C-47A - "That's All Brother" – 1/72 Airfix

I picked up a 1967 boxing of this 1960 Airfix 1/72 C-47 Douglas Dakota kit last month, and decided to make it my first build for 2025. I chose as my subject "That's All Brother", which led the main airborne invasion of Normandy. Piloted by Lt. Col John Donaldson in Mission ALBANY, the plane led over 800 C-47s that dropped over 13,000 paratroopers the night before D-Day. It later participated in Operations Dragoon, Market Garden, Repulse, and Varsity.

The only scratchbuilding was addition of the H2S ground scanning radar on the underside of the fuselage, interior fuselage ribbing and extended decking behind the open door, and interior detail for the opened personnel door. I also added some additional detail to the main landing gear which in its simplified form allowed kids in the 1960s to retract the gear. I used Vallejo paints - medium grey underside and olive drab uppers. I used Kits World decals KW172205, which fit well and were some of the most durable decals I've worked with - and needed to be given the size and uneven nature of the "invasion stripes" decals.

The kit comes with a single tiny paratrooper, and after squinting at him I realized he wasn't "nearly" as overloaded with gear as he should be, so I loaded him down with chips of plastic representing bags and gear, including the infamous "leg bag". I modeled the rear access door open, as photos showed it to be before the troops were loaded. With the interior green and the khaki paratrooper it makes a nice contrast.

While correctly shaped, the kit itself is poor by current standards. It's better than the one Frog kit I've built, but not by a lot. Every seam line shows, and since the kit is covered with rivet detail it can't be effectively sanded. The rear doors were oversized, and I had to cut them down to get the opening to match the cabin floor. But unless you look closely, it looks pretty good, and will do until I can get my hands on one of Airfix' new tool versions released in 2014.

I have a personal connection to the C-47 in its civilian incarnation as the well-known DC-3. In November of 1971 we flew from Baton Rouge to Matamoros for Thanskgiving on one. My dad was the copilot and once we were airborne I went up to the cockpit to say hello, but the interior was so incredibly loud he never heard me. The main thing I remember about the plane was how disconcerting it was to sit in a tail-dragger leaning backward. Actually the main thing I remember was what a crush I had on the blonde girl sitting in front of me, but I vaguely remember a few other things as well.

Not a great kit, and a sloppy build (although my paint job was not as sloppy as the invasion stripes on the real aircraft!), but I really enjoyed the research on this historic aircraft and its occupants.