UNITED AIR LINES PART 2,1945-1978: FLY THE FRIENDLY SKIES

摘要

UNITED AIR LINES (UAL) exited World War Ⅱ with a fleet of twin-engine DC-3s, so-along with the nation's other airlines-the company went on a shopping spree.The first long-range, four-engine aircraft to become available was the Douglas DC-4. United's President, William 'Pat' Patterson, and his management team placed a tentative order for 15 DC-4s, to be canceled should war-surplus C-54s (military version of the type) become available quickly, in which case United would buy the military aircraft and convert them into commercial DC-4s.The problem with the DC-4 was its lack of pressurization. The experimental design of the aircraft, undertaken before the war, had included a pressurization system; however, it had been removed from the final production model (the military C-54) to save weight (see 'United Air Lines, Part One', Airways, July-August 2021). Now, in the postwar era, pressurized cabins would be the norm for passenger comfort. The DC-4 would serve as a stopgap type until United could acquire the new DC-6 - a larger transport complete with pressurization system - that the Douglas engineers were developing. Patterson ordered 35 DC-6s, with the stipulation that the very first one of these new airliners produced by Douglas would be delivered to United (the second one off the assembly line would go to American).