Any USAF vets here?

[pwd72s]

Ones interested in the old birds? Going through papers found at Mom's after she died back in the early 90's, I found a letter written by my Uncle Forrest describing his duties in Newfoundland during the beginning stages of the cold war. He was a full bird colonel in command of the 1805th AACS Group.

"When I start my monthly trek, we start at Torbay airport, St, Johns, Newfoundland; go to Ernest Harmon AFB, Stephensville, Newfoundland; then to Goose Bay Air base, Labrador, then to Thule, Greenland; Sondrestromfjord, Greenland; then over the Greenland Icecap to Keflavik, Iceland; back to Narsarsuak, Greenland; and then home to Torbay Airport and Pepperell AF base at St, Johns...

I have my own 4 engine C-54 aircraft..."

Wow! I knew Uncle Forrest was a Colonel, but all of this was news to me. He went on to describe that the navigator used Loran and star shooting. Sounds primitive to me, but evidently how they did it back in the day.

Anyway, four engine C-54??? Anybody here know who made them? Is there a civilian name?

[pavulon]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_C-54_Skymaster

[ohdavey6286]

Douglas made them. DC-4 is the civilian name.

[74-911]

In the early 70's I made several trips back and forth from Randolph AFB to an Air Reserve field in Battle Creek MI in C-54s. The USAF was using them to ferry us (systems people/programmers/operators) to the Defense Logistics Agency in Battle Creek. We were getting time on the DLA's Burrough's B-6700 mainframe.

IIRC the C-54s and crews who were flying us were in the reserves? The main thing I remember is (with one exception) the planes had rather uncomfortable canvas sling seating for carrying troops and the flights were low, slow and loud.

The one exception was one trip on a C-54 that had wood paneling, leather chairs and couches, a conference table and a small bedroom? in the rear of the plane. The pilot told us the rumor was the plane had been used on occasion as a presidential plane?. The trip on that plane was low, slow and not quite so loud....

[pwd72s]

Thanks for the responses. Gives me more of an impression of what my Uncle's experiences were. The letter was undated, so now I have more of an idea when it was written. Has to be early in the cold war...

Hmmm, maybe Jack flew aboard "The Sacred Cow"? From wikapedia:

During World War II, the C-54 was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, and Winston Churchill. The American delegates to the Casablanca Conference used the Skymaster.[2] The C-54 was also used by the Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, and the armed forces of at least 12 other nations.

President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947, which created the U.S. Air Force, on board "Sacred Cow", the Presidential VC-54C which is preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. More than 300 C-54s and R5Ds formed the backbone of the US contribution to the Berlin Airlift in 1948. They also served as the main airlift during the Korean War. After the Korean War, the C-54 was replaced by the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, but continued to be used by the U.S. Air Force until 1972. The last active C-54 Skymaster in U.S. Navy service (C-54Q, BuNo 56501, of the Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River) was retired on 2 April 1974.[3]

[fintstone]

Primary aircraft for Berlin Airlift.

[Sunroof]

When I was in the Air Force (1966-1970) the C-54 was in service and running state side hops between Travis AFB, California and the old Chanute AFB, Illinois. I took one of these hops to see my family in Chicago after I returned from Vietnam. The flight seemed to take all day long!! This was the way to fly in the 1950's.

The C-54 (DC-4 used by the airlines) was the first major four engine passenger liner that took on a role of longer distances, greater passenger load and higher altitudes then the DC-3 (C-47 military version). See the movie with John Wayne, THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY. This story takes place on a DC-4 that travels from Hawaii to San Francisco and gets in trouble along the way. Its all about the airplane! Today they are air museum pieces.

The C-54 was noisy, very noisy as I recall, but a wonder in its day. It was followed by the DC-6, DC-7 with variations, that were pressurized, could fly above the weather, provided more creature comforts and were the darlings of the airlines only to be matched with the Lockheed Constellation, "Connie". What followed were turbo prop planes (Lockheed Electra, Vickers Viscount, to name a few) then the jets.

