The workhorse of the bigger transports in the 1950's was
definitely the C-54. It hauled cargo and troops all around the
world in WWII and Korea. It made a reputation during the Berlin
Airlift as a dependable performer under all kinds of conditions.
And it served as a flying classroom for many, including those of
us who attended electronic countermeasures (ECM) courses at
Keesler AFB, Mississippi. I flew as both navigator and ECM operator
on those rugged old birds in the 1950's and 60's.
The most unusual configuration of the C-54 that I ever flew in
was probably the ECM trainer version. Those models were fitted
with special equipment racks, upper and lower radomes for direction
finding (DF) antennas and special broadband receivers. There was
even an auxiliary electric power generator in the aft fuselage to
support the ECM gear. For such a large craft there were still only
a half dozen students and instructor crew positions. Most of the
space was devoted to equipment.
We flew two kinds of missions in those C-54's, mostly east and
west of Keesler AFB, with a few flights to Texas and the upper
mid-west. The first type was electronic reconnaissance. On those
we gathered information about radars with our special receivers,
signal analyzers and DF gear. Great emphasis was placed on our
ability to detect, identify and analyze the electronic
environment. The second type of mission involved the use of
jamming transmitters to counter the radars attempting to locate
and track us. I think it was impossible to hide our huge radar
echoes and cross-section, especially with four big fans churning
out on the wings.
The old C-54 was a terrific platform for training, as well as a
versatile transport. The bird could not go on forever, of course,
and was later replaced by C-130's and C-141's. But I am glad my
logbook shows many flights in the venerable old craft.