Douglas DC-4: Difference between revisions

{|{{Infobox aircraft begin

|national originnational_origin= United States

|first flightfirst_flight=14 February 1942 (production series)<ref name="Boeing history">{{cite web|url=http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/dc-4.htm |title=History: Products: DC-4/C-54 Skymaster Transport |publisher=[[Boeing]] |access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>

|introducedintroduction= 1942 with [[United Airlines]]

|primary userprimary_user=<!--please list only one--> [[South African Airways Museum Society]]

|more usersmore_users=<!--please separate with <br/>.--> [[United Airlines]] (historical)<br/> [[American Airlines]] (historical)<br/> [[Trans World Airlines]] (historical)<br/> [[Buffalo Airways]] (historical)

|number builtnumber_built=80<ref>Piston Engine Airliner Production List 1996</ref> DC-4 and 1,163 C-54/R5D

|developed fromdeveloped_from =

|variants with their own articles = [[Douglas C-54 Skymaster|C-54 Skymaster]] <br/> [[Canadair North Star]] <br> [[Aviation Traders Carvair|Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair]]

|developed intodeveloped_into =[[Douglas DC-6]]

To meet military requirements, the first production aircraft had four additional auxiliary fuel tanks in the main cabin, which reduced the passenger seats to 26. The following batch of aircraft was the first built to military specifications, and was designated C-54A and built with a stronger floor and a cargo door with a hoist and winch. The first C-54A was delivered in February 1943. With the introduction of the C-54B in March 1944, the outer wings were changed to hold integral fuel tanks, allowing two of the cabin tanks to be removed; this allowed 49 seats (or 16 stretchers) to be fitted. The C-54C was a hybrid for Presidential use,; it had a C-54A fuselage with four cabin fuel tanks and the C-54B wings with built-in tanks to achieve maximum range.

In total, 1,163 C-54s (or R5D in US Navy service) were built for the United States military between 1942 and January 1946 and another 79 DC-4s were built after the war. A later variant, with more powerful [[Rolls-Royce Merlin |Merlin]] engines allowing it to fly over 40% faster, was built in Canada as the [[Canadair North Star]].

The DC-4/C-54 proved to not be a popular and reliable type, with 1,245 being built between May 1942 and August 1947, including 79 postwar DC-4s. Several remain in service as of 2022.

[[File:Aerolineas Argentinas DC4 atEZE 1958.jpg|thumb|[[AerolineasAerolíneas Argentinas]] DC-4 starting engines at Buenos Aires international airport, ''circa''in 1958]]

[[File:Douglas DC-4 Pan Am.jpg|thumb|[[Pan American World Airways |Pan American]] DC-4 in flight]]

Douglas produced 79 new-build DC-4s between January 1946 and August 9, 1947, the last example being delivered to South African Airways. [[Cabin pressurization |Pressurization]] was an option, but all civilian DC-4s (and C-54s) were built unpressurized.

Purchasers of new-build DC-4s included [[Pan American Airways]], [[National Airlines (NA)|National Airlines]], [[Northwest Airlines]], and [[Western Airlines]] in the US, and [[KLM]] Royal Dutch Air Lines, [[Scandinavian Airlines System]], [[Iberia (airline)|Iberia]] Airlines of Spain, [[Swissair]], [[Air France]], [[Sabena]] Belgian World Airlines, [[Cubana de Aviación]], [[Avianca]], [[Aerolíneas Argentinas]], [[Aeropostal]] of [[Venezuela]] (1946), and [[South African Airways]] overseas.<ref>Berry 1967, pp. 70–73.</ref> Several airlines used new-build DC-4s to start scheduled transatlantic flights between Latin America and Europe. Among the earliest were Aerolíneas Argentinas (1946), [[Aeropostal]] of [[Venezuela]] (1946), [[Iberia (airline)|Iberia]] Airlines of Spain (1946), and [[Cubana de Aviación]] (1948).

{{As of|2020|June}}, two DC-4s were used for charters in [[South Africa]] by the [[South African Airways Museum Society]], with both aircraft (ZS-BMH and ZS-AUB) carrying historical [[South African Airways]] livery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://flyskyclass.com/portfolio/skyclassic/#tab-1396342235-2-97 |title=SkyClassic |website=SkyClass Aviation |location=South Africa |access-date=7 June 2020 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607015148/http://flyskyclass.com/portfolio/skyclassic/#tab-1396342235-2-97 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saamuseum.co.za/our-aircraft.html |title=Our Aircraft |website=[[South African Airways Museum Society]] |location=South Africa |access-date=7 June 2020}}</ref>

*The last two passenger DC-4s operating worldwide are based in Johannesburg, South Africa. They fly with old South African Airways (SAA) livery. They are ZS-AUB ''Outeniqua'' and ZS-BMH ''Lebombo'' and are owned by the South African Airways Museum Society<ref name="Outeniqua">{{cite web |url=http://www.saamuseum.co.za/our-aircraft/70.html |title="Outeniqua" Douglas DC-4 1009 ZS-AUB c/n 42984 |publisher=South African Airways Museum Society |access-date=21 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="Lebombo">{{cite web |url=http://www.saamuseum.co.za/our-aircraft/73.html |title="Lebombo" Douglas DC-4 1009 ZS-BMH c/n 43157 |publisher=South African Airways Museum Society |access-date=21 January 2015}}</ref> and operated by Skyclass Aviation,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://flyskyclass.com/portfolio/skyclassic/ |title=Portfolios: SkyClassic |publisher=SkyClass Aviation |date=31 March 2014 |access-date=20 January 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> a company specialising in classic and VIP charters to exotic destinations in Africa.