The Sky Sovereign DC-4E

The Sky Sovereign Is Entroned

2010-04-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

This site is dedicated to the Douglas DC-4E, the Sky Sovereign. A one of a kind aircraft, representing the highest that technology had to offer in it's day. Only one was built. Only one ever flew. We shall never see its like again This is the story of that airplane; the Sky Sovereign is enthroned..................

2010-04-20T18:24:00.000-07:00

Warren J. Lund from San Jose, California, kindly sent me some pics of his model - the scratch built 1/72 Douglas DC-4E. It looks real!

The Pastushin Ashtray

2010-02-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

A Douglas DC-4E desktop ashtray made by V.F. Pastushin Co., Santa Monica, CA. to commemorate the marvelous 'Super Mainliner' launch. This ashtray airplane has a wingspan of 8", tail span of 2.5", the fuselage is 5" and stands 5" tall.

2010-02-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

The long lost film-

2009-03-07T00:17:00.001-08:00

Some very rare footage of the 'Super Mainliner' in flight:

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Original Tootsie Toy

2008-08-18T20:21:00.001-07:00

Here is a Tootsie Toy Super Mainliner complete with the original box. And, a rare short film on the Sky Sovereign.

2007-02-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

The Wyandotte, pressed steel toy airplane.

2007-02-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

2007-02-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

2007-01-11T22:15:00.000-08:00

The official Douglas drawings of the Super Mainliner, DC-4E

2006-12-27T20:51:00.000-08:00

Another Margaret Bourke-White photo for LIFE. A $2,225.000 airplane! Imagine that!

Renderings of the aircraft interior

2006-09-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

A look inside the 'Mainliner'.

The United Mainliner Model Kit

2006-09-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

This is a balsa wood kit from about 1939.

Approximately 1:48 scale of the actual DC-4E, with a wingspan of nearly 26 inches.

Another great aerial shot of the United Mainliner in flight

2006-09-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

an uncredited plane to plane photo of the DC-4E over a an American city. Perhaps an unpublished Margaret Bourke-White out-take?

The Douglas DC-4E Sales Brochure

2006-09-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

2006-05-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

The triple-tail mystery plane is the Douglas DC-4E prototype which first flew on June 7, 1938. I remember it well since my birth date was a mere 8 days later. Much of the test flying was done by Benny Howard. This ship began an extensive nationwide shakedown tour by United Air Lines in November of 1939 which proved that changes were needed. The production Douglas DC-4/C-54, which was slightly shrunk and sported a single vertical stabilizer, was a wonderful airplane as we know, but the prototype was unloved. It was sold to Japan Air Transport in late 1939 and later crashed. (Info courtesy of Jane's All The World's Aircraft vols.1939 and 1940, and Juptner's U.S. Civil Aircraft, vol. 8.)

Douglas DC-4E - predecessor to the actual DC-4 and C-54 transports of World War II fame. The '4E was just too complex, too expensive ($1.6 million each), and too far ahead of its time when it rolled out in 1938, and although it was beautifully flush-riveted and was the first airliner "with provisions for pressurization" (the Boeing 307 was first to fly with pressurization), it was basically a scaled-up four-engined DC-3. Although those upper fuselage windows gave the appearance of an upper deck, those were actually for the sleeper berths that folded down from the craft's ceiling. The lone prototype was sold to the Japanese in 1939, and served as the baseline for their bomber fleet that appeared shortly thereafter.

2006-05-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

Designed by Committee: The Douglas DC-4E or -4X

MANY OF YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD THE OLD maxim that a camel is just "... a horse designed by committee." Well, sometimes, that maxim can be applied to humans, too, including automobile and airplane executives and designers. Many successful companies have been afflicted by groups of well-meaning men who were fundamentally controlled by their diverse needs.
In the early 1930s, Douglas Aircraft, flush with the success of its DC-2 and DC-3 ail-metal airliners, listened to executives who dreamed of transcontinental airliners with twice as many passengers in plush accommodations. Ultimately, the nation's "big four"-American, Eastern, TWA and United-agreed to share the cost of developing an affordable, but superb, multi-engine airliner with double the passenger capacity of the DC-3/DST (which had sleeping berths). But cost, an unreliable engine, size and maintenance loomed as problems.
Engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney promised a new Twin Hornet engine that would be both powerful and economical. Hamilton Standard and Curtiss promised more efficient propellers (that eventually resulted in a proper constant-speed hydramatic unit). Meanwhile, each airline's design team had its own ideas about the luxurious accommodations, which included bars, pressurization, several lavatory units and dining facilities. Such aircraft would need more crew members to tend to all the passenger accommodations, which ranged from sleeping berths for 30 to recliner seats for up to 52. Also, the vertical stabilizer heights of the new tricycle-gear designs were too high for existing maintenance facilities. Most of the tail-dragger airliners didn't have this problem. That's why Douglas and Lockheed went to a vertical tri-tail. It provided the required surface area, but at a lower height. Lockheed's Kelly Johnson also advocated this design because it had solved the Electra 10's problem of engine-out directional control.
Eventually, the tri-tail prototype DC-4 (sometimes called "DC-4X") appeared bearing a simple "DC-4" designation on the outboard faces of the two outboard fins and the NX18100 license number. It flew proofing flights with all four "sponsor" airlines, but not one approved it for operational activities. The engines were unsatisfactory, and the airliner, in its routine functions, was excessively complicated. TWA bolted; it preferred the new pressurized Boeing 307 Stratoliner, especially because it used many proven components, including the wings and engines of Boeing's B-17D (a military aircraft that was already in service with the Army Air Corps). P&W's Twin Hornet engine proved to be troublesome, so they turned their efforts to developing the R-2000, which was eventually used in the DC-4E.
While this was going on, the Japanese saw an opportunity to gain valuable information about what they considered to be advanced structural technology in large aircraft. They negotiated with certain company executives, including Carl Cover, who had been a test pilot and head of sales at Douglas' Santa Monica, California, headquarters (it had failed to market its DF flying boat and to sell the Navy its XP3D patrol flying boat). The prototype tri-tail DC-4 most likely gained the "E" suffix when it was exported to Japan.
Based on the DC-4E's design, Nakajima was awarded a contract to build four of the long-range bombers under the designation "G5N1" and given the name "Shinzan." Two improved G5N2s were ordered and built, but their performance was disappointing, so the two G5N1s and two G5N2s were converted into transports. All four were redesignated "G52N-L." None of the 138-foot-wingspan Shinzans ever had a central fin and rudder. With the tail turret and a small tailwheel, there was no need for a long skid.
-Warren M. Bodie widewing@dnet.net