[74-911]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

...........Hmmm, maybe Jack flew aboard "The Sacred Cow"?

Definitely not the "Sacred Cow", most likely just a C-54 for VIPs (but it sure beat the troop transport configuration) but it was still low, loud and slow as Sunroof mentions.

As a sidenote, a year or so later we were flying to the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver on T-39s ( a twin engine corporate style jet)... quite a difference that was when compared to the C-54.

[pwd72s]

Thanks for the insights guys. Obviously, my Uncle spent many hours in one. He did mention his was fitted with a couple of cots, so he could get some in flight sleep.

From your descriptions, it couldn't have been comfortable sleep. I can only imagine how risky it was, flying in one that far north.

One of my memories of my Uncle was in Washington D.C. We went there as a side trip on the '57 Boy Scout Jamboree. Took me, a 12 year old in his BSA uniform, on a tour of his office in the Pentagon. Boy, was I impressed!

[Jolly Amaranto]

My first time to fly was on a DC-4 in 1956 from LA to San Francisco. A few years later I flew on a converted C-54 from Naha, Okinawa to Manila with a stop in Taiwan. The airline, CAT, turned out to be a covert operation run by the CIA. This was taken at the Taipei airport. I am the klutzy little kid on the left.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Air_Transport

[ted]

fun thread, great plane.
C 54 learnt itself to some military nomenclature slang.
Less appreciative C54 flight crew could pronounce it See Filthy Whore.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by ted

fun thread, great plane.
C 54 learnt itself to some military nomenclature slang.
Less appreciative C54 flight crew could pronounce it See Filthy Whore.

Now that's funny. My former F-111 pilot told me why B-52's were called BUFF. Of course, no mention of anything similar for the F-111.

I've made copies of this letter, hope to send them to his daughters. Hate to admit it, but we've lost contact. Have feelers out through other cousins. 2 1/2 typewritten single space pages. Family history, but also some military history. Pretty scary time for the USA...the cold war years of the late 50's, early 60's...my thanks to my Uncle for being one of those working to keep us safe. Thanks to those out there doing the same job now...

[Jolly Amaranto]

Big Ugly Fat Fellow. Another word was usually substituted for Fellow.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Jolly Amaranto

Remarkable picture. What a moment in time.

[GH85Carrera]

I flew in a C-54 in 1959 from California to the territory of Hawaii. As a passenger we face the rear of the aircraft. It is unpressurized so it does not fly very high. I remember nothing to see but waves.
Dad was an Air Force pilot but he was just a passenger on this flight with us. He was in uniform, mom was dressed up in formal dress, gloves, high heels and jewelry. She had to play the role of officers wife.
It was a long long long flight for us kids. It is one of my earliest memories. That and the big celebration and fireworks for the day of Statehood.

Dad was a cargo pilot. He was stationed at Dover, Delaware and flew to Greenland regularly. He may well have known your uncle. He said that he never saw the ground in Delaware. It was always overcast or they were away. He was flying C-124s back then. He made over 50 round trips from California to Hawaii in unpressurized airplanes.

[matt930s]

Ok....a bit before my time...I'm a c17, c141, c5 (and of course c130) era guy..


Mattr

[tcar]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

... He was flying C-124s back then.....

The C-124 Globemaster II was developed from the C-74 Globemaster, which was an enlarged C-54 (DC-4) with bigger engines.

They were all the same architecture.. As were the DC-6 and DC-7.

Canada built DC-4's with 4 Merlin engines (like the P-51 and Spitfire) instead of the radials. It cruised 100 mph faster than the DC-4.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by matt930s

Ok....a bit before my time...I'm a c17,

Mattr

And it continues... The C-17 is the Globemaster III.

[matt930s]

Correct, I was there for the first delivery in 94 (I believe)..

Edit: it was 93

MattR

Originally Posted by tcar

And it continues... The C-17 is the Globemaster III.

[astrochex]