RAF Dakota at Transport Festival

Audlem Festival of Transport, Sunday 27th July
RAF Memorial Flight Dakota

ASET is pleased to confirm that the RAF Memorial Flight Dakota will be making an appearance at the Festival of Transport next Sunday (subject to weather conditions),

So, at 3.50pm, look to the sky to witness this amazing aircraft. ASET feels very privileged that the RAF have included the Audlem Festival of Transport in their programme of displays.

Below is a very brief history of the Dakota which we hope you will find interesting.

Douglas C-47 Dakota

The Douglas C-47 Dakota is without doubt one of the most successful aircraft designs in history. It became one of the world's most famous military transport aircraft and saw widespread use by the Allies during World War Two and subsequently by Air Forces and civilian operators worldwide.

As a tactical transport aircraft, the Dakota was used to carry troops and freight, for the air-dropping of supplies and paratroopers, for towing gliders and for casualty evacuation.

The Dakota 's amazing ruggedness became legendary and under the demands of war its capabilities were increased to permit it to carry a payload more than double the original specification or 28 fully-equipped soldiers or paratroopers.

In practice, the aircraft's specified limits were often exceeded. For example, on 8th May 1942, a single RAF Dakota of No 31 Squadron evacuated an astonishing 65 passengers (refugees, walking wounded and the crews of two other Dakotas which had been destroyed on the ground by Japanese air attacks) in one flight, from Myitkyina airfield in Burma, just before it was captured by the advancing Japanese Army.

The C-47 was actually overbuilt, making it almost indestructible. As one Dakota pilot put it: "You can wreck a Dak, but you can't wear it out!"

Its work was, perhaps, often unglamorous and 'unsung' but the C-47 Dakota and its crews played a crucial part in the final Allied victory of World War Two.

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