Dakota DC-3

Before 1936 an airline made its living carrying mail, and passengers were a courtesy the timetable tolerated. The DC-3 reversed that arithmetic, then never quite retired. Nearly a century on, Dakotas still fly freight into airstrips that no other aircraft will accept.

Part of the Authentic Models Elements of the Skies collection, honouring the moment in 1936 when the DC-3 entered airline service and made carrying passengers a business in its own right.

Dakota DC-3 is the wide-span offering in the range. Its low, level stance and long wing give a shelf or console table a horizon.

Each piece features hand-shaped aluminium panels, riveted seams, a glazed cockpit, twin radial engines and sprung landing gear with rubber tyres. Nothing is overlooked, down to the wheels.

It settles naturally into a room where journeys are the subject: an office, a study, a shelf of atlases. For the person whose own map has a few pins in it already.