Italeri DC-3 Dakota 1/72 Scale

Without a doubt one of the best known aircraft in the world today is still the venerable DC3. A legend in her own time, The Douglas DC3 airliner ranks amongst man's greatest developments in this century. With around 1500 to 2000 in service at the 65th anniversary of her first flight, she is one of the most enduring. Our DC3 started life as a C47B. It is 65 years since the first flight.

The first flight of the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST) - soon to be known as DC3- was on the 17th of December 1935 which was the 32nd anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Both flights proved to be major milestones in aviation history and each went virtually unnoticed at the time. At Santa Monica in California it was an understated beginning for a legend, there was not even a photographer on hand to record the event. The earliest DC3 pictures were taken on a later flight.

The first DST/DC3 was a fourteen passenger luxury sleeper transport built for American Airlines on their non-stop New York-Chicago run. The seven lower berths converted into large comfortable adjustable seats for the day travel while the seven upper berths folded into the ceiling. There were two dressing rooms and lavatories located in the rear of the cabin. A galley up front provided hot meals. There was also a honeymoon cabin up forward. In the railroad oriented thinking of the time this was a flying Pullman Car.

Model Kit Review:

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/Reviews/usaaf/dc-3-dakota.htm

Additional information:

http://www.aviation-history.com/douglas/dc3.html

http://www.nzwarbirds.org.nz/dakota/history.html

http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/dc-3.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-3