Corgi AA38204 C-47 Dakota – ZA974 Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, based at RAF Coningsby

Issued to the BBMF in March 1993, the Dakota is a year-round workhorse for the BBMF being used in a variety of roles, including general support tasks, such as transporting ground crew and equipment to display venues or other operating airfields. Importantly, as there are no other multi-engine tailwheel-configured aircraft in RAF service outside the BBMF, she is used for training aircrew for the BBMF multi-engine aircraft and in keeping the pilots of the Lancaster current on a multi-engine tailwheel aircraft during the winter months when the bomber is out of action. Increasingly, though, the Dakota has become a display aircraft in her right and now appears regularly on the airshow circuit either on her own or as part of a BBMF 3-ship formation, in company with a pair of fighters. Dakota ZA947 currently wears the livery of 267 ‘Pegasus’ Squadron, which flew in the Transport, Trooping and Re-supply roles in the Middle East and the Mediterranean Theatres during 1943/44. The squadron employed various colour schemes on its Dakotas but always displayed its ‘Pegasus’ emblem prominently on the aircraft’s nose.