History
of the Douglas Dakota aircraft. Transport
aircraft , parachute aircraft for D-Day and Arnhem, published by Cranston
Fine Arts, the aviation art company.
DOUGLAS DAKOTA, Transport aircraft with
three crew and can carry 28 passengers. speed 230-mph, and a altitude of
23,200 feet. maximum range 2,100 miles. The Douglas Dakota served in
all theatres of world war two, The Royal Air Force received its
first Douglas Dakota's in April 1941, to 31 squadron which was serving in
India. These were DC2, later DC3 and eventually C-47 Dakotas were
supplied. The Douglas Dakota was developed from the civil airliner of the
1930's. The Royal Air Force received nearly 2,000 Dakotas, But many
more than this served in the US Air Force and other allied countries. The
last flight of a Douglas Dakota of the Royal Air Force was in 1970.
You can still see Douglas Dakota's in operational and transport use across
the world.
Larry Lewis DFC by Graeme Lothian.
At 3.30am on the 23rd June 1945, a Dakota of 357 (special duties) Squadron took off from Mingaladon airfield nr. Rangoon , to travel the 600 miles, 300 of them behind enemy lines, to rescue a downed American Liberator crew deep in the jungles of Siam . The Dakota was flown by pilot Fl Lt. Larry Lewis, who already held the DFM awarded to him for 33 ops as a rear gunner on Wellingtons in 1941. Two crews had already failed when Lewis was asked to attempt this hazardous mission. Flying between 5,000 - 6,000ft he flew over The Hump, a ridge of mountains running down the spine of Burma . Local villagers had cleared a rough airstrip 800yds long with Lewis finding it by the time dawn broke. With monsoon clouds gathering, the Liberator crew aboard and the Dakota sinking in the wet ground, he managed, just, to get airborne. Flying at zero feet and looking out for Japanese Zero fighters Lewis took a different course back. Although being fired on from the ground they managed to make it.........
Dodging heavy flak and anti aircraft fire in the skies above Normandy, Douglas C-47s of the 91st Troop Carrier Squadron, 439th Troop Carrier Group see the 101st Airborne Division away on the night of 5th/6th June 1944 at the start of Operation Overlord. D-Day had arrived.
Item Code : B0478
Leap of Faith by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
The Douglas Dakota was undoubtedly one of the most important allied aircraft of the Second World War. The aircraft served in a variety of roles including paratroop-dropping, glider-towing, casualty evacuation to transporting all sorts of materials from food to weapons of war. It did it all and in doing so, helped win the war.
Item Code : DHM2677
Together we Stand by Philip West. - Editions Available
At 23.45 on the night of 5 June 1944, the 101st Airborne's most legendary unit of combat paratroopers – the notorious 'Filthy Thirteen' – jumped into France near the village of Sainte Mère Église, in the final hours before the D-Day landings. They were the Screaming Eagles' most notorious unit, a small bunch of raw, tough, ruthless young men. Hard drinking and savage fighting - and that was only in training - with scant regard for authority. And if the reputation of this unique bunch of renegades within the ranks of the 101st was formidable, for the Germans it became one of sheer terror. Officially they were the First Demolition Squadron, HQ Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne. Unofficially they were the 'Filthy Thirteen'. Superbly crafted in his unique blend of pencil and paint on tinted paper, Robert Taylor's classic new Master Drawing captures the moment on the night of 5 June 1944 when the 101st Airborne's legendary squad of elite paratroopers .........
Rare Pair of D-Day prints by Robert Taylor - Into Battle by Robert Taylor and Crash Landing by Robert Taylor.
Into Battle - Piling out of their C47 Dakotas, US paratroopers decent into the Drop Zone inland from Utah Beach D-Day 1944. Crash Landing - A Glider Pilot brings his fully laden CG Glider into the Normandy battlefield - D-Day 1944.
Item Code : AX0038
Rare Pair of D-Day prints by Robert Taylor - Into Battle by Robert Taylor and Crash Landing by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
It began in pitch darkness. June 6, 1944 was only a few minutes old when the Airborne Pathfinders drifted silently down from the sky above the fields of Normandy. At first their seemed nothing untoward about the drone of aircraft in the night sky. The German garrisons in Northern France were used to the noise of aircraft overhead after dark, but this night seemed particularly busy. Looking skyward a German sentry caught sight of parachutes floating down, clearly visible as the moon fleetingly broke through the clouds. For an instant he thought it was the crew jumping from a damaged bomber, but when he saw the mass of canopies floating earthwards, he knew it was no ordinary event. Within moments of raising the alarm the crackle of automatic gunfire confirmed his worst fears: The Invasion of France had begun. The first assault upon Hitlers Fortress Europe came from the sky. Shortly after midnight waves of aircraft and gliders delivered three Divisions of elite airborne troops into Norm.........
Douglas C-47s of the 439th Troop Carrier Group, 94th Troop Carrier Squadron, approach the Drop Zone above Normandy on the night of 5th / 6th June 1944 at the start of Operation Overlord.
Item Code : B0475
Drop Zone Ahead by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
Dakota KN442 lands again at Gatow during the autumn of 1948 at the height of the Berlin Airlift as Yorks and Hastings wait to take off for the return. Each print is autographed by the pilot, navigator and signaller who flew KN442 on the airlift. KN442 is rare among airlift aircraft in that it still flies today as G-AMPZ for Air Atlantique more than 50 years on.
Item Code : DHM2506
Perpetual Motion by Robert Tomlin. - Editions Available
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain – or Dakota, as it was known in RAF service – saw extensive use both as a glider tug and troop transport throughout World War 2, most notably for delivering paratroops to their designated drop zones over Normandy in June 1944 and over Arnhem in September the same year, often in the face of extreme anti-aircraft fire and attacks from enemy fighters. Here, C47s of the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron, 436th Troop Carrier Group drop paratroops above Holland as part of Operation Market Garden.
Item Code : B0498
The Ubiquitous Dakota by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
Dakota G-AMPZ (formerly KN442) of Air Atlantique resplendent in the commemorative livery of RAF Transport Command heads out across the English coast, back to Berlin? Still flying more than 50 years after serving valiantly on the Berlin Airlift, this aircraft carries out the bulk of the airlines passenger charters. These prints are signed by the current crew.
Item Code : DHM2507
Perpetual Motion II by Robert Tomlin. - Editions Available
As the Allied armies dashed across France after victory in Normandy, they remained reliant on one thing - supplies. With Cherbourg the only port in use, everything depended on trucks to deliver enough fuel, food and ammunition to keep the momentum going. But there was a problem. Too few trucks, and too few drivers. The invasion was in danger of stalling, and if it did, the Germans might just regain the initiative. Action was needed, and quickly. Montgomery argued that all resources be channeled into a single, powerful thrust into Germany, but Eisenhower disagreed. the Allies would advance on a broad front. But he did give Montgomery the First Allied Airborne Army to try and capture the major bridges in Holland on the road to the Rhine, ahead of the Allies advance. For the men of the 101st Airborne, the Screaming Eagles, their task was to seize the bridges at Eindhoven. The 82nd would do the same at Nijmegan, and the British 1st Airborne would capture the farthest bridge, at .........
