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- The Douglas DC-6 was one of the first airplanes to fly a regularly scheduled around-the-world route. With its higher performance, increased accommodation, greater payload and pressurized cabin, it was a natural evolution of the DC-4. Although the DC-6 had the same wingspan as the DC-4, its engines helped it fly 90 mph faster than the DC-4, carry 3,000 pounds more payload and fly 850 miles farther. The DC-6 could maintain the cabin pressure of 5,000 feet while flying at 20,000 feet. American Airlines and United Airlines ordered the commercial DC-6 in 1946, and Pan American Airways used the DC-6 to start tourist-class service across the North Atlantic. The 29th DC-6 was ordered by the Air Force, adapted as the presidential aircraft and designated the VC-118. It was delivered on July 1, 1947, and called The Independence after President Harry Truman's hometown, Independence, Mo. The larger, all-cargo DC-6A first flew Sept. 29, 1949; the larger capacity DC-6B, which could seat up 102 people, first flew Feb. 10, 1951. After the Korean War broke out in 1951, the military ordered DC-6As modified as either C-118A "Liftmaster" personnel carriers, as the Navy's R6D transports or as MC-118As for aeromedical evacuation. Between 1947 and 1959, Douglas built a total of 704 DC-6s, 167 of them military versions. By 1998, the DC-6 was still flying with smaller airlines around the world. Group: Platform_Details Entry_ID: DC-6 Group: Platform_Identification Platform_Category: Aircraft Short_Name: DC-6 Long_Name: Douglas DC-6 End_Group Creation_Date: 2012-07-18 Online_Resource: http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/dc-6.htm Sample_Image: http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/images/D4E-535482_n.jpg Group: Platform_Logistics Launch_Date: 1946-02-15 Primary_Sponsor: Boeing End_Group End_Group
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