Douglas DC-6 variant
Douglas DC-6 XC-112A / YC-112A
Military prototype from which the DC-6 grew: a stretched, pressurised C-54 with R-2800-83AM3 engines, flown on 15 February 1946.
- February 15, 1946
- First flight
- 1
- Units built
History
The military order that outlived its war
In 1944 the United States Army Air Forces commissioned Douglas to build the XC-112: a lengthened, pressurised version of the C-54 Skymaster transport — the military DC-4 — with more powerful engines. It answered a wartime need, but the calendar worked against it.
By the time the XC-112A prototype flew on 15 February 1946 the war was over and the USAAF had rescinded the requirement. The aircraft, pressurised and powered by Pratt & Whitney R-2800-83AM3 engines, was redesignated YC-112A and was eventually sold in 1955.
Its importance is genealogical: Douglas reworked the design into a civil transport 2.0 m (80 inches) longer than the DC-4 and powered by the 18-cylinder Double Wasp radial, and out of that came the civil DC-6, which flew on 29 June 1946. The XC-112A is therefore the link between the DC-4/C-54 and the whole DC-6 family.