Douglas C-47_Dakota

About

The "Dakota" was the British and Commonwealth designation for the Douglas C-47 Skytrain — itself the military variant of the DC-3 airliner that first flew on December 17, 1935, with Douglas chief test pilot Carl Cover at the controls. Named after the U.S. state to fit the British convention of giving American-built aircraft American place names (Boston for the A-20, Mitchell for the B-25, Liberator for the B-24), the Dakota became one of the visual signatures of British and Commonwealth logistics aviation in World War II.

The Dakota carried paratroopers of the British 6th Airborne Division on D-Day, supplied the long-range desert war in North Africa, supported the Burma campaign through the eastern Himalayas, and served the Berlin Airlift in RAF colors after the war ended. The British Air Ministry received Dakotas under Lend-Lease and through direct purchase, and the type continued in RAF service well into the 1960s and 1970s, long after most contemporary World War II transport aircraft had been retired. The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials, the unmistakable twin-engine silhouette, and the slightly upturned tail give the Dakota the same Douglas family resemblance that links it to every DC-3 variant.

The Dakota in RAF livery — typically in dark green and brown camouflage with British roundels and squadron codes — is one of the most-modeled WWII transport subjects in British and Commonwealth RC scale flying.

In the simulator

The same demanding twin-engine handling as the U.S.-livery C-47 Army variant in this pack — substantial inertia, twin-engine throttle coordination, and the kind of deliberate pattern flying a real Dakota pilot trained for. Different paint scheme, identical airframe behavior. Pairs well with airport-class landscapes that have proper runways. A natural sibling to the Douglas C-47 Army (U.S. military) and Douglas DC-3 Eastern Airlines (civil) liveries in this same pack — same type, three uniforms.