C-54 Skymaster Douglas Aircraft Transport Aircraft World War II

There were 14 passengers and air crew on board from the U.S. The airplane was en route to a classified destination referred to as "Watertown" (now known as the Area 51 test site in Nevada) from Burbank, California. On 23 July 1954, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster civilian airliner, registration VR-HEU, operated by Cathay Pacific Airways, en route from Bangkok to Hong Kong, was shot and heavily damaged by Chinese PLAAF maniacasino Lavochkin La-11 fighters off the coast of Hainan Island. All of the 14 people on board (two pilots, nine mechanics and three other military personnel) were killed. Navy, many C-54s were modified for use in civilian firefighting and air tanker roles. By January 1946, Pan American Airways was operating their Skymasters on transatlantic scheduled services to Europe and beyond.

C-53C variant of the Skymaster

Tunner’s initial goal was for a force of 272 Skymasters on the airlift, but the war ended before it was met. Between April and June 1942 the military air transportation system underwent a major overhaul as existing air transportation units were turned into troop-carrying organizations and a new Air Transport Command was established, using the headquarters for the prewar Air Corps Ferrying Command. All the DC-4 production that had been ordered by the airlines was appropriated for military use, and it was not until the end of the war that the four-engine transport finally put on airline paint. Although the attack had severely damaged the aircraft, necessitating the shutdown of engines number three and four, the pilot in command of the aircraft managed to carry out a safe emergency landing at Tempelhof Airport. The C-54 was one of the most commonly used long-range transports by the U.S. armed forces in World War II.

• Between April and June 1942 the military air transportation system underwent a major overhaul as existing air transportation units were turned into troop-carrying organizations and a new Air Transport Command was established, using the headquarters for the prewar Air Corps Ferrying Command.
• Over the years, many aircraft disappearances have baffled the world of avation.
• The transport crashed in the Gomor district near the border, between French and Spanish Morocco.
• Initial C-54 operations were in support of the war in Europe, as the first airplanes went to work ferrying personnel and dispatches from Miami to Natal.
• After World War II, the C-54 continued to serve with the USAF and other military and civilian operators around the world.

Air War Links –

• Navy service (C-54Q, BuNo 56501, of the Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River) was retired on 2 April 1974.
• The first C-54 to operate over the Pacific was an airplane that had been drawn off of the Atlantic route for a special airlift of B-24 stabilizers to Australia in response to an urgent requirement.
• The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War.
• The newly established need for long-range transports became so great that when the Army received its first Consolidated B-24 Liberators 11 were converted into transports even though the type had been developed to fill a requirement for a long-range bomber to replace the Boeing B-17.
• Under the hood, the Skymaster boasted four Pratt & Whitney R-2000 radial engines, each generating 1,450 horsepower.
• The original DC-4 had been conceived as a passenger-carrying airplane; production aircraft came from the factory with fixed seats and a floor that lacked the reinforcement necessary to transport heavy cargo.

They managed to walk through several hundred miles of jungle and rough terrain and then captured the airfield in August, after almost six months in the field. Since it had been designed for airline use where it would receive regular maintenance, the C-54 suffered greatly from mechanical problems when it was operated under austere conditions such as those existing on the India-China ferry. The high altitudes required for the Hump fliers precluded the assignment of the C-54 to operations into China at the time. By 1943 the towering Himalayas were a frequent sight for ATC crews on their way to and from airfields in eastern India. Although the airplane was easy to fly and reliable, its high-altitude performance was limited.

The Engines of the C-54 Skymaster

Initial purchase costs were more than half a million dollars in 1940, and even though production costs dropped the cost per airplane was still more than a quarter of a million dollars in 1945. The C-54 was the result of a prewar civilian design that the Douglas Aircraft Company developed as a successor to its highly successful DC-3. By mid-1945 the C-54 had come to symbolize the modern international airline system, a system that linked the entire world and reduced travel times from weeks and months to days and even hours. The Douglas C-54 Skkymaster served around the globe during World War II and accelerated the growth of peacetime air travel. Eight United States airmen died when their plane exploded in the rugged Riff Mountains of North Africa. The transport crashed in the Gomor district near the border, between French and Spanish Morocco.

Filling the Need For a Four-Engine Transport

The following batch of aircraft, designated C-54A, were built with a stronger floor and a cargo door with a hoist and winch. To meet military requirements, the first civil production aircraft had four additional auxiliary fuel tanks in the main cabin, which reduced the number of passenger seats to 26. Besides transport of cargo, the C-54 also carried presidents, prime ministers, and military staff. They served in air-sea rescue operations, scientific and military research, missile tracking, and recovery.

Over the next five years Air Transport Command Skymasters made 79,642 transoceanic flights, with only two forced ditching. The first C-54 Skymaster entered USAAF service on 20 March 1942, and by the end of the year enough had been delivered to begin to make a real impact. The resulting DC-4 had a circular fuselage, was powered by four engines, and used a tricycle undercarriage. The first had been judged to be too complex by the airlines, and in 1939 American, Eastern and United Air Lines got together with Douglas to draw up the specifications for a simpler machine.