made one pass, turned for a second, misjudged it and collided head-on with the airliner. The Russian died in the crash along with the four crew and 10 passengers aboard the Viking. It was a sign of things to come. Restrictions on military trains entering Berlin were eased by the Russians on April 10 but checks and general harassment of civilian vehicles continued periodically and this came to include waterways traffic on April 20.

As part of ongoing efforts to stabilise the German postwar economy, a new currency for the Western sectors of Germany, the Deutsche Mark, was announced on June 18.

The Russians, bent on preventing a German recovery and having previously blocked efforts to introduce a new currency, were horrified. On June 19, they blocked all road, rail and water traffic into Berlin without a permit and on June 22 a new currency for the Soviet sector, a rival Deutsche Mark, known in the West as the ‘Ostmark’, was announced.

Power supplies from the central electricity generator in the Soviet sector of Berlin to the Western sectors were severed at midnight on June 23, causing the electricity network across the British, American and French sectors to collapse. The only railroad artery into the Western sector was permanently closed in the early hours of June 24 and the autobahn was shut to all traffic. ➤

Early in the Berlin Airlift the USAF utilised the 80 C-47Bs of the 60th and 61st Troop Carrier Groups and 22 other aircraft borrowed from units all over Europe.

Here a line of C-47Bs unload on the ramp at Tempelhof. Editor’s collection

The Douglas C-54 carried 10 tons, and on many flights a little bit extra. Crews had noticed the children gathered by the runways waving and began dropping their sweet and chocolate rations to them.This became an official part of the airlift, as Operation Little Vittles. Here small parachutes with candy attached fall from a USAF C-54 on approach to Tempelhof. USAF The Douglas DC-3/C-47 Dakota 91

inside the

legend Under a dramatic sky, the Dakota starts up for a photo sortie from RAF Coningsby. As you approach the Dakota, it is obvious that for a 1930s transport aircraft, this remains a striking and elegant machine. Constance Redgrave

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Dakota in detail Aviation Classics was privileged to be given access to the photograph BBMF’s Dakota from nose to tail at its home base of RAF Coningsby. The following are the results of that trip with a few images from an earlier visit during winter maintenance four years ago when the engines were removed. We were also lucky enough to be at the Palm Springs Air Museum in 2011 when the aircraft was stripped for maintenance, so include several of the images here.

T

ypical of the aircraft of the BBMF, Dakota ZA947 is a superbly maintained working example of this historic aircraft. The flight uses the Dakota not only as a display aircraft, but also as a parachute jump platform for the RAF Falcons free fall display team and for special events such as commemorations of famous airborne operations.

Paratroopers have jumped from the BBMF’s Dakota in re-enactments as part of the celebrations of both D-Day and Operation Market Garden among others. The Dakota also serves as a fine trainer to familiarise the flight’s aircrew with operating large multiengine tailwheel aircraft, not a type of aircraft aircrew would fly anywhere else in the RAF. The Dakota is also useful in its original role as a transport aircraft for the flight, enabling ground crew and support equipment to be brought to wherever the flight is displaying.

This particular aircraft is a Douglas C-47 built in March 1942 for the United States Army Air Force. It was not in service for long before it was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in September the same year.

The RCAF initially used the transport in Canada before it was moved to Europe to support Canadian Forces, a task it undertook until 1971. The Royal Aircraft Establishment 114 inside the legend

(RAE) at Farnborough then purchased the aircraft for use as a trials platform for a variety of stores and systems.

Sonobouys were test dropped and remotely piloted vehicles were launched among many other tasks. This varied work continued until 1992, when the Defence Research Agency elected to dispose of the aircraft.

Strike Command acquired the Dakota and the aircraft underwent an extensive engineering examination and refurbishment with Air Atlantique at Coventry Airport, who at the time were one of Europe’s largest DC-3 operators.

After this work was complete, ZA947 was issued it to the BBMF in March 1993 and since then has been a regular visitor to airshows throughout Europe. The Dakota has been painted in the colours of a number of RAF Squadrons during its time with the flight, but today wears the markings of an aircraft of 233 Squadron, which flew paratroops into France on the eve of D-Day. After the invasion 233 operated as a transport unit bringing supplies into France, but returning to the UK with wounded personnel on board as aeromedical evacuation aircraft, all done from hastily prepared strips set up just behind the Allied advance.

During the time the Dakota has been with the flight, a number of changes have been made

to the aircraft. In 2004 an original C-47 floor was refitted into the cabin, along with the bench type paratroop seats, meaning the interior is now exactly as it would have been in wartime.

At times during the aircraft’s restoration, the interior paint has been stripped and has revealed several passengers’ signatures under the layers of paint from various stages in its career, a fascinating record.

The aircraft of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight are national treasures, and are treated with incredible levels of care and attention by the hard working ground crew and the aircrew alike. They have returned another Spitfire to flight in the last year, one amazing achievement among many.

If you would like to support the flight and its work in keeping these superb aircraft in the air where they belong, then a new club, the Official RAF Memorial Flight Club has been founded for enthusiasts to become part of the flight’s team. If you are interested then more details are available from www.memorialflightclub.com The pages here are an attempt to capture the fine details of this large and complex aircraft, no easy task, and to give you a feel for what it is like to maintain and fly a Dakota. All the images are by Constance Redgrave, Aviation Classics’ oil stained photographer, unless otherwise stated. Words: Tim Callaway