Douglas Aircraft Company Dc-4

Quad Piston

The Douglas DC-4 was the first four-engine, long-range airliner designed for pressurized transcontinental and transatlantic service, though production aircraft were delivered unpressurized due to wartime priorities. First flown in 1942, the DC-4 became the workhorse of post-war commercial aviation and played a pivotal role in the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, where C-54 Skymasters (the military designation) flew over 189,000 missions to sustain the blockaded city. Its robust design, reliable Pratt & Whitney R-2000 radial engines, and 3,900-mile range made it the backbone of international air cargo and passenger operations throughout the late 1940s and 1950s. Powered by four 1,450-horsepower piston engines, the DC-4 cruised at 207 mph at altitudes up to 22,300 feet and could carry 44 passengers or equivalent cargo. More than 1,200 were built, with the vast majority serving as military C-54s during World War II before entering civilian service. The type pioneered reliable long-haul operations across the Atlantic and Pacific, proving that four-engine airliners could maintain schedules previously impossible for smaller twins. Its rugged construction and generous payload capacity kept DC-4s flying freight and charter missions well into the 1980s, decades after jets had replaced them on scheduled passenger routes. Today, a handful of DC-4s remain airworthy in the hands of historical foundations and specialty cargo operators, preserving the legacy of an aircraft that defined the transition from wartime military transport to the golden age of propeller airliners. SkyMeter has tracked 2 flights across 1 airframes and 1 operators, with BERLIN AIRLIFT HISTORIAL FOUNDATION the largest observed operator.