This has stirred memories of my late father telling me his first-ever flight was in a Dakota. I can only surmise that it was from Calcutta to Imphal circa May 1942 in order to re-join his Royal Artillery unit. He'd been left behind, hospitalised with typhus, while the parent 23rd Indian Division moved up to the Burmese border. How I wish I knew the facts.
Later he and thousands of others were for many weeks sustained by airdrops from Dakotas during the Battle of Imphal. Bless 'em all!