[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.