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C54 / DC4 still flying

Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:10 am

What is the current count at? Both working air-frames and airworthy museum examples.

I believe there are 2 or 3 in South Africa and at least one with Brooks in Alaska. Buffalo retired there fleet a few years back, so there must only be a handful still airworthy.

Would be interesting to know which ones remain active.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:28 pm

One C-54G in the UK at North Weald being restored to airworthy. One C-54 in Australia airworthy in HARS museum..

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Fri Nov 09, 2018 4:46 pm

Invader26 wrote:One C-54G in the UK at North Weald being restored to airworthy.

Not being actively restored at present. More an idea than an ongoing project, a massive undertaking that will require a lot of funding for a type that has little or no resonance with the U.K. public.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Fri Nov 09, 2018 9:41 pm

The Berlin Airlift Memorial has a flying C-54 based in the USA. I saw it fly into the little Geneseo strip about 8-9 years ago- very impressive.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 1:16 am

Mike wrote:... for a type that has little or no resonance with the U.K. public.


That's a shame. After all,Churchill used one as his personal transport late in the war.
Especially since the UK doesn't seem to have an airworthy indigenous prop airliner larger than a Rapide or Dove) you"d think they'd appreciate the type, after all Red Bull flies a DC-6.
Sometimes the UK enthusiast community can be very parochial
or nationalistic.

In the TV series The Crown, they used one with various CGI'd paint schemes. In one shot however, I believe I saw South African registration under the wing. I believe the ground shots were done at Duxford with the other old airliners in the background.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 4:27 am

JohnB wrote:Sometimes the UK enthusiast community can be very parochial or nationalistic. :drink3:

Try a fundraiser to restore a Viscount to flight in the US and see how far you get, especially in a country where every example of probably its most famous airliner (the Constellation) is either grounded or has been sold abroad due to a widespread lack of interest (aka apathy).

The sad fact is that, if it doesn't have stars and bars or roundels, people in general just aren't interested.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:37 am

JohnB wrote:
Mike wrote:... for a type that has little or no resonance with the U.K. public.


Sometimes the UK enthusiast community can be very parochial or nationalistic.


I'd have to disagree: UK public maybe, but the enthusiasts not a jot: just look at how dewy-eyed they get over the loss of F7Fs and F8Fs back across the pond: neither have any real link with the UK but both are extremely popular with show-goers.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:17 am

Mike wrote:
JohnB wrote:Sometimes the UK enthusiast community can be very parochial or nationalistic. :drink3:

Try a fundraiser to restore a Viscount to flight in the US and see how far you get, especially in a country where every example of probably its most famous airliner (the Constellation) is either grounded or has been sold abroad due to a widespread lack of interest (aka apathy).

The sad fact is that, if it doesn't have stars and bars or roundels, people in general just aren't interested.


You're certainly correct in the last point...If it's not military, few seem to care.
I believe that is certainly the case in the UK, and they don't have a Viscount flying...their most successful airliner of all time. But neither do they have a flying B-25, despite its wartime sevice with the RAF. I may have been a bit harsh about UK aviation buffs and warbird operators, but the do seem obsessed with fighters.

The U.S. isn't much better if you count the Connies, large DCs and early jets.
But I would point out that compared to those, a C-54 is almost practical enough to keep as a toy.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 7:42 am

Not being actively restored at present. More an idea than an ongoing project, a massive undertaking that will require a lot of funding for a type that has little or no resonance with the U.K. public.


It's a bit beyond an idea and a fair bit is happening behind the scenes to get it airborne I can tell you. The Viscount is a quaint airliner bit like the HP Herald. The RAAF flew them as VIP aircraft but looking after big aircraft is another world compared to lesser sizes..

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 12:50 pm

JohnB wrote:
Mike wrote:
JohnB wrote: I may have been a bit harsh about UK aviation buffs and warbird operators, but the do seem obsessed with fighters.


Hum, I think is also a more pratical point: maintening a MEP was, one time, the reason for one of the "key warbid owner" in the UK to sold his twin engined planes and just keeping the single engined ones. (It was the reason the last UK based B-25 was departing to the state.)

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:12 pm

I got a look at the one in Douglas GA a couple of weeks ago it didn't look too bad. I was told it is getting new engines and will be flown out.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sat Nov 10, 2018 5:46 pm

PinecastleAAF wrote:I got a look at the one in Douglas GA a couple of weeks ago it didn't look too bad. I was told it is getting new engines and will be flown out.


That's a pretty one. Glad it is being resurrected. Is it getting 4 engines? When it landed there it had one bad engine. Sitting ain't good.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:30 am

The DC-4/C-54 at Hars at Albian park is undergoing restoration to fly at the moment. Probably another 12 months off I think. I saw her come down from Queendsland many years ago.

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Sun Nov 11, 2018 8:52 am

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquir ... 4&PageNo=1

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquir ... 4&PageNo=1

Re: C54 / DC4 still flying

Mon Nov 12, 2018 8:46 am

44-9144 "Spirit of Freedom" is still being flown regularly to events around the US and has been doing so since 1995.

http://www.spiritoffreedom.org
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