@ Marana, AZ
March 2018
A forlorn warbird baking in the Arizona sun at the Marana Airport boneyard. This aircraft started life as a wartime US Army C-54B, then went to the US Navy and converted to a VC-54N for Naval staff transport use. Retired in 1967, this aircraft got a new life as a fire bomber with the addition of a belly tank for retardant. Derived from DC-4 civilian airliner, the Skymaster served in WWII and the Korean conflict. This type was one of the first aircraft to carry the President of the United States and to assume the call sign Air Force One. First flown in 1942, more than 2,000 would be built before production ended in 1947.
