Skymaster could carry fifty troops, was used (for troop and cargo transportation) well beyond the end of the Great War until it was retired in 1975. The disappearance of a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster in 1950 led to the largest consecrated efforts by the US and Canada to find an aircraft that vanished in the skies. Over the years, many aircraft disappearances have baffled the world of avation.
- The campaign for Okinawa, which took place in parallel to the Battle of Okinawa, 16,599 casualties were evacuated through aircraft by Army Air Forces, the Navy, and – approximately 60% of them flown out by VRE-1.
- A General Order could be an award document that contains information on many servicemen.
- According to the 20th Air Force, the Berlin airlift “saved nearly 2.4 million Germans from the Soviet-controlled East Berlin in the late 1940s”.
- It transported everything from troops and supplies to VIPs, including presidents and prime ministers.
- A new need that developed just before the war was to return Army ferry pilots to the United States from overseas delivery points.
- These aircraft could carry twenty six passengers, and had four long range auxiliary fuel tanks in the main cabin.
From Liner to Lifeline: The Douglas C-54 Skymaster Story
A General Order could be an award document that contains information on many servicemen. It was used for transporting troops, cargo, and medical evacuations across the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. The aircraft featured a tailwheel landing gear configuration and was typically operated by a crew of four to six members, depending on the mission profile. The DC-4 had proven itself in military service, and the type was seen as the vehicle to open up international routes to Europe and South America and across the Pacific to Hawaii and Australia. Troop carrier C-47s had begun transporting patients in New Guinea in 1942, but the advent of the C-54 allowed movement of wounded soldiers, sailors, and airmen from overseas combat zones to hospitals in the United States. Their wheel loading was such that the weight of the airplanes tore up the pierced steel planking runways that were laid down by engineers at forward locations.
Operational history
This aircraft that was stylized militarily, first took to the skies on 14th February from Clover Field. The engines were later changed to four 1,450 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp (R-2000) 2SD1-G fourteen-cylinder radials (after talk with the aforementioned airlines). The aircraft was going to have a fuselage of maniacasino a circular cross-section. The aircraft’s versatility, the numerous accidents it was involved in, and a couple of vanishing acts have made it an iconic aircraft of US history. Skymaster also served as the main airlift during the Korean War. During the Berlin Airlift of 1948 alone, more than 300 aircraft of this type were deployed.
Air War Links –
The need for four-engine transports was so great that the War Department ordered large numbers of B-24s converted to the transport role as the C-87 Liberator Express. They were also adopted as a means of delivering dispatches and transporting high-level personnel to and from England. A new need that developed just before the war was to return Army ferry pilots to the United States from overseas delivery points.
American Overseas Airlines Douglas DC-4 crash
These powerful engines gave the Skymaster an impressive range, allowing it to ferry substantial cargo over long distances. The C-54L was a single aircraft modified to use a different fuel system. The XC-54K was a single aircraft modified to use Wright R-1820-HD radial engines.
- The C-54A was a fully militarized version of the DC-4, with a reinforced cargo floor, a large (2.38m by 1.7m) cargo door and built-in cargo loading hoist.
- 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.
- Navy, many C-54s were modified for use in civilian firefighting and air tanker roles.
- All of the 14 people on board (two pilots, nine mechanics and three other military personnel) were killed.
- Air evacuation of casualties became a C-54 mission, particularly in the Pacific where five Skymasters configured for patient transport were placed into operation in mid-1944.
- Even though the C-54 had not become the prime transport in the airlift to China, it had become a familiar around the rest of the world.
The aircraft were sold to airlines around the world. They also served as the main airlift during the Korean War. The C-54 was also used by the Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, and the armed forces of at least 12 other nations. With the introduction of the Tri-Service aircraft designation system in 1962, all R5Ds were re-designated C-54. It was one of the first aircraft to carry the President of the United States, the first being President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. Dozens of variants of the C-54 were employed in a wide variety of non-combat roles such as air-sea rescue, scientific and military research, and missile tracking and recovery.