Douglas DC-4 C-54B

The C-54B, introduced in March 1944, changed the outer wings for ones with integral fuel tanks. That allowed two of the cabin tanks to be removed and useful space to be won back: 49 seats or 16 stretchers where the drums had been.

220 were built. One of them was Winston Churchill's aircraft. Its naval equivalent was the R5D-2, with 30 aircraft transferred, redesignated C-54P in 1962. A C-54B — construction number 10452 — also became the curious DC-4 Swingtail, converted by Sabena with a swing tail for Air Congo: it flew for Air Congo and then Air Zaire from 1966 to 1976, passed to Zaire Air Service and kept flying until 1984, and ended with Kinair Cargo until it crashed in 1988.