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This is a serialized story about a DC-6 with permission from the 'Propliner' magazine 2017 annual issue.
Due to its length we will run it through to NetLetter #1538.
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Douglas DC-6A, registration N9056R, touches down at Fairbanks on June 30, 2011 at the end of another routine Everts Air Cargo schedule in Alaska.
There comes a time in the career of every commercial aircraft when it is no longer "fit for purpose". No matter how modern and 'state-of-the-art' it may be when first delivered, each year of service renders it slightly more obsolete and increasingly tired, which no amount of maintenance can cure.
As its rivals upgrade to more modern equipment, which advances in technology will have made more efficient, its operator feel the need to replace it. It may be a whimsical example, but British Airways would not have its prestigious place on North Atlantic routes today if it were still operating former BOAC Stratocruisers, no matter how much readers of this publication might wish otherwise! The once-pristine airliner will be relegated to secondary routes, disposed of to a charter company, converted to a freighter or otherwise slip down the rankings. In time it will be scrapped or become a museum exhibit, its flying career over.
The best hope of a prolonged life lies in remote places, where the special attributes of the aircraft make it perfectly suited for the job, which perhaps more modern types cannot match, thus, we have a handful of DC-3's at Villavicencio continuing to supply the jungle settlements of Colombia, and a variety of piston-engine airliners serving the Alaskan outback, summer and winter. In time, these too will fall by the wayside, but for now they have nothing to equal them. That said, it is rare to find a commercial aircraft still going strong more than 58 years after delivery, and this story features the quite remarkable career of a Douglas DC-6, which is doing just that.
Our subject is Douglas DC-6A/B msn 45498, which was delivered new to Canadian Pacific Airlines as CF-CZZ (see rzjets.net) in July 1958 just as the production line was running down.
Editor's Note by Ken Pickford: The A/B indicates passenger / cargo convertible model, built with main deck cargo doors front and rear. All cargo model is DC-6A, all passenger DC-6B.
In the CP photo (below) in that item can just make out the outline of the forward cargo door around the 2 windows in forward cabin. Similar door in rear fuselage next to the normal passenger door. CP only ever used it as a passenger aircraft as far as I know.
To be continued in NetLetter #1532 (April 27).
For its most recent flight see:
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