File:Douglas C-54Q Skymaster ‘56514‘ (N67062) (27274400345).jpg

c/n 10741. Built 1945. Allocated US military serial 42-72636 but immediately transferred to the US Navy as Bureau No 56514. On display at the March Field Museum, Riverside, CA, USA. 28-2-2016

The following history comes from the excellent museum website:-

“May 31st, 1945 - delivered to the USAAF (serial number 42-72636), transferred to the US Navy that same date, and redesignated from C-54D to R5D-3 with registration (Bureau Number) 56514. The aircraft history below was provided by the Naval Aviation History Branch, Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, 805 Kidder Breese Street SE, Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374-5060. Jun-Nov 1945 - VRE-1 Dec 1945 - VR-6 Jan-Feb 1946 - appears as Hdrm Mag 35 (original handwriting) Mar-Oct 1946 - VMR-953 Nov 1946 to April 1947 - VMR-253 May-Nov 1947 - VMR-152 Dec 1947 to Jun 1948 - Pool Alameda Jul-Aug 1948 - VMR-352 (records skipped; new record format started) 1950 - BUAER M&S, San Diego, Corpus Christi, VMR-352 El Toro 1951 - VMR-352 at El Toro 1952 - ATTU and ACTRU FLAN F&M, Corpus Christi, VR-21 PAC at Barbers Point; VR-3 NATS at Moffett Field; VR-8 NATS at Hickam Field. 1953 - ACTRU F&M at Corpus Christi; VR-1 LANT at Pautuxent River; VR-24 LANT at Port Lyautey 1954 - VR-24 LANT at Port Lyautey; O&R BUAER M&S at Corpus Christi 1955 to Jul 1957 - VR-24 LANT at Port Lyautey Jan 1958 to Jul 1958 - O&R BUAER at Norfolk Aug 1958 to May 1959 - VR-24 at Port Lyautey Jul 1959 to Jul 1960 - NAS NART at New York Aug 1960 to Nov 1960 - BWR FR at Dallas Dec 1960 to Nov 1961 - NAS NART at Grosse (records skipped here) 1962 - redesignated C-54Q 27 Sep 1965 - NARTU at Norfolk 28 October 1965 - stored at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, with 20,676 hours of flight time. April 3rd, 1973 - Registered to Robert B. Audiss and was assigned tail number N67062 February 21st, 1975 - Purchased by the Texas Truck Salvage Company October 11th, 1976 - Registered to Bill Dempsay, Central Air Services with airtanker tail number "148", and flown throughout Southern California on fire-fighting missions out of Hemet-Ryan Airport, CA. 1994 - Storage at Tucson, AZ January 19th, 2002 - Flown by Bill Dempsay and a crew of two assistants to March Field Air Museum after purchase by the museum for $50,000 from Maricopa