DC-4/C-54/R5D Skymaster Transport
Douglas decided to produce a four-engine
transport about twice the size of the DC-3 and, in 1938, developed the
single DC-4E to carry 42 passengers by day or 30 by night. It had complete
sleeping accommodations, including a private bridal room.
It proved too expensive to maintain, so
airlines agreed to suspend development in favour 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 of the DC-4s and its
military counterparts. During the war, C-54s flew a million miles a month
over the rugged North Atlantic - more than 20 round trips a day. A special
C-54C, nicknamed the "Sacred Cow" by the White House press corps, became
the first presidential aircraft, ordered for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In the years immediately following the
war, new DC-4s and used C-54s carried more passengers than any other
four-engine transport. Some were still flying through 1998.
After World War II, commercial airlines
placed more than 300 civilian DC-4 transports into service.
Wingspan: |
117 feet
6 inches |
Length: |
93 feet 5
inches |
Height: |
27 feet 7
inches |
Operating Altitude: |
10,000
feet |
Range: |
4,200
miles |
Weight: |
82,500
pounds |
Power plant: |
Four
1,450 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2000 "Twin-Wasp"
engines |
Speed: |
207 mph |
Accommodation: |
44 to 80
passengers |
|