In praise of … the Dakota

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/15/in-praise-of-the-dakota

Version 0 of 1.

A group of American pilots are to fly a restored C-47 military transport across the Atlantic to take part in the 70th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in June. Known as Skytrains to the Americans and as Dakotas to the British, the C-47 is one of the five or six most famous aircraft in aviation history. Under these and other names it was the sturdy workhorse of the second world war, moving US marines in the Pacific, and US and British troops in Europe, including the paratroopers dropped in Normandy ahead of the main invasion force. That is to say it was sturdy and state of the art in 1944. Hardly the case now, when the five crew, proceeding in short hops, will have to shiver their way across the ocean in its unheated and unpressurised fuselage. An uncomfortable and even a hazardous adventure. Yet it commemorates an even more uncomfortable and definitely hazardous enterprise, so that seems fitting. Yes, they will be taking parachutes.