Operational big piston propliners

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

Just out of curiosity, how many big (4-engined) piston propliners are still operational worldwide?

Off the top of my head, I can think of:

The only operational Connie is with HARS in Australia
The DC-4 at Castle
The Red Bull DC-6
3 DC-7s with Erickson (probably due for retirement this year)
Everts DC-6 due to be retired to a museum in Norway
Any of the South African DC-4s still operational? What about the one that was due to come to Holland?
What 4-engined piston aircraft do Everts and Buffalo still operate?
Any other commercial operators?
BAHF C-54 and C-97 both out of action at the moment
Several Connie projects underway (Columbine, Bataan, ex-Breitling Connie now in Germany)
Any others?

DB2 · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2020 2:39 pm

Interestingly, I was just perusing FlightAware, and an Everts DC-6 is in the air right now:

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VTS ... /PANC/PADU

I thought they had at least half a dozen DC-6s in operation? Are they all being retired?

JohnTerrell · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2020 4:39 pm

DC-4 N96358 is very active in Alaska, owned by Alaska Air Fuel. It is the only DC-4/C-54 I'm aware of, in addition to the Castle-based DC-4 N460WA (if that one really is active?), currently flying in the world.

All of the DC-4's in South Africa are currently out of operation.

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

The consensus seems to be:

2 DC-4s (Florida Air Transport at Castle and Alaska Air Fuel), with another one due to be ferried from Florida to Canada to add to the stored Buffalo Airways examples there.
Half-a-dozen or so DC-6s with Everts (one to be ferried to a museum in Norway), plus the Florida Air Transport one in Hawaii and Red Bull's at Salzburg.
One, or possibly two, DC-7s still active with Erickson, due for probable retirement at the end of this year's fire season.
The HARS Super Connie in Australia.

And that's pretty much it. It looks like we're pretty close to being down to single figures worldwide.

Catch 'em while you can!

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2020 5:02 pm

Mike wrote:

(one to be ferried to a museum in Norway)

If that will happen now.

T J

Mick G · **Joined:** Sat Feb 13, 2016 5:39 pm **Posts:** 213

I thought Carvair N89FA was still used occasionally or has she been retired?

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11324

How about the Martin Mars? Don’t those count?

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

Neither the Carvair nor the Mars have flown for several years now, therefore I don’t class them as operational.

Mike · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 8:54 am **Posts:** 3331

T J Johansen wrote:

Mike wrote:

(one to be ferried to a museum in Norway)

If that will happen now.

T J

Any particular reason why it shouldn’t?

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Thu May 07, 2020 4:37 pm

bdk wrote:

How about the Martin Mars? Don’t those count?

"Prop" yes, "liner" not so much - although it would have looked good in a Pan Am scheme!

Mark Sampson · **Joined:** Tue Jan 25, 2011 3:02 pm **Posts:** 302

At an airshow once, I was flipping through a rack of old magazine ads for sale at a vendor's booth. One was an ad from Martin promoting their proposed new Mars airliner... would have been amazing had it ever happened. Of course all those Douglas and Lockheed propliners had made the flying boat airliner obsolete by 1946, but you can't blame Martin for putting the idea out there.

Blackbirdfan · **Posted:** Sun May 10, 2020 9:59 pm

Mike wrote:

Neither the Carvair nor the Mars have flown for several years now, therefore I don’t class them as operational.

Coulson is doing something with the Mars. Not sure if its just Hawaii or if its both Hawaii and Philippine. There has been some speculation that due to the big contract that Coulson signed in Australia, they might be going there this fall. No they haven't been flown in a couple years, they have been kept in flightworthy condition.

Will

Mick G · **Joined:** Sat Feb 13, 2016 5:39 pm **Posts:** 213

Blackbirdfan wrote:

Mike wrote:

Neither the Carvair nor the Mars have flown for several years now, therefore I don’t class them as operational.

Coulson is doing something with the Mars. Not sure if its just Hawaii or if its both Hawaii and Philippine. There has been some speculation that due to the big contract that Coulson signed in Australia, they might be going there this fall. No they haven't been flown in a couple years, they have been kept in flightworthy condition.

Will

Only my opinion, but I would consider the chance for either of these to be deployed to Australia as a extraordinarily unlikely scenario. Hawaii is serviceable, so it would be technically possible, but I don't think Philippine has flown since 2006. Besides, isn't the plan still to sell her to the Pensacola Navel Air Museum? I never heard much after the political blockage from Ottawa

T J Johansen · **Posted:** Mon May 11, 2020 5:34 am

Mike wrote:

Any particular reason why it shouldn’t?

The group that was going to buy it suddenly found that the exchange rate between the USD and NOK went in opposite directions courtesy of corona. Leaving them without the necessary funds to complete the transaction. I read on a norwegian forum that the group is trying to sort something out, but as for now the deal is off. Everts has to their credit agreed to resume talks if funds become available.

T J

mike furline · **Joined:** Wed May 05, 2004 3:45 pm **Posts:** 2635

Mark Sampson wrote:

At an airshow once, I was flipping through a rack of old magazine ads for sale at a vendor's booth. One was an ad from Martin promoting their proposed new Mars airliner... would have been amazing had it ever happened. Of course all those Douglas and Lockheed propliners had made the flying boat airliner obsolete by 1946, but you can't blame Martin for putting the idea out there.

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Operational big piston propliners

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