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P_7878

C-54 Skymaster Test Flight...with a new Repaint...

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[Note: Prompted by Chock's (home-grown) excellent repaint and a couple of recent DC-4/C-54 posts, I, finally, succumbed to the temptation of the (FR) DC-4 package. And, note, though this repaint is marked for FSX/P3D, it's portable for MSFS 2020 (and, of course, looks much better in MSFS 2020, see Chock's screenshot). The upload file is now sticking to the top 2 of the top 50, and who knows, might even reach #1 in the chart by the end of this weekend...🙂...]

I've known and been flying the DC-4/C-54 freeware since my very first FSX days...thanks to JBK/CalClassic. The DC-4 was the first Douglas propliner, after the illustrious DC-3, that was not a "tail-dragger", so, it must have been nice that the cabin was level when the DC-4 was on the ground. It was the interim Douglas Classic between the well-known DC-3 and the (later) marathoner DC-6 (Side Note: There was also a (short-lived) DC-5 variant, but, it entered commercial service at such a time that it was overwhelmed by world events. Only 5 civilian DC-5s were built for a total of 12, including military variants). The (un-pressurized) DC-4, played a significant role in history (military and commercial), but, it was soon superseded by the DC-6, post WWII. Regarding DC-4, Delta pilots had this to say, "For the first time we had on the airline, an airplane that we didn't have to worry about fuel. We always had enough fuel on that DC-4 to go 2,000 miles,...the DC-4 was very dependable airplane, had very dependable engines, had adequate anti-icing..."

The DC-4 commercially flew first on March 6, 1946, but, it's the C-54 Skymaster (military) variant that actually did its first flight, much earlier, from the Clover Field Airport in Santa Monica, California, in February, 1942, barely two months after U.S. entered WWII. Of course, Santa Monica also remains famous as the site of the original home of the Douglas company founded by Douglas Sr. in 1921.

Please note, per the Readme, of this repaint, "It was painted to represent the real C-54 Skymaster registered 44914, which is undergoing restoration in the UK. The livery the real aeroplane wears is of another Skymaster of the Air Transport Command Atlantic Division, with the serial 56498." The C-54, marked for restoration, left military service in 1973 and was then flown as a sprayer from 1975 to 1985. She was resigned to a boneyard until a group called Atlantic Warbirds rescued and restored her in 1995. Then, after sitting in a lonely airfield since 2002, it came to the attention of the "Save the Skymaster Society" that embarked on an ambitious initiative to save it from being turned into scrap. Their plans are to eventually fly it in airshow circuits and other flights, and, also to use it in film and television as well as for training pilots on such skills as Astro Navigation...etc...This is the only C-54 Skymaster in the UK, and the intent is to "...return this historic Wartime aeroplane to the skies where she belongs"...! For more information, please read on-line articles, e.g. one titled "Saving a 74-year-old aircraft - the story of one C-54 Skymaster". Its remarkable story is told in a readable Q/A format from an interview with the Chairman of the Save the Skymaster Society.

So, below, please find this C-54 Skymaster, lifting off Santa Monica Airport (KSMO), where the very first C-54 Skymaster had also lifted off, on its maiden flight, ~80 years ago, on 14 February 1942.

For this post, I've flown it, symbolically, from Santa Monica to San Jose (KSJC), along the Pacific Coastline, to roughly mimic a road-trip I'd taken along the Coastal highway, years ago, but, in the opposite direction, southward, from San Francisco to Los Angeles...

Hope you enjoy the set of pictures of this Classic Douglas plane....!!

[FR (DC-4/C-54), C-54 Repaint (Chock), REX]

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I you are a DC4/C54 fan, you're hopefully familiar with the 1954 classic 'The High and The Mighty' , based on the Ernie Gann novel,  starring John Wayne and Bob Stack. The story is based on the long defunct Trans Ocean Airlines and the ill fated 12-hour DC4 HNL-SFO flight from hell. A few decades ago, a former Trans Ocean dispatcher filled me in on the details stating many of the events in the film were true but actually transpired over several different flights. 

(39) John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #4: Cockpit, "The High & The Mighty" (1954) - YouTube

This sample is probably not the best example for modern CRM (Cockpit Resource Management) 

 

Edited by Les Parson
improved clarity
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Beautiful plane and captures. 

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HP Omen Obelisk Gaming Computer, Intel Core i7-9700, Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB DDR4 System Memory 4.7GHz 8 cores, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super Graphics with 8GB GDDR6 memory, PSU 750 watts, 1TB hard drive, Samsung T7 2TB SSD, 512 GB SSD, WD 5TB HDD,  Logitech HOTAS X52 Pro Joystick, AOC 27" monitor,

 

 

 

 

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Always great seeing the older SIM platforms holding their own - great shots.

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KROSWYND    a.k.a KILO_WHISKEY
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Whoever did that paint job is rubbish. 🤣

Edited by Chock
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Alan Bradbury

Check out my youtube flight sim videos: Here

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Les, Alaska738, Adam, crosswind, Alan:

Much appreciated the comments...!!

 

21 hours ago, Les Parson said:

I you are a DC4/C54 fan, you're hopefully familiar with the 1954 classic 'The High and The Mighty' , based on the Ernie Gann novel,  starring John Wayne and Bob Stack. The story is based on the long defunct Trans Ocean Airlines and the ill fated 12-hour DC4 HNL-SFO flight from hell. A few decades ago, a former Trans Ocean dispatcher filled me in on the details stating many of the events in the film were true but actually transpired over several different flights. 

(39) John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #4: Cockpit, "The High & The Mighty" (1954) - YouTube

This sample is probably not the best example for modern CRM (Cockpit Resource Management) 

 

Les, thanks for a great reminder...in fact I dug up the book just now (I'd read it once long ago)...and holding it in my hands now...🙂...the paperback is full 342 pages thick...should be worth giving it another read, I think,...and, yes, I recall the movie too...agree, probably not the best CRM, but, compared to that on "Airplane!",..oh well...and, I noted a connection today, I'd missed, "Stack (Robert Stack)'s role as the captain who loses his nerve in one of the earliest airline "disaster" films, The High and the Mighty (1954), is spoofed in Airplane!.."...both good films...

 

7 hours ago, Chock said:

Whoever did that paint job is rubbish. 🤣

Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, maybe, Alan...eh...I mean "Chock"...🙂...Expert job on the repaint, btw...!

More seriously, the ATL Carvair in the (FR) Package looks quite interesting too...need to fly it sometime....that peculiar shape always had piqued my curiosity. If I may, I show just one from FR, here, the Ansett ATL98, and, the BAF livery is also there, by default, as you well know, and had posted...

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***Gorgeous*** Love the Classics***

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100%75%50%d8a34be0e82d98b5a45ff4336cd0dddc

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Patrick

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