The life and death of Dakota number 6813

Dakota 6813 had a remarkable life – and a dramatic death. The aircraft rolled off the production line in 1942 and was initially delivered to the US Army Air Force, before being transferred to the Royal Air Force and then to the South African Air Force where she served until 1954. For another 34 years she carried cargo for a range of private owners in South Africa, Rhodesia, Botswana and finally Zimbabwe, where, while flying for the Red Cross she came down into a particularly unforgiving patch of woodland...