Douglas C-54G-1-DO "Skymaster"
S/N 45-0502

Crew:  Six
Engines:  Four Pratt & Whitney R-2000-9; 1,450 hp each
Wingspan:  117 ft 6 in
Length:  93 ft 10 in
Height:  27 ft 6 in
Weight:  38,930 empty; 62,000 lbs normal load; 73,000 lbs maximum
Speed:  190 mph cruise; 275 mph max
Range:  3,900 miles at 190 mph at 10,000 ft
Ceiling:  22,300 ft
Armament:  None; seats for up to 50 passengers; up to 7 tons of cargo
Cost:  $1,180,000 (actual)

This C-54G-1-DO, S/N 45-0502, was manufactured by Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, California, and delivered to the USAAF on June 26, 1945. The next day it was chosen for assignment to the 10th Air Force in Karachi, Pakistan, and was flown to Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, on the way to Morrison Army Air Field, Florida, for overseas departure. It left for Karachi on July 4, 1945 and returned to the United States via Hamilton AAF, California, that October. From there it went to Tinker AAF, Oklahoma, then Brookley AAF, Alabama, before ending up back at Morrison AAF, Florida. 

The following year the aircraft left for Westover AAF, Massachusetts, and from there departed for three more overseas assignments. Then it was assigned in June 1948 to the 520th Troop Carrier Squadron of the Military Air Transport Command at Westover AFB, Massachusetts. The next month it was dispatched to West Germany to fly in support of the Berlin Airlift.

During the 1950s and 1960s this aircraft was transferred between various Military Air Transport Service assignments all over the world, including Texas, Montana, Hawaii, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Bermuda, Labrador, Newfoundland, Greenland, England, and Japan. Finally, after years of service, the aircraft was declared excess and was assigned on March 14, 1973 to the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. It was finally dropped from the USAF inventory on November 13, 1974. Haiti Air Freight in Miami, Florida, then bought the surplus aircraft to use in its shipping operations.

In the early 1990s the old C-54 became the property of the USAF Museum System and on February 15, 1992 made its final flight from Tucson to Hill AFB for display at Hill Aerospace Museum. To ready the aircraft for permanent display, the engines were removed and the fuel and hydraulic systems purged by base maintenance personnel. On October 19, 1992 the plane was towed to the museum and assumed its place in the collection. In 1995 the aircraft was painted to commemorate the Candy Bomber missions flown during "Operation Vittles" (the Berlin Airlift) by Utah-native Col. Gail S. Halvorsen.