Douglas C-74 ...

[Mark Allen M]

Douglas C-74 sitting on the NACA Apron during the Cleveland National Air Races September 5, 1946.

[quemerford]

Nice set Mark: thanks for posting. At the time of the photo, the aircraft was assigned to the 4000th AAF Base Unit at Patterson Field.

[JohnB]

Fun fact: Surplus C-74s were used as freighters by civil concerns.
Some were registered in Panama.
They also appeared in the original "The Italian Job" film in the '60s.

Aside from the sole C-124 which flew from DM to Vegas, the type is one of the few U.S. strategic air lifters to see civil use.

[Hooligan2]

What a magnificent beast!

[lucky52]

That last one in Turin,42-65409, was it salvaged or preserved in any way(Sep.1970)?

[quemerford]

Sadly the Turin (and Italian Job star) burned while being scrapped.

[Larry Kraus]

It didn’t take long for the Bug Eye canopies to be replaced by a more conventional version due to problems with crew coordination with the Bug Eyes. Here are some pages from the C-74 Flight Manual.

IMG_4939 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4966 by tanker622001, on Flickr



IMG_4967 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4969 by tanker622001, on Flickr


IMG_4977 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4971 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4972 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4973 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4974 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4938 by tanker622001, on Flickr

Ginter Books has an excellent book available on the C-74

IMG_4940 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4941 by tanker622001, on Flickr

And, of course, the C-74 was the basis for the C-124

[Larry Kraus]

The C-124 was developed to correct some of the problems with the C-74, mainly in loading outsized cargo.

IMG_4953 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4954 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4955 by tanker622001, on Flickr

The C-74 and the C-124 as well as the B-36 had passageways into the wing to access the engines in flight

IMG_4956 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4957 by tanker622001, on Flickr

Then flight deck layout on the C-124 was similar to that of the DC-6 and DC-7 although those airliners did not have the separate flight engineer station

IMG_4958 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4959 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4960 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4961 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4975 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_4976 by tanker622001, on Flickr

IMG_3758 by tanker622001, on Flickr

Ginter Books also had an excellent book on the C-124, but it’s out of print. However, it’s still available if you do a little searching online

IMG_4965 by tanker622001, on Flickr

Last edited by Larry Kraus on Thu Jun 06, 2024 12:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[exhaustgases]

The 124 could probably fly from NY to WA state and back on the fuel quantity that a 737 would use at 1/4th that distance.

[L-188]

Pretty good visibility. Are there any pics of it in civilian use?

[Paul Stroud]

Pretty good visibility. Are there any pics of it in civilian use?

Don't know if this counts, but there was the well-known static at Vegas for many years in civilian colours. Did it fly in this scheme?

https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDo ... ial=116843

[quemerford]

Pretty good visibility. Are there any pics of it in civilian use?

Don't know if this counts, but there was the well-known static at Vegas for many years in civilian colours. Did it fly in this scheme?

https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDo ... ial=116843

That's a C-124, not a C-74.

The Italian Job C-74 is depicted here, in both its 'airline' scheme and the 'movie' iteration:

https://www.air-and-space.com/Douglas%20C-74.htm

[Paul Stroud]

Yes I know it's a C-124, just following the thread drift. Still curious as to whether it arrived in LV as a civilian aeroplane. I presume it flew in?

[Stoney]

now you've got me wondering what i saw a LV in 67', always thought it was a C-99 and how did it get to opa-loaka, fl.

[quemerford]

now you've got me wondering what i saw a LV in 67', always thought it was a C-99 and how did it get to opa-loaka, fl.

I think you are managing to confuse all sorts! The XC-99 was at Kelly AFB; it was an R6V Constitution at Opa Locka.