| C-54 Skymaster | |
|---|---|
| Role | Military transport aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft Company |
| Introduction | 1942 |
| Retired | 1975 |
| Primary users | United States Army Air Forces United States Navy United States Air Force |
| Produced | 1942 - 1947 |
| Number built | 1,170 |
| Developed from | Douglas DC-4 |
The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces and British forces in World War II and the Korean War. Besides transport of cargo, it also carried presidents, British heads of government, and military staff. 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. During the Berlin Airlift it hauled coal and food supplies to West Berlin.
After the Korean War it continued to be used for military and civilian uses by more than thirty countries. This was one of the first aircraft to carry the President of the United States and to assume the call sign Air Force One.
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Like the C-47 Skytrain, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian airliner (the Douglas DC-4).
C-54s began service with the US Army Air Forces in 1942, carrying up to 26 passengers. (Later versions carried up to 50 passengers.) The U.S. Navy also acquired the type, under the designation R5D. The C-54 was one of the most commonly used long-range transports by the U.S. armed forces in World War II. 515 C-54s were manufactured in Santa Monica, California and 655 were manufactured at Orchard Place / Douglas Field, in unincorporated Cook County, Illinois, near Chicago (later the site of O'Hare International Airport).[1]
After World War II, the C-54 continued to serve as the primary airlifter of the new United States Air Force and with the United States Navy.
In late 1945, several hundred C-54s were surplus to U.S. military requirements and these were converted for civil airline operation, many by Douglas Aircraft at its aircraft plants. The aircraft were sold to airlines around the world. By January 1946, Pan American Airways was operating their Skymasters on transatlantic scheduled services to Europe and beyond. Trans-Pacific schedules from San Francisco to Auckland began on 6 June 1946.[2]
President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which created the U.S. Air Force, on board "Sacred Cow", the Presidential C-54 which is preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. More than 300 C-54s and R5Ds formed the backbone of the US contribution to the Berlin Airlift in 1948. They also served as the main airlift during the Korean War. After the Korean War, the C-54 was replaced by the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, but continued to be used by the U.S. Air Force until 1972.
During World War II, the C-54 was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, and Winston Churchill. The American delegates to the Casablanca Conference used the Skymaster.[3] The C-54 was also used by the Royal Air Force, the Armée de l'Air, and the armed forces of at least twelve other nations.
The last active C-54 Skymaster in U.S. Navy service (C-54Q, BuNo 56501, of the Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River) was retired on 2 April 1974.[4]
On 26 January 1950, a C-54D operated by the United States Marine Corps disappeared during a flight between Elmendorf Air Force Base (Alaska) and Great Falls-Malmstrom Air Force Base (Montana) with a crew of 8 and 36 passengers (34 service personnel and 2 civilians).[5][6] No trace of the aircraft or its occupants has ever been found.
On July 23, 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 down by Chinese Communist La-7 fighters off the coast of Hainan Island, killing 10.[7][8][9][10]
On March 28, 1964 a C-54A disappeared over the Pacific (about 1120km west of San Francisco - last reported position: ) on an executive passenger flight from Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii to Los Angeles International Airport, California. The pilot reported a fire in No. 2 engine, which might make it necessary to ditch. Nothing more was heard from the aircraft, nor was any trace of it found despite an extensive search. Three crew and 6 passengers died in the accident.[11]
General characteristics
Performance
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