Roden 1/144 Scale Douglas C-47 Skytrain Dakota Mk. III Model Kit

Roden 1/144 Scale Douglas C-47 Skytrain Dakota Mk. III Model Kit 

On the morning of June 6, 1944, shortly before dawn, thesilence of the sky over occupied France awoke to the roar of the engines of anincredible number of aircraft, announcing a new offensive operation of theAllied forces, an operation that went down forever in history as OperationOverlord or D-Day - the historic day which began a large-scale offensiveagainst Germany's position in occupied Europe, when the Allied forces launcheda mass invasion by their armies into Normandy. Thousands of paratrooperslanding in coastal areas played a vital role in radically influencing themilitary initiative, ensuring the seizure of advanced bridgeheads for the bulkof the Allied forces, which at the same time had already started landing fromthe sea.

The main role in the delivery of a huge number of troops belonged to the C-47Skytrain transport aircraft, or Dakota Mk.III as it was called while in servicewith the British Royal Air Force. Hundreds of these transport planes carriedthe bulk of the paratroopers that night, both American and British, as well asunits from other countries belonging to the British Crown; side by side withtroops from the occupied countries, which were attached to the British unitsparticipating in this operation. In addition, the C-47 towed a large number ofHorsa type gliders to occupied France with paratroopers on board, ammunitionfor the soldiers, and other important military equipment.

The C-47 is considered to have been the Second World War's main transportmedium in its class, since apart from participating in D Day, which was its"golden time" in contributing to the common cause of all thetransport forces of the Allies, it had to bear the major part of the Allies'transportation burden during the war, carrying out important missions both inthe European theater and in the remote battlefields of Africa, the Far East andother regions of strategic importance. The C-47 is considered to be the iconic"right plane", deserving that title equally with the famous fighters,bombers and other important types of combat aircraft. Remembering Day D, it isa true symbol of the event which was, without any doubt, fundamental inchanging the course of the history of the end of the Second World War.