C-54M Skymaster – Air Mobility Command Museum (2024)

Anyone know what model UHF radio was in the C-45 and/or the power output in Watts? Thx

I was stationed at Ankara as an engine mechanic. Flew all over Europe and the Middle East on 44-9030. Went with it to Rhine Main to performs periodic maintenance on it and spent over 30 days there.
I was glad to see that she was saved from the scrapper and was preserved for all to enjoy.

We had one in Gitmo in 65 and 66 we used to fly the Embassies around the Caribbean, it was the original C54 with the oval windows and 4 R2000 engines, tail number was 90999

I was station at Ankara AB, Turkey from 1960-1962 and work on electrical systems on 44-9030 and flew with her to Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and Morocco. We did a pilot recertification and the co-pilot shut off two engines and was supposed to restart them but shut off the other two engines, but luckily, we had a good pilot and got them all restarted before we crashed.

On Feb 23 1973 I was the transport plane commander (TPC) in Navy Transport Squadron VR-62Y1, NAF Detroit. We were the last military squadron flying the C-54 and this was the last operational flight in the squadron, I claim I flew the last operational flight. The BuNo was 50857. I loved airplane. I flew P-3s in the fleet and stayed in the Naval Air Reserve. I got about 200 hours in the C-54 as TPC and instructor pilot in 4 years. In February 1973 after that flight I was the last TPC C-54 pilot. Interestingly it was the Akron, Columbus southern airlift flown in a snowstorm.
Also the C-54s were older than I was.

John Johnston flew. As aircrew load master on C54 090865 at NARTU
NAF Andrew’s AFB from 1966 to 1970.

My father LTC Donald I. Greene USAF (Ret.) Deceased, as a CPT was a pilot and flew out of Rhein-Main Air Base assigned to the 513th Troop Carrier Group (SPECIAL), 330th Troop Carrier Squadron 7 April 1949 thru Aug 1949. Dad may have flown this aircraft during Operation Vittles (Berlin Airlift). I have his Operation Vittles Diary but he didn’t list tail numbers. I loved the virtual tour of the C-54 Skymaster – Thanks so much. I served 6 years in the USAF as an enlisted bomb loader 1969-1975, then I joined the Army Reserves and retired as a Nurse Anesthetist.
Cheers!
COL Stephen Greene USA (Ret.)

Myself and a group of dedicated engineers and volunteers are currently restoring a C54 back to flight condition. The aircraft was built in 1945 and is currently at North Weald airport just north of London in the United Kingdom. The tail number is 56498. the aircraft saw active service with the US Navy throughout the Pacific and other places during many conflicts and has a great history.
If you want to see it and check on the progress we are making you can look on our new website, savetheskymaster.org.
We are hoping to have engine runs in the very near future.

I believe that this C-54 may be one that my father flew while stationed at Wheelus AFB in Tripoli Libya. He was Major John P Murphy and we lived in Tripoli from 1957-61. In a C-54, he flew the then King & Queen of Libya, Idris & Fatima. In late February, 1960, he flew Frank “Speedy Pete” Everest & a crew throughout Africa. The trip was a reward for Everest’s test piloting feats, including flying 3X speed of sound. I have a photo of the C-54 with tail # 49030. I also have a copy of the official Flight Order noting the Aircraft Number as 9030. I’m no sleuth, but it’s gotta be the same plane…

My late father, SMSgt Jack L Gilbert, Sr., was a C-54 flight engineer at RAF Celle, during the airlift, and may very well have flown on this aircraft.

When I was in the Naval Air Reserve at NAS Dallas Tex I was a Plane Capt, then upgraded to FE.
Then in 67-68 we converted to C-118s. You had to work on the plane then get in and fly. They Mothballed the C-118 while I flew as a FE in 1974 so I moved over to the AF and became a C-5 Flt Engr, retiring in 1994 at Dover AFB, DE.

I’m a former USNR AC-1 (air traffic controller 1st class). I flew in the Navy’s R-5D version of this aircraft a few times in the 1960’s out of NAS South Weymouth, Mass., a USNR base which at one time housed blimps, or derigibles as the Navy called them. One of the VR (transport) squadron’s commanding officers was a well-known Boston TV personality who delivered the news on WBZ Channel 4. His name was Jack Chase. He was the only commander I ever saw who responded to enlisted men with a friendly “hello” when they called him by his first name while walking through a hallway.

I flew on the C-54 out of Tokyo and the 99th ATS MATS in the mid 50’s. I was a radio operator, and loved that aircraft. Had 1500 hrs and then went to McGuire AFB on C-118’s. Also a great aircraft.

From 1960 to 1962 I was stationed at Wheelus Air Base Tripoli, Libya. My Squadron was the 58th Air Rescue Sqdrn., our planes were SC-54s and SA-16s. We had one Model C 54 and its tail number was 033, my job then was a flight engineer. One Thanksgiving we flew 033 to Germany to pick up fresh veggies for the mess hall, we had a purchasing agent with us. On our return we were at the end of the taxiway doing our engine run-ups when this purchasing agent asked what would happen if we lost an engine on take off. I motioned with my hand doing a nose dive, he return to the cabin wrapped himself in a blanket and stayed there for the eight hour flight.

Worked on this particular aircraft when it was assigned to Ankara air station Turkey, was one of 2 that were stationed there 9030 and 9039. Was glad to see that it survived all these years and was preserved.

In September, 1955 I was transported from a holding hospital near Rhine Main AFB and boarded onto a M.A.T.S. C-54 for transport to McGuire AFB via the Azores Islands, where we stopped to refuel prior to the trans Atlantic flight. I was liter bound as were all the patients on that plane. As I recall, the first upper most liter was hung from the overhead, the second liter hung from the first and the third from the second and then anchored to the deck. The entire aircraft was filled with liter bound G.I’s bound for the States. We landed at McGuire A.F.B. and were off loaded to the base hospital at Ft. Dix. From there, two days later, liter bound, I was air lifted to Washington, D.C aboard a DC-3, to a grass strip near Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I was discharged from the Army at Walter Reed in January, 1956.

I worked on these aircraft during the late ’49s removing all that coal dust and restoring them to their original personnel carrier missions. This was at Oakland, CA, while working for the Aircraft Engineering and Maintenance Company (AEMCO)