Douglas DC-6 / C-118

1946

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Douglas DC-6 / C-118

Built as an enlarged and pressurised DC-4 in order to compete with the Lockheed Constellation, the DC-6 (as the XC-112A) first flew on 15 February 1946. It had a 2.06m longer fuselage than the DC-4, accommodation for 48-52 passengers and was powered by four 1,565kW Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp CA15 engines. American Airlines and United Air Lines introduced the DC-6 on 27 April 1946. A total of 175 DC-6 were built. The windowless DC-6A freighter followed in 1949, powered by 1,788.5kW Double Wasps, with reinforced floor and double cargo doors - 74 were built.

The DC-6A was 1.52m longer than the DC-6 (101 going to the USAF as C-118A transports). The DC-6B, with accommodation for 54-102 passengers, first flew on 2 February 1951 and also had the longer fuselage. American Airlines introduced DC-6B on its US transcontinental services on 29 April 1951. It was one of the finest and most economical piston-engined transports. It remained in production until 1958 and 288 were built. Many of the DC-6 series were later converted to freighters.

Douglas DC-6 / C-118

Specification 
 CREW3-5
 PASSENGERS64-92
 ENGINE4 x P+W R-2800-CB17, 1840kW
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight48125 kg106098 lb
  Empty weight24583 kg54197 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan35.8 m117 ft 5 in
  Length32.2 m106 ft 8 in
  Height8.7 m29 ft 7 in
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed575 km/h357 mph
  Cruise speed495 km/h308 mph
  Range w/max.fuel7856 km4882 miles

Comments1-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 101-120 121-140
Bill Taylor, e-mail, 21.03.2010 19:57

Was stationed with VR-21 at NAS Barbers Pt. HI from 1972 until 1977. I was a inflight radio operator and a avionics tech on the C-118 until I was moved to the C-130. Periscope Sextants and LORAN ALPHA, it's a wonder we could always manage to find Wake Island during a rain storm in the middle of the night. "Fill the oil, check the gas!" Looking for fellow aircrewmen who can document operations into Viet Nam (Tan Son Nhut, Da Nang)for a disability claim. Old flight orders listing crew mmebers which inclued my name - William Taylor - would be most helpful.

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H Alan Davis, e-mail, 18.03.2010 02:42

I read Ron Stout's comments about the DC-6B. I flew them for years (1957-Dec 1992) He is right about the swing-tails. There were two which were converted in Finland. I flew one out of Miami with Trans-Air-Link and it was later sold to Northern Air Cargo in Anchorage. I also read Tom (T.P.) O Connor's comments. I don't know what the record is from Tachikawa to Honolulu in a DC-6, but on one winter night with a light pax load out of Tachikawa, we climbed to 21,000 and for the first 3 hours we were going so fast that our navigator had difficulty keeping up with the aircraft. I can't remember just how strong the tailwind was but I believe about 180K initially. Everything in the cockpit was shaking. It took us ten hours and five minutes from Tachi to HNL.

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David Witt ADC(Ret) 87, e-mail, 18.03.2010 00:41

While stationed at NAS Barbers Pt. HI. 1965 I lived in the barracks across from VR-21. Late night mag checks used to drive me crazy, no sleeping until early morning with those 2800's roaring out there. Loved the A /C though, many flights on them as a pass.

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H Alan Davis, e-mail, 14.03.2010 22:26

H Alan Davis,had1932@yahoo.com, 14.03.2010 I first flew the C-118 at McGuire AFB in 1957. Transferred to Hickam AFB, HA in 1962 where I flew the C-118 for over 3 years and continued to fly C-118s until leaving Wiesbaden, Germany in Nov 1970. Flew the DC-6 out of Miami with Rich International and later Tran Air Link in both passenger and cargo flights. I also flew the DC-6 on contract with Northern Air Cargo in Alaska. Forced to retire in Dec 1992 by FAA after reaching 60 years of age with 24,000 flying hours and over 20,000 hours in C-118s, R6-Ds,or DC-6 A&B all accident free hours. Douglas built a great airplane although

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Dick Culbertson, e-mail, 12.03.2010 01:40

I got into R6Ds (DC6 /C118) in VR 6 at Westover AFB in mid 1951. Next tour in R6Ds was VR-21, NAS Barbers PT. Then off to VR-22 at NAS Norfolk. Last flown at NARTU Jax in 1969. The bird was a Cadillac! I was a flight examiner (check pilot). I ended up with 6,000 plus hours. Used to do FCLP landings at NAAS Fentress in late 50s. What great fun!

