Hobbycraft DHC-3 Otther Floatplane 1/72 Scale

If ever there was an aircraft of immense interest whose exploits have gone, for the most part, unrecorded and unnoticed, it must surely be De Havilland Canada's Otter. The DHC-3 Otter first flew in December 1951 and ever since it has faithfully served its operators, both military and civil, mostly in remote parts of the world. Despite its many achievements and the great amount of important work it has performed over the years, very little has been written about the aircraft.

The Otter was heavily involved in the Antarctic exploration programme of the late 1950s and early 1960s, but writings on this topic usually concentrate on other types of aircraft that were involved. It made a huge contribution in many outback parts of the world to their development.

In US Army service it was instrumental in mapping and survey work in the Americas, from Alaska all the way south to Chile, as well as in northern Africa and yet these roles are largely unknown. In Vietnam it saw ten years of combat service and yet books on the South East Asian conflict either ignore the Otter completely or mention it only in passing. In its home country, as in Alaska, it must surely be the ultimate bush aircraft and yet it is usually mentioned, if at all, in passing as being "a big Beaver", which it is but it still merits discussion of its own achievements.

Model Kit Reviews:
http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/viet/dhc3.htm
http://www.swannysmodels.com/Otter.html

Other information:
http://www.oldwings.nl/content/dhc3/dhc3.htm
http://www1.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=179
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-3_Otter