In Australian Service – DC-6

However the early career of the DC-6 was not without incident. Two inflight fires occurred, the most serious of which resulted in the loss of a United Air Lines DC-6 over Bryce Canyon, Utah on November 11, 1947 with the loss of 52 lives. The cause was identified as venting fuel being sucked into a cabin heater inlet. After modifications were made the DC-6 continued in service without any other major problems.

The next version available was the DC-6A with a fuselage stretch to 105ft and gross weight increase to 107,000lb. The powerplant was the Pratt and Whitney R-2800-CB-16 developing 2,400hp with water methanol injection. This model was mainly used as a freighter. It had a strengthened floor, two large cargo doors and metal plugs were fitted over the cabin windows.

The star performer of the series however was the DC-6B. This aircraft is acknowledged as the ultimate piston-engined transport. During its long years of service, it has established an enviable reputation for reliability and economy of operation. The DC-6B was actually a passenger version of the DC-6A without the reinforced floor or cargo doors. It was powered by either the Pratt and Whitney R-2800-CB-16 Double Wasp developing 2,400hp or the CB-17 version of 2,500hp. A total of 288 DC-6Bs were produced.

Australia’s association with the DC-6 series began with British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines. BCPA was formed on June 24, 1946 and was jointly owned by the governments of Australia with 50 per cent ownership, New Zealand with 30 per cent and Britain with 20 per cent. After formation BCPA did not possess its own aircraft so Australian National Airways operated the service on a charter basis using DC-4s. The route flown was Sydney, Nandi, Canton Island, Honolulu and San Francisco. The service was later extended to Vancouver. ANA operated the route from September 1946 until April 1948. BCPA in its search for suitable aircraft decided to form a fleet of DC-6s. The aircraft purchased were part of an order originally placed by SAS for 1 7 DC-6s. SAS never took delivery of the aircraft and they were obtained directly by BCPA from Douglas. A total of four aircraft were acquired. They were VH-BPE “Resolution”, SPF “Endeavour”, BPG “Adventure” and BPH “Discovery”. The BCPA DC-6 operations commenced on February 16, 1949. Some of the services were amended to operate in Auckland.

BCPA had an incident-free association with the DC-6 until the tragic loss of VH-BPE at Half Moon Bay, California on October 29, 1953 with the loss of all 19 persons on board. The aircraft crashed while making an ILS approach into San Francisco. The final chapter in BCPA’s operations occurred the following year when the Australian Government acquired the British and New Zealand shareholdings. BCPA was wound up and Qantas commenced flying the Pacific route on May 15, 1954, using Lockheed Super Constellations. The three remaining BCPA DC-6s were transferred to TEAL.

Australian National Airways was the major operator of DC-6/DC-6Bs in Australia. The first aircraft to enter service were two DC-6s purchased from National Airlines Inc. These airliners were originally delivered to National in 1947. Both machines passed to ANA in September 1953. They were VH-INV “Nairana” and VH-INW “Kurana”, ex N90892 and N90894 respectively. These aircraft were the first pressurised additions to the ANA fleet. The DC-6s proved very popular with the passengers but they met fierce competition from the TAA Vickers Viscounts which made inroads into the established ANA passenger base with their appeal of gas turbine power.

Further contracts were placed for additional aircraft, this time for DC-6Bs. The first two DC-6Bs were delivered during February 1955. They were VH-INH “Bungana” and INU “Kwinana”. Others to follow were VH-INS “Beltana” received on August 28, 1956 and VH-INT “Olympiana” on October 17, 1956. These four DC-6Bs were new aircraft delivered directly to ANA. After the change of ownership of ANA to Ansell a secondhand DC-68 was purchased. This was VH-INA obtained from US Overseas Airlines Inc. on November 18, 1963.

The DC-6/DC-6B fleet settled down to give many years of reliable service with ANA and Ansett-ANA. They were used on the main routes around Australia and in later years also flew to the Territory of Papua and New Guinea as it was then known. The only incident in years of otherwise trouble-free flying occurred on April 14, 1964, when VH-INA had just taken off at 1.23 pm from Essendon on a flight to Perth via Adelaide. With 59 passengers and six crew VH-INA was just two minutes into the flight when a propeller blade detached itself from the No. 3 engine. The remaining two blades with the hub attached are then separated from the engine. The vibration caused by these events wrenched the engine partially out of its mounting. The pilot. Captain Keith Hanis radioed Essendon with the message “India November Alpha calling, our No. 3 engine is partially fallen out. Just stand by for the moment”. In order to make a safe landing Captain Hanis made a series of dives over Port Phillip Bay to dislodge the engine which eventually broke free and fell away. A safe landing was subsequently made back at Essendon at 2.55 pm. This incident, besides illustrating the calm and skill used by the aircrew also serves to point out the structural ruggedness of the DC-6 airframe.

The phasing in of the Boeing 727 fleet eventually made the DC-6Bs redundant. The original two DC-6s VH-INV and INW had been sold earlier in 1960. Gradually the DC-6Bs were disposed of during 1966. 1968. Thus ended the career of the four-engined Douglas piston-engined transports with the Ansett/ANA line. pioneered many years earlier with the predecessor of the DC-6, the DC-4 in ANA service.

Trans Australia Airlines was also a DC-6 operator but not to the same extent as ANA. TAA’s contact with the type was initiated during the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia. A DC-6 VH-TBA “Abel Tasman” was chartered from KLM (ex PH-TPW) for the Royal Visit, from December 4, 1953 to March 30, 1954. The aircraft was returned to KLM, again as PH-TPW, on April 7, 1954.

It was not until 1 960 that TAA again had DC-6s in its fleet. Two of Ansett-ANA’s DC-6Bs VH-INH and VH-INU went to TAA under a cross charter arrangement in exchange for TAA Vickers Viscounts VH-TVC, TVE and TVF. Another DC-6B joined the AA fleet in 1963 when VH-TAD was purchased from Twentieth Century Aircraft Inc (ex N6120C). After several years of efficient trouble, free use TAA phased the DC-6B fleet out of service during 1966. VH-INH and VH-INU were returned to Ansett-ANA and VH-TAD was sold overseas.

Following the sale of the Australian DC-6/DC-6Bs overseas some are still in service whilst others were lost in accidents or were scrapped. Some of their fates were: VH-INV, as N74841 operated by Saturn Airways Inc was damaged when the nosewheel collapsed while landing at Oakland California on January 24, 1967 and was written off. VH-INH, as OY-STP operated by Sterling Airways A/S was withdrawn from use September 15, 1970 and broken up. VH-INU, as B-2005 in service with Far Eastern Air Transport crashed at Nha Trang, South Vietnam December 22, 1969.

The DC-6 series remained in production at Douglas from 1946 until 1958 by which time a total of 704 aircraft of all variants, both civil and military, had been produced Details of production of the different types were: 1 XC-112 prototype, 175 DC-6, 7 4 civil DC-6A and DC-6C, 166 military C-118A and R6D-1 and 288 DC-6B.