The Douglas DC-4 is a piston-engine airliner and transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1942 to 1947. The type was originally designed as a commercial airliner, but until the end of World War II, all were built as military transports. After the war, many of these military aircraft were converted into commercial transports. Including military versions, more than 1200 DC-4s were built; a few are still flying today.
The DC-4 was known as the C-54 Skymaster in United States Army and Air Force service. In United States Navy service prior to 1962 it was known as the R5D; that year all U.S. Navy variants were also designated as the C-54.
Notable civil accidents and incidents
1940s 15 January 1943 US Army Air Force C-54 41-32939 crashed 25 mi ENE of Paramaribo, Suriname en route to North Africa from the United States after an unexplained midair breakup, killing all 35 on board, including Eric Knight, author of the novel Lassie Come-Home. The aircraft was operated by TWA on behalf of the USAAF's Air Transport Command. Two other C-54s flying before and after the crashed C-54 noticed anti-aircraft fire from what looked like an enemy submarine.
9 July 1943 US Army Air Force C-54 41-37271 was performing a flight over Wright Patterson Air Base when USAAF Lockheed C-40A 38-546 struck the wing of the C-54; the C-40 entered a spin and crashed near the runway; the C-54 stayed airborne for 500–750 feet before it also crashed, allowing two passengers (of five people on board) to bail out of the C-54; five on board the C-40 died.
26 January 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 41-37292 crashed on takeoff from Accra Airport, killing at least 23.
25 March 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 41-37274 was mistaken for an enemy aircraft and shot down by a Royal Navy Grumman F4F fighter pilot; it crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores, killing all six on board. The C-54 overflew an Allied convoy at and was misidentified as a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200.
20 June 1944 TWA Flight 277, a C-54A, struck the side of Fort Mountain after the pilot became disoriented in bad weather, killing all seven on board. The aircraft was operated by TWA on behalf of the USAAF's Air Transport Command.
26 July 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-107470 disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean off Greenland with 26 on board; the aircraft was never found.
28 August 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-72171 crashed in a residential area near Prestwick Airport while attempting to land, killing all 20 on board and five on the ground. The aircraft was too low during final approach.
4 September 1944 US Navy R5D-2 90385 ditched in San Francisco Bay, killing one of five on board.
7 September 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-72211 crashed near Presque Isle Army Air Base while on a training flight due to a possible maintenance error, killing the three crew.
9 November 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-107438 crashed in Marathon Bay shortly after takeoff from Florida Keys Airport, killing the four crew.
11 November 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-72252 crashed 50 mi off Oahu, killing all 17 on board.
12 November 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-107427 struck a mountain near Cape St. George, Canada, killing nine of 18 on board.
17 March 1945 US Army Air Force C-54B 42-72418 crashed somewhere in the China Burma India Theater, killing at least four crew. The wreckage was never found.
19 March 1945 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-72264 crashed 4 mi off Rock Harbor, Florida while on a training flight, killing the five crew; the wreckage was found the next day in 19 feet of water.
1 April 1945 US Army Air Force C-54A 42-72244 was written off at an unknown location. 22 April 1944 US Army Air Force C-54A-DO 41-37304 flipped at landing in RAF Masirah, killing 37 out of the 40. 5 May 1945 US Army Air Force C-54E 44-9043 crashed in mountainous terrain on Manus Island due to possible pilot error, killing all 21 on board.
24 May 1945 US Army Air Force C-54B 42-72385 was destroyed on the ground at Yontan Airfield during a Japanese attack.
18 June 1945 US Army Force C-54B 42-72372 was being ferried from Casablanca to Karachi when it crashed southeast of Biskra due to severe turbulence, killing the four crew.
3 July 1945 US Army Air Force C-54D 42-72680 struck a hillside near Vila do Porto, Azores and broke up, killing the four crew.
4 July 1945 US Army Air Force C-54B 42-72310 disappeared near Kunming, China.
20 July 1945 US Army Air Force C-54E 44-9026 crashed near New Castle Army Air Base while performing an instrument approach, killing the four crew; the cause was never determined.
11 September 1945 US Army Air Force C-54G 45-526 crashed near Linan, China, killing at least four.
30 September 1945 US Navy R5D-1 39180 struck the top of Mount Tenjo, Guam and crashed in a gorge, killing seven.
3 November 1945 US Army Air Force C-54G 45-528 operating Flight USAF28A struck a mountain near Chukha, Bhutan due to pilot error, killing all 44 on board. The accident remains the deadliest in Bhutan.
25 May 1946 US Army Air Force C-54G 45-489 disappeared over the Pacific some east of Guam during a flight from Kwajalein to Guam with five on board. A Boeing B-17G (44-83783) was sent to find the missing C-54, but it also disappeared.
29 May 1946 A United Air Lines C-54A (NC30065) crashed near Chicago due to excessive descent during a training flight; all four crew survived, but the aircraft was written off.
1 June 1946 US Army Air Force C-54E 44-9078 crashed off Amalfi, Italy due to a cockpit fire and loss of control, killing 30 of 38 on board. The cause of the fire was not determined, but a short circuit was blamed.
9 June 1946 US Army Air Force C-54D 43-17231 crashed on Taboga Island, Panama due to a navigation error, killing all 23 on board. The pilot had mistaken Otoque Island for Taboga Island and began descending. When the pilot radioed ATC that he was 5 miles south of Albrook Field and on approach, he thought the aircraft was past Taboga when in fact it was over Taboga.
