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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2072.PDF
© lliffe Transport Publications Ltd 1963 872 FLIGHT International, 28 November 1963 Commercial Aircraft of the World... to the growth of the short-haul sector of the business. It is a four-engined unpressurized aeroplane capable of carrying 40-86 passengers on stage lengths of up to about 2,500 miles at a cruising speed of about 200 m.p.h. The origins of the DC-4 go back to a requirement for a larger medium-haul transport issued by the four largest American carriers (American, United, TWA and Pan American) in mid-1935. Douglas produced a prototype—the DC-4E— to meet this requirement; it flew on June 7, 1938, but did not prove satisfactory and was rejected by the airlines. Douglas thereupon started an entirely new and rather smaller project which became the DC-4. This flew for the first time in February 1942. Orders for 61 were placed by American, Eastern, and United early in 1940 but deliveries were di verted to military purposes and the type went into large-scale production as the military C-54 transport until the end of the war. Some 1,163 military C-54s were delivered, followed by a civil DC-4 model of which 79 were built before manufacture was stopped in favour of the DC-6. The DC-4 cost between £140,000 and £160,000 in 1946-47. A typical used price today is about £50,000. About 280 are still in widespread service. In the United Kingdom it has formed the basis for the Carvair (page 863). DC-6 The DC-4 concept achieved its full potential as a civil transport only after the end of the Second World War when it ap peared in a more powerful, stretched and pres surized form known as the DC-6. The DC-6 carries 70-90 passengers on stage lengths of more than 2,500 miles at cruising speeds of up to 280 m.p.h. It is thus considerably faster than its predecessor because of the higher installed power (9,600 h.p. for take-off in stead of 5,800 h.p.) and because it can operate at greater heights with its pressurized pas senger accommodation. Apart from the more powerful engines and the strengthened struc ture which they require and which permits higher operating weights, the DC-6 differs from the DC-4 in having double-slotted flaps of increased efficiency which hold down the approach speed of the original domestic model to little more than that of the DC-4, in spite of the much increased landing weight. The DC-6 resulted from discussions with American Airlines and United Air Lines about an aeroplane for the US transcontinental routes. This was in 1944 while the war was still in progress; one prototype was ordered by the USAAF as the XC-112A. The first flight took place on February 15, 1946. After the war, manufacture for the airlines got under way and deliveries to United started in 1947. Some 175 DC-6s were built and 150 are still in service. The DC-6 cost between £210,000 and £230,000 in 1946-47 and its price rose to about £310,000 in 1951. Resale price today is about £70,000. DC-6A The success of the DC-6 suggested that further improvements in specific operating costs could be achieved with this same basic design by simply expanding its payload capacity. This was done with great success with the DC-6 A, which appeared in 1949. Some airlines installed passenger interiors in DC-6As and called the aircraft DC-6Cs. Some 77 DC-6As were built for commercial opera tors of which 70 are still in service. Hawaiian Airlines are now operating DC-6 As on inter- island air services with four 53in x 88in cargo pallets in the forward cabin (Douglas Aero Loading System) and passengers in the aft section. In addition, 167 military models of the DC-6A have been supplied to the US Services. About 23 DC-6Bs belonging to eight airlines have been converted by Douglas x -x rofft ZtAfl-FHEIGHT HOL6 ( 3^«- * 3£W £iUJ AfAA fft£IGHT -HOLD 33' 7(14 JL j9« CONVAIR 990 "Flight International" operators' reference drawing (see page 862 for key) to DC-6A standard as part of Douglas' conversion line. The DC-6A cost between £460,000 and £480,000 in 1957-58. DC-6B The DC-6B passenger airliner was the logical outcome of the DC-6A freighter. It will accommodate between 60 and 107 passengers depending on the layout. The first DC-6Bflew on January 23, 1951, and the type went into service with United Air Lines and American Airlines in April of the same year. Flown by United Air Lines and American Airlines on the prestige "coast-to-coast" routes, the DC-6B was for a time the fastest equipment in use. However, it was not so much for its performance, which does not differ greatly from that of the DC-6, as for its excellent economics that the DC-6B was to gain a great reputation, remain longer in production and be built in greater numbers than any other of the later developments of the DC-4. It is probable that lower seat-mile costs have, in fact, been achieved with DC-6Bs than with any other piston-engined equipment. A total of 286 DC-6Bs were produced and production was not completed until late in 1958, when manufacture of the DC-8 jet transport was getting under way; some 240 are still in service. The DC-6B cost about £500,000 in 1958. DC-7 This further development of the DC-4 family owed its origins to the competitive pressures on the domestic routes within the United States and particularly to the struggle between the airline "giants," American, United and TWA, on the transcontinental routes. In 1950 TWA ordered from Lockheed a stretched version of the Constellation, the L.1049C with the new powerful Wright Turbo- Compound engine. This aircraft was obviously going to outpace the DC-6B then m service and would, for the first tune, otter non-stop coast-to-coast capability. An°l^e. important factor was the ALPA and FA* ruling on a maximum of 8hr for pilot time without rest. The DC-7 was the first aircraii scheduled coast-to-coast in less than ». • American Airlines accordingly ordered no Douglas an equivalent development ot " DC-6B using the same compound engm • and this became the DC-7. It entered sen ice in 1953. . ..„ Although fast, the DC-7 is Pe*fp,,l example of a transport aeroplane which
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