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Richard Coca, e-mail, 15.02.2010 15:49

I worked on the aeroevac C-118a and C-131A off /on at Scott AFB IL from April 1966 thru 1972. First time I flew the 118 we had to come in on emergency due to the right gear door control rod breaking off and sticking through the gear door. The C-118 required a lot of maintenace to keep them flying the biggest problems were broken exhaust stacks, pork chops, low BMEP and they had to be washed every time they flew.

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Caleb Humphrey, e-mail, 05.11.2022 Richard Coca

I am curious about a part on the c118 /dc-6. The part is referred to as the “pork chop”. Do you have any further information about what this is or how I can find one? My grand father is a navy veteran and has mentioned this part before. Any information helps.

Thank you- Caleb

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Caleb Humphrey, e-mail, 05.11.2022 Richard Coca

I am curious about a part on the c118 /dc-6. The part is referred to as the “pork chop”. Do you have any further information about what this is or how I can find one? My grand father is a navy veteran and has mentioned this part before. Any information helps.

Thank you- Caleb

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David Weaver, e-mail, 29.12.2022 Caleb Humphrey

A pork chop is a bracket that resembled a boomerang (fatter though). It was an exhaust bracket that fastened to a cylinder.

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James Garland, e-mail, 14.02.2010 15:17

Around 25 years ago I worked for a company called JET WAY in Ypsilanti Michigan.We had some Lear jets and DC-6s.I was sent to Pontiac Michigan to pull 4 engines off an old DC-6 that had been flying down in the Caribbean.The plane didn't even have heaters on it as they were remove. The planes Data plate said DC-6 ship # 1.We were scraping it out.I pulled the tin off the outboard #3 Eng,grabbed the main oil to pull my self up on the maintenance stand and the oil line broke.It was so rotten.All the fuel and oil lines were rotten.The plane had just landed less than 2 hrs ago.God must have been watching out for that crew.

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Louis Snyder, e-mail, 12.02.2010 01:07

I was in the AF and a Mechanical Assessories Repairman stationed at McGuire from 1961 to 1964 and worked on C-118's, A /C , Pressurization, Oxygen, Heating, systems. Went on the the C-135 then the C-141, was and E-4

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Gene Hauber, e-mail, 04.09.2010 05:09

I flew four yrs as flt mech with VR1 out of Pax River, Md from 62-66, then again in VR24 in Rota, Spain, 68-72.
Got to see a good part of the world and loved every minute of it. It was a flight engineer's dream and very forgiving, almost lovable.

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Johnny Perez, e-mail, 08.02.2010 14:25

I was an AirCrew Man on the C-118 at Naval Station Keflavic,Iceland from 1980-1984. It was the best four year tour I spent in the Navy. I enjoyed going to Europe ( England, Scotland, Spain, Italy, etc) we flew bachk to the states alot also.

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Max T. Hansen, e-mail, 01.02.2010 05:28

Made one of the first C-118 flights from Mc Guire AFB to Thule in July 1956 . We were told that they just replaced the C-54's.Stopped for fuel at Goose Bay (I think ). My second military flight & much plusher than my first ,a B-25 hop out of Chanute Field .Worked & flew on a lot of Douglas products . Always made it .

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Jim Dodds, e-mail, 29.01.2010 04:57

Was A & P mech on them at American Airlines 1957 till they where gone as the B-707 came on line.

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Marty Hall, e-mail, 21.01.2010 06:03

We have 10 DC-6 /C-118's flying in Alaska and will have as long as there's 100LL available. Good plane. We have 4 hauling fuel and the rest as scheduled air carriers flying from Fairbanks and Anchorage. We've just started the process of putting DC-9's on our certificate but have no intention of getting rid of our DC-6's and C46's. The round engine still has a home in Alaska.

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Ron Stout, e-mail, 16.01.2010 20:32

When I started work at Western Airlines(April 1,1955)the DC-6B was the queen of the fleet.I was told that if I ever dented one to just clock out and keep on going.They were a terrific plane to ride in with 66 first class seat and a four person lounge in the rear.A dream to load and unlaod compared to evey othe plane and reliable as hell.Two of Western's were later converted to swing tail cargo types in Finland and one was still at Northern Air Cargo in Alaska as late as 2001.

