Douglas C-54 Skymaster
Technical Information
Background
Other designations were DC-4, R5D.
Douglas produced this four-engine transport about twice the size
of the DC-3 and, in 1938. It
proved too expensive to maintain, so airlines agreed to suspend
development in favor of the less complex DC-4, but it was not
put into commercial service until 1946. Its military derivative
was the C-54 "Skymaster" transport, ordered by the U.S.
Army Air Forces in 1942.
Douglas built 1,241 a special C-54C, nicknamed
the "Sacred Cow" by the White House press corps, became
the first presidential aircraft, ordered for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After World War II, commercial airlines placed
more than 300 civilian DC-4 transports into service. DC-4s and
used C-54s carried more passengers than any other four-engine
transport. Some were still operating around the world through
the year 1998!
