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The Douglas Aircraft Company decided to produce a four-engine transport about twice the size of the DC-3 and, in 1938, developed the single DC-4E to carry 42 passengers by day or 30 by night. It proved too expensive to maintain, so airlines agreed to suspend development in favour of the less complex DC-4.
Douglas built 1,241 of the DC-4s and its military counterparts. During the war, C-54s flew a million miles a month over the rugged North Atlantic - more than 20 round trips a day.
A special C-54C, nicknamed the "Sacred Cow" by the White House press corps, became the first presidential aircraft, ordered for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
After World War II, commercial airlines placed more than 300 civilian DC-4 transports into service, and new DC-4s and used C-54s carried more passengers than any other four-engine transport.
Like the DC-3 the Skymasters now have a more leisurely time plying their trade. They are great favourites in the tourism industry, able to venture as far as North America and Europe.
The aircraft seat up to 50 passengers each, in a Business Class configuration. The DC-4's range of over 3000 km puts it in easy reach of exotic destinations such as Central and East Africa as well as many of the spectacular tropical islands in the Indian Ocean
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