Warbird Information Exchange

I seem to remember some C-54's flown overseas for a movie, and then the movie was never filmed and they were just sitting there. Does anyone know where they are now?

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

I believe they were going to make a movie about the Berlin Airlift... I seem to remember it was going to be based on the Candy Bomber, Gail Halverson. However, things didn't pan out. Two C-54's were flown to England, and I believe they are stilll sitting at North Weald air field.... sad really, as nothing has been done with them as far as I know.

Richard

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

Both are still stored in the open at North Weald, Essex, England, unflown for many years now. If you look at the recent WIX thread entitled 'ok questions on PBYs' you will see that in the photos of Catalina N423RS, one of the C-54s is shown although the other is out of shot.

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David Legg
Editor, The Catalina News
The Catalina Society
Author: Consolidated PBY Catalina - The Peacetime Record

They can also be seen here www.flickr.com/photos/harlowirish/2632963837/

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

FWIW, here is a curious point regarding N44914 ( Douglas c/n 10630). I photographed this same airplane in 1964 when it passed through NAS Kwajalein. At the time it was assigned to NAS Agana, Guam.

OK, I'll try it again.

They are both up for sale now.



http://www.generalaviationnews.com/?p=14532#more-14532

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Kevin Kearney
Vice President
Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation


C-54D "Spirit of Freedom" 43-17228
C-97 "Angel of Deliverance" 52-2718 (painted as YC-97A 45-59595)
C-54E/R5D-4 "Spirit of Freedom" 44-9144 BuNo 90414 (wfu April/2020)
http://www.spiritoffreedom.org

I always thought they should have used a C-54 as a stand-in for an Fw-200 Condor in the movie "U-571" instead of the Fiat(?) with crappy ad-hock German markings (how the heck did a single-engine fighter get that far out to sea, anyway?) I know the Condor is a taildragger, but if the plane was only used for flying shots a C-54 would work. Add a fake ventral gondola and turrets, prop spinners, and a decent Luftwaffe paint job, and viola!

Of course, that movie was so bad the inauthenticity of the aircraft really didn't matter. I especially loved the computer-generated PBY that shows up at the end, with "US NAVY" in huge letters across the top of the wing.

SN