"Canucks Unlimited" Dakota III, 436 Squadron RCAF, India/Burma 1944/45
Built for "100 Years of the Royal Canadian Air Force" group build. Used the Airfix kit with decals from Flight Colours. Tamiya RAF Dark Green, Dark Earth and Medium Sea Grey.
Some notes about 436 Squadron (from Wikiwand):
Motto(s): "Onus Portamus" ("We Carry The Load")
Squadron badge: Elephant head with a log
436 Transport Squadron was originally a squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The unit was assembled in Gujrat, (then) India on 9 October 1944. Equipped with the C-47 Dakota, 436 Squadron flew its first official mission on 15 January 1945 from Kanglatongbi, Assam, India, when seven Dakotas airlifted 59 tons of supplies for 33 Corps of the Allied 14th Army in Burma. Soon the adopted emblem of the squadron, "Canucks Unlimited," would be seen far and wide in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theatre of operations.
According to news reports of the day, "in the first 18 days after W/C Ralph Gordon's RCAF Dakota transport squadron reached its present aircraft complement, it led all Dakota squadrons in tonnage carried to the Mandalay and Irrawaddy front. To save time the aircrew on the squadron voted to eat dry rations between sorties instead of using time over a cooked meal. The time for an engine change has been cut from three to two days without a loss of efficiency under the direction of F/L H. Webb, Caledonia, Ont., the engineering officer.”
In April 1945, 436 Squadron was ordered to move its operations from Akyab Island in the Bay of Bengal down the coast to Ramree Island. C-47 KN210 piloted by F.L. Denison was carrying a load of bricks to build ovens to serve the squadron's new home. The weight had been miscalculated and, during the flight, the aircraft could barely maintain altitude. At this point, L.A.C. Art Adams spotted a beached Japanese seaplane. Someone shouted, "Let's get rid of some bricks!" The door was opened and a couple of low passes were made, during which Art proceeded to throw bricks at the seaplane. No signs of life were seen down below, and it is doubtful whether any damage was actually inflicted. It must, however, be the only case in which bricks were used to bomb the enemy during the war.
Belonging to No. 229 Group RAF, 436 Squadron was part of a RAF-USAF-RCAF force known as "the Combat Cargo Task Force". On 31 August 1945, following cessation of hostilities, the squadron was relocated to RAF Down Ampney, Glouchestershire in the UK after having logged over 36,000 flight hours and airlifting over 29,000 tons of supplies and 15,000 troops, casualties, and passengers. Although the first Far East Canadian transport squadron to be formed, 436 Squadron was the last to leave for England.
According to a Canadian Press Cable story reporting from London on 20 September 1945, W/C Dick Dennison of Winnipeg, "the squadron in the east flew more than 6,000,000 miles and was known as 'Canucks Unlimited'."
Following ten months of transport work in post-war Europe, the squadron flew home to Canada and was subsequently disbanded on 22 June 1946. They reformed at RCAF Station Dorval on 1 April 1949, moved to RCAF Station Downsview on 1 July 1956, RCAF Station Uplands in August 1964, and finally to CFB Trenton on 11 August 1971.
Currently flying Hercules.
The build log from the group build is here: https://imodeler.com/groups/100-years-of-the-royal-canadian-air-force/forum/topic/rcaf-c-47-dakota-burma-campaign-airfix-1-72/
Happy Modeling.
Dear Aldo @aldog, your Dakota looks absolutely great. Lovely paintjob with very nice weathering. I followed your build thread with great interest. Love all the schemes from the Burma theater!
Thanks Felix @fxrob. Appreciate your kind words.
Your Dakota and the base turned out really nice, Aldo @aldog
It was a pleasure to follow your building thread.
Thank you John @johnb. Great to have you on the thread.
What a beautiful diorama, Aldo! What a great way to commemorate the 100 Years of the Royal Canadian Air Force!
Loved following your build thread too!
Thanks Spiros @fiveten. Always good to hear from you.
Great model, Aldo (@aldog), sitting in a very nice diorama. Not often do you see elephants in an airplane diorama. Well done.
Thanks George @gblair. When we lived in Thailand for a year, itinerant mahouts (elephant handlers) would sometimes lead their animals through our neighbourhood, soliciting food scraps from outdoor restaurant diners and households. I imagine similar scenes in Burma. The HO scale animals are actually African elephants, but I shaved the ears down to more approximate the Asian variety. Can't do much about the overall profile, but I don't know if you can get HO Asian versions. Cheers.
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
You can find very good set with Asian Elephants from CMK.
Excellent build and dio - and the Dakota looks great with those roundels! Well done.
Thanks Greg @gkittinger. Lot of other classic planes that wore those roundels awaiting future projects. Cheers.
Well Done! I enjoyed reading the "bricks" anecdote.
Thanks John @jsummerford. The brick story is very entertaining. Perhaps there's a diorama in there as well. Cheers.
Wonderful finish on this build.
Thanks Matt @coondog. It was an enjoyable kit to build.
That turned out great, Aldo.
Thanks John @j-healy
That turned out really nice. Love the elephants.
Thanks Tom @tcinla. Always good to hear from you.
Great looking diorama (@aldog) Aldo, I always appreciate Canadian content. I just recently picked up a 1/48th decal sheet of the "Canucks Unlimited" Dakota for a kit I have in the stash. My recent build of a Dakota is currently over in Juno Beach on display (so I have room to build another now I guess:)
Thanks @flypastrush. I look forward to seeing your 1/48 version.
Very nice. I recommend palms from seller from Thailand that he has shop on eBay. Very good an cheap palms in various forms.
PS. This Dakota has ASV Mk.II radar?
Thanks Capt. R @lis. Not sure about the radar.