11 July 1946 Pacific Overseas Airlines-operated Air Transport Command Douglas C-54 43-17229 was 15 minutes outbound from Harmon Field on Guam enroute to Atsugi Airfield in Japan when the propeller from one engine detached, taking out a propeller in another engine. The aircraft landed on the ocean about 24 miles from Harmon. The crew of seven was rescued.
18 September 1946 A Sabena DC-4-1009 (OO-CBG) crashed on approach to Gander, Newfoundland on a flight from Brussels to New York City via Shannon and Gander. Twenty-seven were killed out of 44 aboard."ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-4-1009 OO-CBG Gander, NF" Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved: March 30, 2012. The crash and the subsequent search and rescue operation are documented in the book "Charlie Baker George" by Frank F. Tibbo.
3 October 1946 An American Overseas Airlines C-54E (N90904, named Flagship New England) crashed into a hill after taking off in darkness from Stephenville-Harmon Field in Newfoundland on a flight to Shannon, Ireland. The 31 passengers and eight crew aboard were killed.
8 October 1946 United Air Lines Flight 28, a DC-4 (NC30051, named Mainliner Lake Michigan) crashed near Cheyenne, Wyoming after a loss of altitude while making a turn to land, killing two of 41 on board.
11 January 1947 A Far East Air Transport C-54A (PI-C100) ditched in the Pacific 81 mi off Laoag, Philippines due to an engine fire, killing seven of 42 on board.
20 January 1947 A US Navy R5D struck an embankment and crashed on landing at Oakland NAS in fog during a radar-guided approach, killing one of 21 on board. The aircraft was too low during the approach. The accident was the first after 76000 safe landings using GCA guidance.
6 February 1947 An Aerovias Cubanas Internacionales C-54B (NC44567, named Ruta de Colon) crashed in the Gredos Mountains, Spain, killing all 11 on board.
15 February 1947 An Avianca DC-4 (C-114) crashed into Mount Tablazo, Colombia on a domestic Colombian flight from Barranquilla to Bogotá. All 53 aboard were killed.
29 May 1947 United Airlines Flight 521 crashed after overrunning the runway during an aborted takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport on a flight to Cleveland, Ohio. Forty-one passengers and two crew died out of the 44 passengers and four crew on board.
29 May 1947 US Army Air Force C-54D 42-72553 crashed on approach to Atsugi NAS, killing all 41 on board.
30 May 1947 Eastern Air Lines Flight 605, a C-54B, dived into the ground near Bainbridge, Maryland, during a flight from Newark to Miami. The 49 passengers and four crew were killed. At the time this was the deadliest airliner crash in United States history. The cause of the dive was never determined. According to pilot and author Ernest Gann, the cause was the result of unporting, a balance destruction of the elevators by aerodynamic force. A plane flown by Civil Aeronautics Board personnel was behind Flight 605 and witnessed the entire dive.Fate is the Hunter, published 1961.
13 June 1947 Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 410 struck a ridge near Charles Town, West Virginia, during a flight from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. The 47 passengers and three crew were killed.
3 July 1947 US Army Air Force C-54G 45-519 flying from Bermuda crashed in the Atlantic 294 mi off Florida after a loss of control caused by turbulence from a storm, killing the six crew. A garbled version of this aircraft loss gave rise to the Bermuda Triangle legend that a B-29 was lost off Bermuda in a storm.
21 July 1947 Argentine Air Force C-54A T-44 failed to gain altitude and crashed on takeoff from El Palomar, killing 14 of 19 on board; three on the ground also died when the aircraft ran through a crowd of spectators.
23 July 1947 Two Seaboard & Western Airlines C-54D's (N91077 and N91086) burned out in a hangar fire at St. Joseph Airport, Missouri.
19 September 1947 USAF C-54D 42-72554 crashed off Puerto San Juan, Peru following an apparent engine fire, killing all 14 on board.
26 October 1947 Pan American World Airways Flight 923, a DC-4, struck Tamgas Mountain, Alaska while operating a Seattle-Annette Island-Juneau passenger service, killing all 18 on board; the cause was never determined.
26 October 1947 AB Aerotransport Flight 1629, a DC-4-1009 (SE-BBG, named Sunnan), crashed into Mount Hymettus, Greece while on approach to Athens on a flight from Istanbul, Turkey. All 44 aboard were killed. The crew may have been unaware of their exact position at the time of the crash and were unable to see the mountain due to poor visibility in low clouds.
30 November 1947 Alaska Airlines Flight 009, a C-54A (NC91009), overran the runway on landing at Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, killing eight of 28 on board and one person on the ground.
10 December 1947 USAF C-54D 42-72572 crashed and burned shortly after takeoff from Goose Bay Airport, killing 23 of 29 on board. Falling snow was blamed.
10 March 1948 Delta Air Lines Flight 705, a DC-4 (NC37478), crashed on climbout from Chicago Municipal Airport following an unexplained loss of control, killing 12 of 13 on board.
12 March 1948 Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 crashed into Mount Sanford, Alaska, while on a flight from Anchorage, Alaska to New York City. All 24 passengers and six crew aboard died; the wreckage was located in 1999.
25 March 1948 Two USAF C-54s were damaged beyond repair by a tornado at Tinker Air Force Base.
10 April 1948 An Air France DC-4-1009 (F-BBDC) crashed on takeoff from Kano International Airport due to a maintenance error, killing one of five crew. The nosewheel had not been locked for takeoff.
12 May 1948 A Sabena DC-4-1009 (OO-CBE) crashed near Magazini in the Belgian Congo in severe weather during a flight from Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) to Libenge; of the 32 on board, only one survived. The aircraft may have flown into a tornado.