The C-54 was the militarized version of the DC-4 airliner, developed during the Second World War.
Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.
C-54s at the Douglas factory in Oklahoma, sometime in the 1940s.
Notice, three and four bladed propellers. Photo via Tinker Air Force Base History Office.
U.S. Air Force photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox.
C-54E flying museum on Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
USAF photo by Melanie Rodgers Cox, 08JUN2012.
C-54 Flight Chief Timothy Chopp, poses with children from a local school. The flying museum reminds people of one of the first incidents of the undeclared Cold War; The Berlin Airlift. It was probably the first time military air transports were used in a massive humanitarian relief effort.
Video, C-54 over air show in Michigan, 2014:
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Chad Thompson, 09SEP2016.
Spirit of Freedom sits on the tarmac at the Great Falls International Airport, Montana, 09SEP2016.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Chad Thompson, 09SEP2016.
USAF photo by Technical Sergeant Chad Thompson, 09SEP2016.
USAF photo by Staff Sergeant Joe McFadden, 22NOV2016.
The man responsible for the Berlin Airlift’s unofficial ‘Candy Bomber’ operation (which became part of the larger official Operation Vittles food supply mission); retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Gail Halvorsen at the Berlin Airlift Memorial outside Frankfurt International Airport, Germany, 22NOV2016. It started innocently enough, simply handing out candy to German children watching USAF aircraft landing on the Western side (split in half due to political divisions between the victors of the Second World War) of the war ravaged city of Berlin. So many children started showing up for sugar food that Halvorsen started tossing the candy out his C-54 before he landed. Soon, fellow transport pilots began following his lead, and candy donation drives were held in the U.S. to help bomb the children of the West Berlin area with candy.
Official USAF video report:
Ohio Air National Guard photo by Senior Airman Hope Geiger.
Douglas C-54 Skymaster ‘Spirit of Freedom’ museum plane during the Toledo Air Show in Swanton, Ohio, 14JUL2019.
In 2020, the C-54E Spirit of Freedom (44-9144) was hit by a tornado: Spirit of Freedom suffers storm-related damage in South Carolina.
Vehicle I-D: (also used in the Berlin Airlift) C-47 DAKOTA/SKYTRAIN, DOUGLAS COMMERCIAL-3, R4D GOONIES!
Hurricane Harvey, 2017: WW2 C-47 used to deliver food aid to Texans