R5D / US Coast GuardCoast Guard Douglas R5D airplane model. The Coast Guard acquired twenty Douglas R5Ds C 54s. This was the military version of the Civilian DC 4 The Army Air Forces Air Forces designation was C 54. The first five aircraft were acquired in 1950. from the USAF. The additional fifteen were acquired from both the USN and USAF. The R5Ds were used for transport duties, logistical support, search and rescue operations, duty with the International Ice Patrol,

and many still fly today in cargo

Painted black

In September 1940

" By the late 1950s the last frontier of that goal was hypersonic flight (Mach 5+) to the edge of space

supporting the Apollo Space Program

74 C-97s and 816 KC-97s

precisely deliver weapons

The United States provided obsolete P-40B airplanes

the USAF sought proposals for a new fighter under the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program

first operational in 1959

Soon after

taking the heat energy away with it