The DC-4 1009 was produced at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant at Santa Monica, California.
The aircraft was delivered to South African Airways on the 10th of May 1946 and registered ZS-AUB and named “Outeniqua”.
An American crew delivered the aircraft and arrived at Palmietfontein Airport on the 16th of May 1946.
The aircraft has eight fuel tanks and was often used to ferry engines and engine change crews to SAA aircraft that had suffered engine failures.
This aircraft was the last SAA DC-4 to be sold going to the SAAF on the 29th of September 1967 and allocated the tail number 6905 and operated by 44 Squadron.
South African Airways bought the aircraft in December 1995 to operate with the Historic Flight and registered it ZS-AUB.
During May 1997 the DC-4 was wet-leased to Swissair and briefly registered HB-ILI and later ZU-ILI and was used to celebrate Swissair’s 50th Anniversary of the crossing the Atlantic.
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ZS-AUB in Swiss Air Lines livery with registration ZU-ILI at Shannon in Ireland on 14 July 1997
Photo: Fergal Goodman
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ZS-AUB in Swiss Air Lines livery with registration ZU-ILI at Shannon in Ireland on 14 July 1997
Photo: Fergal Goodman
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The aircraft returned to the Historic Flight and was registered ZS-AUB.
In July 2000 the aircraft attended the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.
DC-4 ZS-AUB at Gdansk Airport in Poland, in September 2000. Photo: Michal Petrykowski
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The Historic Flight was transferred to Swartkop Air Force base on request from SAA chief Coleman Andrews, and the aircraft were operated there until end of 2005.
Ownership of the aircraft was transferred to the Transnet Heritage Foundation on the 25th of January 2001.
On the 18th of September 2006 the airliner transferred to Rand Airport with the Transnet Heritage Foundation.
The aircraft was subsequently donated to the SAA Museum Society at the end of 2007.
The airliner is operated by charter operator Skyclass Aviation who specialise in African Flying Safaris to Southern Africa.
Powered by four Pratt & Whitney R2000 radial piston engines, ZS-AUB and ZS-BMH are two of the very few passenger-licensed Douglas DC-4 Skymasters operating in the world today and are great favourites in the Africa Fly-in tourism industry, venturing as far as North America and Europe. The aircraft seat 50 passengers each, in a Business Class configuration. The DC-4's range of over 3000 km puts it in easy reach of exotic destinations such as Central and East Africa as well as many of the spectacular tropical islands in the Indian Ocean.
Photo: John Austin-Williams |
Photo: Bruce Perkins
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Photo: Bruce Perkins
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Photo: John Austin-Williams
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Photo: Elmarie Dreyer
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Photo: Athol Franz |
Photo: John Austin-Williams |