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Jim McKinney, e-mail, 10.01.2010 01:38

I flew on two DC-6's in the summer of 1960. I was thirteen years old. The first was a Mexicana flight from Monterey, Mexico to Mexico City. I remember it having sleeper births that folded up into the ceiling. The second flight was a Aeronavis (now Aeromexico) flight from Mexico City to Juarez, Mexico with stops in Toreon and Chihuahua. I found that if you sit in the back of a DC-6, it is a fairly quiet plane. Seats were nice and wide and comfortable, unlike the cramped seats on todays jets.

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sam n. rhodes adr1, e-mail, 09.01.2010 03:57

I was attached to VR-53 Memphis tn and started to fly the C-118 in 1978 I was the first flight engineer in the squadron to complete 1000 hours, 2000 hours, 3000 hours and complete over 7000 hours in this bird. Loved every minute of it. I went on to fly the DC-9 with VR-60 with over 2300 hours. I retired from northwest with over 27000 hours (no accidents)

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Wayne "Fish" Salmon, e-mail, 27.12.2009 20:10

I flew in the C-118 for 3800 hours as a flight navigator.
We had no GPS to do the work for us, it was navigation on the order of what was done in WWII and Korea. I was fortunate to have command of VR-51 at NAS Glenview for one tour. One particular flight in the C-118 sticks out in my mind. In the "118," just before you entered the cockpit, there was a series of "eyebrow" gauges that registered the engine oil quantity. We were on a Viet Nam flight and I was navigating after our departure from NAS Barber's Point. I was in the process of seeing how the pilots were doing when I noticed that #3 engine oil quantity gauge was reading almost zero, while the others were full. I was just in the process of going forwad, and telling the pilots about the oil quantity gauge, when "all hell broke loose" in the cockpit. A heading for Barber's was asked for immeadiatly. About 20 minutes of flight after the problem was identified, and dealt with, it was obvious that we didn't have enough engine oil to reach land. We were in "deep do-do." It was obvious that our only hope was Johnston Island. For those of you that aren't familiar with Johnston, it was then a top secret AF base that was not used by all military flights. We found UHF and ADF frequencies andquickly in the enroute supplement and headed towards Johnston. When we finally established com with the tower, we said that we had a problem and needed clearance to land. The reply was simple, "declare a mayday" or don't land. That was an easy question to answer, and shortly after that we landed. After turning off the duty runway, and shutting the remaining 3 engines down, the first person on the airplane was a full bird colonel, who said, "Welcome to Johnston Island, you're under arrest." We had just landed at a super secret AF base that was in the middle of a security excercise!! When the CO figured out that we really had a problem, things quited down considerably The problem was quickly diagnosed as all four engines not having the oil cooler screen nut not properly torqued down when a 50 hr. oil cooler screen check had been performed at Barber's Point. After filling up the oil tanks on all four engines, and properly securing the retaining nuts, we took off for Wake Island as the first stop on the remainder of our Viet Nam flight. The day after I returned home, I was back in my classroom where I taught 9th grade biology. Such flights really gave you a different perspective on life.

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Tom[ T.P.] Oconnor, e-mail, 27.12.2009 08:47

I flew the C-118 21 years.VR-21 july 1962 to july 1966.Reserve Olathe-Memphis-Glenview July 1966 to Dec 1983.I was CO of VR-51[Glenview-Whidby Is.]1982-1983.I retired in 1986 with 10000 hours in the C-118.I hold alt.record[29000ft.]speed record[400kts.]with tail wind!What a neat aircraft!

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Lew Harris, e-mail, 13.07.2020 Tom[ T.P.] Oconnor

I was an AT2 radioman at VR-21 at Barber's Point from 1960-63. We must have been there at the same time. I have a few pictures one of the Squadron marching in Review.

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Fred Gharis, e-mail, 07.12.2009 21:38

Flew the old C-118 from March 1965 to May 1968. AT1 radioman. Was on aircraft that crashed on takeoff at Barber's Point. Don't remember exactly when it occurred or which BUNO it was.We were taking off on a west pac with half cargo and half passengers. Nobody was hurt. Tried to take off with full flaps.

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John Smith, e-mail, 14.11.2009 02:54

I was in VR-21 Barbers Point 1963-1965. I was a loadmaster on our C-118B's.

Capt. Johnson was my squadron CO and replaced by Capt. Westerlund.

The "Pineapple Airlines were slow but very dependable"

Found memories of that time.

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