Douglas C-54D Skymaster - Pima ASM,Tucson, AZ - Static Aircraft Displays on Waymarking.com

The Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and British forces in WW 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'.

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 (USAAF) in 1942, carrying up to 26 passengers. (Later versions carried up to 50 passengers.) The US Navy also acquired the type, under the designation R5D. The C-54 was one of the most commonly used long-range transports by the US armed forces in WW II. 515 C-54s were manufactured in Santa Monica, CA, and 655 were manufactured at Orchard Place/Douglas Field, in unincorporated Cook County, IL, near Chicago (later the site of O'Hare International Airport).

After WW II, the C-54 continued to serve as the primary airlifter of the new USAF and with the Navy.

In late 1945, several hundred C-54s were surplus to US 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.

President Harry S Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which created the US 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 USAF until 1972.

During WW 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. 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 US Naval service, C-54Q, BuNo 56501, of the Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River, MD, was retired on 2 April 1974.

Source: Wikipedia

Type of Aircraft: (make/model): Douglas C-54D Skymaster Tail Number: (S/N): s/n 42-72488 Construction:: original aircraft Location (park, airport, museum, etc.): Located at Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ inside / outside: outside Other Information:: Pima Air & Space Museum 6000 E Valencia Rd Tucson, Arizona 85756 Phone 520-574-0462 Open 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Daily Last admittance at 4:00 PM $15.50-Adults $12.50-Pima Co Residents $12.75-Seniors $ 9.00-Children FREE---Children 6 & under $ 7.00-AMARG $13.50-Group Rate Access restrictions: None

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/11/2015 NW_history_buff visited it