Douglas DC - 4 The Douglas DC - 4 is a four - engined propeller - driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company . It served during World War II , in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role . From 1945 , many civil airlines operated it worldwide . Design and development . After the DC - 4E proved to be complicated to maintain and uneconomical , Douglas responded to the Eastern and United requests for a smaller and simpler derivative . Before the definitive DC - 4 could enter service the outbreak of World War II meant production was channeled to the United States Army Air Forces and the type was given the military designation C - 54 Skymaster , with US Navy aircraft designated Douglas R5D . The first aircraft , a C - 54 , flew from Clover Field in Santa Monica , California on 14 February 1942 . The DC - 4 ' s tricycle landing gear allowed its fuselage to be of constant cross - section for most of its length , so it could be easily stretched into the later DC - 6 and DC - 7 . 1 , 163 C - 54 / R5Ds were built for the United States military between 1942 and January 1946 ; 79 DC - 4s were built postwar . Operational history . The DC - 4 / C - 54 proved a popular and reliable type , 1245 being built between May 1942 and August 1947 , including 79 postwar DC - 4s . Several remain in service as of 2011 . An example is Buffalo Airways of Yellowknife , Northwest Territories . Douglas continued to develop the type during the war in preparation for a return to airline use when peace returned . The type ' s sales prospects were affected when 500 wartime ex military C - 54s and R5Ds came onto the civil market , many being converted to DC - 4 standard by Douglas . DC - 4s were a favorite of charter airline s such as Great Lakes Airlines , North American Airlines , Universal Airlines and Transocean Airlines . In the 1950s Transocean Airlines ( Oakland , California ) was the largest civil operator of the C - 54 / DC - 4 . Douglas produced 79 new - build DC - 4s between January 1946 and August 9 , 1947 , the last example being delivered to South African Airways . Pressurization was an option , but all civil DC - 4s ( and C - 54s ) were built unpressurized . Purchasers of new - build DC - 4s included Pan American Airways , National Airlines , Northwest Airlines and Western Airlines in the USA , and KLM Royal Dutch Air Lines , Scandinavian Airlines System , Iberia Airlines of Spain , Swissair , Air France , Sabena Belgian World Airlines , Cubana de Aviación , Avianca , Aerolíneas Argentinas , Aeropostal of Venezuela ( 1946 ) and South African Airways overseas . Several airlines used new - build DC - 4s to start scheduled transatlantic flights between Latin America and Europe . Among the earliest were Aerolíneas Argentinas ( 1946 ) , Aeropostal of Venezuela ( 1946 ) , Iberia Airlines of Spain ( 1946 ) , and Cubana de Aviación ( 1948 ) . Basic prices for a new DC - 4 in 1946 - 7 was around £140 , 000 - £160 , 000 . In 1960 used DC - 4s were available for around £80 , 000 . Notable appearances in media . The DC - 4 featured extensively in the 1954 John Wayne motion picture " film " . A DC - 4 appears as the " Amalgamated " airliner that must be piloted by stewardess Doris Day in the 1956 thriller " Julie . " The DC - 4 was used for the 1957 thriller " Zero Hour ! " . Survivors . Very few DC - 4s remain in service today . The last two passenger DC - 4s believed to be operating worldwide are based in Johannesburg , South Africa . They fly with old South African Airways ( SAA ) colors . They are ZS - AUB " Outeniqua " and ZS - BMH " Lebombo " and are owned by the South African Airways Museum Society and operated by Skyclass Aviation , a company specializing in classic airliner charters to exotic destinations in Africa . A 1944 built DC - 4 is currently being restored in New South Wales , Australia . Buffalo Airways in Canada operates roughly a dozen DC - 4s ( former C - 54s of various versions ) for hauling cargo and aerial firefighting .