2006-04-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

A forward view of the aircraft reflects the exact lines of the Douglas lapel pin, clearly distinguishing this airplane from the later Lockheed Constellation.

2006-04-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

A real rarity; the DC-4 lapel pin worn by Douglas Aircraft execs and sales team during the publicity tour of the newest Douglas Airliner.

Take Off - United Super Mainliner is airborne.

2006-04-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

A take off from Santa Monica Airport. Note the retracted nose gear.

2006-04-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

United Super Mainliner

2006-04-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

The United Airlines DC-4E Super Mainliner over Chicago, 1938.

2006-04-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

2006-04-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

Margaret Bourke-White

2006-04-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

This image was photographed by famed photographer Margaret Bourke-White from an aircraft above Manhattan. Almost 70-years later, it is still a revered art piece by aviation collectors worldwide.

2006-04-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

The Douglas DC-4E; While just one was built, it provided a blueprint for later designs
by Peter M. Bowers

This is a classic Of Wings & Things from the 1980s.

Following the commercial success of its twin-engine DC-2 airliner and the then-developing improved version known as the DC-3, the Douglas Aircraft Co. embarked on a really advanced project - the four-engine DC-4. This was later to be designated DC-4E (for experimental) to distinguish it from the considerably different production DC-4 that came out four years later.

Developing so large and advanced a new model was an enormous financial, as well as engineering, undertaking for the time, and was more than Douglas could handle on its own. The project became a cooperative one, first with United Airlines, then American, Eastern, Pan American, and TWA each contributing $100,000 toward the cost and submitting their own technical ideas, service experience, etc.

As originally conceived, the DC-4E was big, with a wing span of 138 feet, was 97 feet long, and ended up with a gross weight of 61,500 pounds. The original passenger load was to have been 42, but this was soon increased to 52, which was still a pretty small payload for so much airplane. Seating was what the airlines now call 2-2, with two rows of seats on each side of a single center aisle. The DC-4E was a dual-purpose plane - a straight day passenger type and a sleeper with 30 to 36 berths. Although the prototype was not pressurized, it was intended that the production version would have this then-innovative feature.

The size of the airplane called for a lot of vertical tail area. Since the maintenance hangars of the day were not very high, the required areas was distributed over three low fins and rudders instead of a single high unit favored today. When later designs had single tails, some existing hangars accommodated them by cutting notches in the structure above the original hangar doors.

Power was supplied by four new-model Pratt and Whitney Twin Hornet engines. The most innovative feature for the time was the use of tricycle landing gear, which had just begun to make a comeback on small aircraft after having been abandoned at the start of World War I. The DC-4E marked its first use on a large modern airplane and its success firmly established the feature for most subsequent airliners (and bombers), starting with the smaller production DC-4, the Lockheed Constellation, and the Consolidated B-24.

As the DC-4E grew more complex and costly in the design and construction stages, the airlines realized that it was not what they really wanted. Although the technology was great, the economics were poor. Pan American and TWA dropped out of the program and bought the slightly smaller Boeing 307, which was basically the four-engine B-17 bomber fitted with a pressurized passenger fuselage. Boeing didn't really capitalize from this switch - requirements during World War II for bombers killed further production of the 307 beyond these two initial orders.

The single DC-4E made it first flight June 7, 1938, and received its Approved Type Certificate in May 1939. Although Douglas was in the hole more than $1.3 million on the project, it was not all loss. The experience gained in systems, structures, and aerodynamic development was of great value to later designs. The Twin Hornet engine was likewise a one-shot and was not used in a production airplane.

Late in 1939 the DC-4E was sold to Japan. This was ostensibly for use by a Japanese airline, but the buyer turned out to be a front organization for the Japanese Navy. The quick disappearance of the airplane was attributed to a training crash in Tokyo Bay when actually it was disassembled in an aircraft factory and used as the model for a very similar four-engine bomber that likewise never got beyond the prototype stage.

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2006-04-17T19:31:00.000-07:00