The Curtiss C-46 was a large and very useful cargo aeroplane used by the United States during World War II.

It was overshadowed by the smaller C-47 Dakota but still made a valuable contribution to the allied war effort.

The C-46 began life as an airliner, flying for the first time in March 1940.

Its large capacity attracted the attention of US military officials and it was soon ordered into production as a military freighter.

Over 3000 C-46s were manufactured, they served mostly in the Pacific theatre with the USAAF and US Marine Corps.

C-46s were perhaps most useful in flying the air link between India and China after the Japanese occupied Burma and they also contributed to American island-hopping actions.

They remained in military service with several air forces well into the 1980s and became popular with cargo airlines, flying all over the world.

Some of them remain in service today

This model represents a production C-46

Williams Brothers 1:72 kit completed by Leigh Edmonds in September 2001.