Navy service (C-54Q, BuNo 56501, of the Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River) was retired on 2 April 1974. C-54s began service with the USAAF in 1942, carrying up to 26 passengers, later versions carrying up to 50 passengers. With the C-54E, the last two cabin fuel tanks were moved to the wings which allowed more freight or 44 passenger seats. The most common variant was the C-54D, which entered service in August 1944. The C-54B, introduced in March 1944, had integral fuel tanks in the outer wings, allowing two of the cabin tanks to be removed. After the Korean War it continued to be used for military and civilian uses by more than 30 countries.
C-54 Skymaster
- Designated as the C-54A, the new version did not become available for military testing until February 1943.
- When the Secret Service expressed doubts about the safety of the C-87, the USAAF turned to the Douglas Aircraft Company to build a military transport specifically to accommodate the special needs of the president.”
- Since the new bases in the Marianas were on islands, the massive numbers of transport forces that had deployed to India with them were not needed, so Arnold transferred them to Tunner’s command.
- C-54 Skymaster was operated by the USAF service until the 1970s, Later, Skymaster was designed for long-range trans-ocean transport.
- It was not until 1942 that the new airliner was ready for its first flight, and by that time the country was at war.
- The pilot was able to ditch the aircraft, and whilst ten people on board were killed as a result of the attack, another nine were rescued by a USAF Grumman HU-16 Albatross Air-Sea Rescue plane.
It was equipped with a state-room, three conference rooms and an electric left for the President’s wheelchair. The single VC-54C was President Roosevelt’s personal transport. 100 were built at Santa Monica and 120 at Chicago.
Unlike the C-47, C-46, and the transport versions of the C-87, the Skymaster was never used in the troop carrier or direct combat support role during the war. The ailing president died less than two months later, and the airplane passed to his successor, Harry Truman, who used the airplane, which had been dubbed “The Sacred Cow” by the media, for 27 months before it was replaced by a militarized DC-6. The presidential airplane was unique in that it included a number of features not present on other models. General Douglas MacArthur, who had been given overall command of the Pacific War, replaced the B-17 that served as his personal transport with an ATC C-54. Most of the India-China Wing’s C-46s were replaced, but the larger C-87s and their sister C-109 tankers continued in service through the end of the war.
Use of the C-54 Skymaster during Second World War and other missions
The best feature of the C-54, and it was also true of the Liberator and other airplanes, was that by exercising fuel management techniques pilots could increase the airplane’s range substantially. The mission of the new ATC included ferrying of aircraft to combat units overseas as well as all air transportation not within the domain of troop carrier units. The B model also featured additional fuel capacity to increase range and entered service in the spring of 1944. On July 1, 1941, Lt. Col. Caleb Haynes took off from Bolling Field outside Washington, D.C., on the first run of the “Arnold Line,” a transoceanic military airline service.
C-53C variant of the Skymaster
Army Air Transport Command and was perhaps the most important airplane to come out of the war. It was not until 1942 that the new airliner was ready for its first flight, and by that time the country was at war. The original design, later designated as the DC-4E, featured a pressurized cabin to allow high-altitude operations in relative comfort, but the design was too expensive for the cash-strapped airline industry of the Depression years and was put on hold. Nothing more was heard from the aircraft, nor was any trace of it found despite an extensive search. The pilot was able to ditch the aircraft, and whilst ten people on board were killed as a result of the attack, another nine were rescued by a USAF Grumman HU-16 Albatross Air-Sea Rescue plane. A subsequent inspection of the aircraft's damage revealed that it had been hit by 89 shots fired from the Soviet MiGs.
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was the military version of the DC-4 airliner, and was the first truly effective four-engined transport aircraft to enter USAAF service. Overall, the Douglas C-54 Skymaster's combination of range, capacity, and reliability made it a cornerstone of post-war airlift operations and a significant contributor to global aviation history. The C-54 also saw military service in the Korean War and was eventually replaced by more modern transport aircraft in the 1960s.
- The Pratt & Whitney engines allowed the Skymaster to fly over the most hostile terrains and weather conditions, showcasing its impressive resilience and power.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Air War Index –
The aircraft had 26 personnel aboard including eleven nurses. North Korean fighter aircraft attacked airfields at Kimpo and Seoul, the South Korean capital, destroying one USAF C-54 on the ground at Kimpo Air Base. No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found. On 14 May 1948, an army transport plane flying through a rainstorm crashed in Northampton, Massachusetts, killing the three crew members aboard. It was, at the time, the deadliest aircraft crash on Newfoundland soil. On October 3, 1946, an American Overseas Airlines (AOA) Douglas C-54 aircraft named Flagship New England crashed soon after take-off from Stephenville, Newfoundland, killing all 39 people on board.
John F. Martin was at the helm of aircraft operations. While Douglas stated that the production of its civil aircraft wouldn’t come in the way of delivering military planes, production of this new aircraft was taken over by the US Army Air Force. Douglas aircraft received military orders for aircraft (from France, Britain, and the US Armed Forces). Its legacy as a versatile and durable transport aircraft remains notable to this day. The C-54 Skymaster was a high-wing monoplane with a fully pressurized fuselage, making it one of the first mass-produced transport aircraft to feature such a capability. The war was over, but a new era in air transportation was beginning as the world took notice of the air transportation capabilities offered by the Douglas Skymaster.
The Mighty Hamilcar: The WWII Glider That Could Carry a Tank
During its services, two Skymasters vanished, without a trace. At the peak of operations, 204 C-54s and 22 R5Ds with a further 110 Skymasters in training or undergoing maintenance were operating from Rhein-Main (Frankfurt) to Tempelhof (US zone) and from Fassberg to Gatow (British zone). Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen, a Utah native, alongside his fellow airmen, earned fame for dropping candy tied to parachutes out of their C-54 maniacasino for the children of East Berlin.