davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
The mighty C-54
I couldn't decide whether to put this post in WW2 or Post War. It was available and provided yeoman service during WW2, but its real glory came post war in the Berlin airlift, so I decided to put it in Post War.
Over shadowed by its far more famous and honored predecessor the DC-3, C-47, and R4D, and quickly becoming obsolete with the advent of the jet airliners, the C-54, it cohorts the DC-4 and R5D, and their aircrews nonetheless became the first cold war warriors and valiantly overcame fierce obstacles to save a city and prevented humiliation for the West. I am sure the Russians were quite confident of the upcoming failure of the West in its attempt to feed a Berlin having seen the mighty German Luftwaffe fail miserably only six years earlier. But they were in for a shock. The Germans did not have the C-54 or General William H. Turner, or the resources of the West. Flying closely spaced in miserable weather, no GPS, no tactical air navigation (TACAN), no very high frequency omni-directional ranging (VOR), no instrument landing system (ILS), relying solely on automatic direction finding (ADF) and ground controlled approach (GCA), these crews and airplanes performed magnificently and it was the Russians who were humiliated.
General Turner's efforts were amazing. He demonstrated how planning could win wars. The world was now aware of the capability of airlift. A huge city had been kept free and the communist had received a bloody nose.
To be fair, there were other aircraft and crews that contributed mightily to the effort and deserves to share in the glory, but the C-54 was certainly the backbone.
Here is a cool video of that magnificent aircraft. In first few seconds you can catch a glimpse of a Ju-52 flying.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrziTee4b2c
I couldn't decide whether to put this post in WW2 or Post War. It was available and provided yeoman service during WW2, but its real glory came post war in the Berlin airlift, so I decided to put it in Post War.
Over shadowed by its far more famous and honored predecessor the DC-3, C-47, and R4D, and quickly becoming obsolete with the advent of the jet airliners, the C-54, it cohorts the DC-4 and R5D, and their aircrews nonetheless became the first cold war warriors and valiantly overcame fierce obstacles to save a city and prevented humiliation for the West. I am sure the Russians were quite confident of the upcoming failure of the West in its attempt to feed a Berlin having seen the mighty German Luftwaffe fail miserably only six years earlier. But they were in for a shock. The Germans did not have the C-54 or General William H. Turner, or the resources of the West. Flying closely spaced in miserable weather, no GPS, no tactical air navigation (TACAN), no very high frequency omni-directional ranging (VOR), no instrument landing system (ILS), relying solely on automatic direction finding (ADF) and ground controlled approach (GCA), these crews and airplanes performed magnificently and it was the Russians who were humiliated.
General Turner's efforts were amazing. He demonstrated how planning could win wars. The world was now aware of the capability of airlift. A huge city had been kept free and the communist had received a bloody nose.
To be fair, there were other aircraft and crews that contributed mightily to the effort and deserves to share in the glory, but the C-54 was certainly the backbone.
Here is a cool video of that magnificent aircraft. In first few seconds you can catch a glimpse of a Ju-52 flying.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrziTee4b2c
