The Douglas C-54 is a four-engined, piston-powered plane, derived from the DC-4, and produced during World War II. It was a workhorse transport for the USAAF and the US Navy, ferrying cargo and troops - even dignitaries including President Franklin Roosevelt - under the call sign Sacred Cow. The Skymaster played a major role during the Berlin Airlift in 1948 when every available USAF C-54 was put into service along with other Allied aircraft, delivering food, fuel, and other goods - to the sum of 2.3 million tons of cargo in just over a year. Our C-54 served in the Navy from 1945 until the mid 1970’s. This is where things get interesting and a bit confusing. Many of these tough birds went on to civilian service, including our C-54. Because of a mix up of a few numbers it was reported lost in the Pacific Ocean at one point. Yet, it appears to have been reregistered as HK-1807 and flown many years as a charter aircraft in Colombia. It is certain, however, that Bill Dempsay added it to his fleet of fire bombers. Tanker #109 was fitted with a 2,000 gallon belly retardant tank and used for fighting wildfires for USFS and BLM contracts until the mid 1980’s. This C-54 remained at Marana, AZ, for decades, with the hopes the fleet would fly again. It was parted out, but we were able to acquire material for a limited edition of 3000 tags. MotoArt is thrilled to add this storied C-54 Skymaster to our growing fleet of PlaneTags. Don’t miss adding a memento from this warbird-turned-firefighter to your collection.
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