Douglas DC-4
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The DC-4 is a four-engined airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served extensively during the Second World War in a military role, and after the war for civilian airlines.
Development
The designation DC-4 was used by Douglas Aircraft Company when developing the DC-4E as a large, four-engined type to complement its forthcoming DC-3 design. It was intended to fulfill United Air Lines' requirement for a long-range passenger airliner. The DC-4E (E stands for experimental) emerged as a 52-passenger airliner with a fuselage of unusually wide cross-section for its day and a triple fin tail unit, similar to that later used by Lockheed on its Constellation.
The DC-4E first flew on June 7, 1938, and was used by United Air Lines for test flights. But the type proved to be ahead of its time - it was complicated to maintain and uneconomical to operate. The sponsoring airlines, Eastern and United, decided to ask instead for a smaller and simpler derivative but before the definitive DC-4 could enter service the outbreak of the Second World War meant production was channelled to the United States Army Air Forces and the type given the military designation C-54. Additional versions used by the US Navy were designated R5D. The first aircraft, a C-54, flew from Clover Field in Santa Monica, California on February 14, 1942.
Production
The DC-4 had a notable innovation in that its nose-wheel landing gear allowed it to introduce a fuselage of constant cross-section. This lent itself to easy stretching into the later DC-6 and DC-7. 1,163 DC-4s were built for the United States military services between 1942 and 1946. Douglas continued to develop the type during the war in preparation for a return to airline services when peace returned. However, the type's sales prospects were hit by the offloading of 500 wartime C-54s and R5Ds onto the civil market.
Douglas built just 74 new-build aircraft before production ceased on August 9, 1947. Pressurization was available as an option, but all civilian DC-4s were built unpressurised.
Derivatives
DC4M North Star/Argonaut. 71 DC-4s were built by Canadair under the designations North Star, DC-4M, C-4, and C-5. With the exception of the single C-5, these were all powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines and 51 of them were pressurized. The Royal Canadian Air Force, Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Pacific Air Lines and BOAC operated these aircraft, the latter under the type name "Argonaut".
Starting in 1959, 20 DC-4s found new life as ATL-98 Carvairs. The Carvair was designed to carry 22 passengers and 5 automobiles. This was accomplished by extending the fuselage, moving the cockpit above the fuselage, adding a side-opening nose, and enlarging the vertical stabilizer to offset the larger forward fuselage. These planes served as flying ferries well into the seventies.
The DC-4 proved a popular type and several remain in service today, particularly in the USA where it proved popular as charter/freight plane.
Other versions
- DC-4-1009 Postwar passenger model. This civil model could carry up to 86 passengers.
- DC-4-1037 Postwar freight model.
Specifications (DC-4-1009)
- Country: United States of America
- Designation: DC-4/C-54/R5D
General characteristics
- Crew: 4
- Capacity: Up to 86 passengers
- Length: 93 ft 10 in (28.6 m)
- Wingspan:117 ft 6 in (35.8 m)
- Height: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
- Wing area: 1,460ft² (135.6 m²)
- Empty: 43,300 lb (19,640 kg)
- Loaded: 63,500 lb (28,800 kg)
- Maximum takeoff: 73,000 lb (33,100 kg)
- Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-2000 reciprocating, 1,450 hp (1,081 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 280 mph (450 km/h)
- Cruising speed: 227 mph (365 km/h)
- Range: 4,250 miles (6,839 km)
- Service ceiling: 22,300 ft (6,800 m)
- Wing loading: 43.5 lb/ft² (212.4 kg/m²)
- Power loading: 10.9 lb/hp (6.6 kg/kW)
References
- Francillon, René (1979). McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920: Volume I. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-87021-428-4
- Yenne, Bill (1985). McDonnell Douglas: A Tale of Two Giants. Greenwich, CT: Bison Books. ISBN 0-517-442876
- Pearcy, Arthur (1995). Douglas Propliners: DC-1 - DC-7. Shrewsbury: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-261X
External links
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