What I witnessed in this video is some of the most absolute greatest airmanship I have ever scene. The pilot was performing a beautiful ballet with this fine DC-4. This video shoes the great ruggedness of the venerable DC-4. Very heavy wing loading with both positive and negative G forces and that fantastic maneuver where the pilot roles the old bird on its back is breath taking. Bravo Zulu to you great Captain!
I have to mention the great maneuver of this pilot when he throws everything out, landing gear extended, flaps, two engines feathered on one side, asymmetrical thrust and keeps the airplane in complete control!! This man is a fearless, genius of a pilot!
Great flying. You can see the tiny touches that mark a pilot who knows what he's doing. Slight climb into the steep banks at low altitude, minute but keeps the wingtip from the weeds. Many other small masterful touches.
The Pilot was my cousin, Captain Sarel Ceronio, he resently passed away from natural causes.... he told me the day he flew this he almost lost it...... He was an exceptional Pilot who flew in the SAAF as well as in the VIP squadren, Flew the South African Presidents, Mr De De Klerk and Mr Mandela all over the world....
+Fritz Schroeder My Dad flew the C-54 when it was new for USAAF the ATC and TWA across the Atlantic. Respect and kudos to you cousin. The loop that began with the right bank turned OFF, was amazing.
That was the most impressive flight display of a big 4 engine giant I have ever seen! American airshows would be packed if pilots really flew the airplanes like your cousin. Having flown the DC-3 myself, this is even more impressive. RIP great aviator
This vídeo is the most amazing one of all vídeos about dc-4 ,dc-6 , and dc-7 planes in you tube. I never thought that a dc-4 could make such turns and loops, It is unbelieved!. Those pilotos must have a lot of experience flying DC-4s with such hability. Thank you for this vídeo!
I respect your opinion, but just don't agree. I have seen this air force pilot at work performing this manoeuvre many times in SA when I lived there and it is nothing short of thrilling to watch. He obviously loves this aircraft a great deal; you can tell by how he caresses her across the sky. Pure poetry in flight.
Hi, Miles - I was there, and this was not, in fact, a loop. It was a wing over (admittedly one that went a bit further than usual). The pull up was to just before the vertical, then a roll to inverted, pulling through to just passed horizontal, then a roll back to the right way up. All in all, a magnificent sight. And the Dak (C47) did a similar maneuver the same day...
A M A z I N G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NICE FLIGHT!!! NICE MANEUVERS!!! NICE SCENES!!!! SAAF,in my opinion, a very inspiring operational history, with all its constraints all over the years, mainly the bush war. The very bravest pilots in the world!!!! A salute from Brazil!!!
Teo ese avión tan maravilloso lo tenías que llevar tu en esa toma, porque es increíble las maravillas que ha hecho y tu eres un gran piloto de la XXIII. Muchas gracias por mandarmela nuevamente. Un abrazo del Perris.
Spectacular way to fly a DC-4. The pilot and crew knows what they are doing,that's team work. It's a very smooth flight taking advantage of speed to change it to altitude and vice versa. Notice after the wing over they come down to to pick up speed and begin the partial barrel roll....spectacular.
A simple demonstration of energy management, much like Bob Hoover has shown us with the Shrike and his dead-stick touch & go followed by a roll. Most amazing here is the two-engines-out on one side with the trash down. Pilot was probably standing on that right rudder pedal......
Oh mighty aero observer ---- take some advice : Engage brain before opening mouth . Bob Hoover positively NEVER performed a "dead stick touch & go followed by a roll" --- nor has anyone else . THINK . For other commentators here : As for huge loads on the airframe of this DC-4 --- ala Hoover , properly done there are virtually no heavy loads on the aircraft viewed in this youtube . Having said that I find it of questionable value to use a four engine aircraft of that vintage to provide spectator thrills. If you have to be a hero -- use a Pitts or an Extra ------ put the DC-4 into a museum so future generations can enjoy the sight .
+Lars-Gunnar Grönvald Different aeroplanes handle differently. In this case, the DC-4 had the strength and speed to cope. The Avro Vulcan delta-bomber would handle such treatment without problems.
Despite the critics, (maybe they're jealous), that's some good piece of flying. Had to look twice at the two starboard engines. The loop was a complete surprise!
WHAT a magnificent show ! WHAT a wonderful PILOT and crew ; the DC4/C54 is the less able aeroplane for aerobatics...The flight controls are heavily heavy !!! ...and flying with two engines shutted off on the same side even with hight speed at low height is incredible ... i suppose that two PILOTS are at the controls, 40 tons flying inverted in proximity of the ground risky...Congratulation !!!
caramba, what a demo. How many rivets came off the old girl ? I rode in one of these from Rio de Janeiro to an Air Force base in Mobile, Alabana from the Brazilian Air Force in 1962
@MONDARIZDK . It's easy. Just punch #3 and #4 feather buttons. That, in turn, activates the electric feather pumps, pushing oil to the dome to bring the blades out of feather and back to normal range. The mixture levers were probably already set to Rich, so the engines fire off right away and power is restored.
That simultaneous restart was beautiful! Amazing teamwork, amazing pilot. Was it bad risk management? Well I've seen guys jump out of an airplane when all 4 engines were still running so...
Look closely at my wings in this logo and understand that I'm proud to be ex SAAF. The second oldest air force in the world and back in my youth it was equipped and capable to take on any problem on the African continent.
Very nice indeed. !!!!! I used to be pilot also and made myself, many times, a kind of this type of flight without a problem, inside the normal CG limits, on L188. Believe or not!!! Very nice pilot, this one, Thanks to show us the great skill!!!!!!!
This is awesome and nothing short of amazing and doing a barrel roll is mind boggling too. The main thing is that this airplane was put through its maximum limits and came out throught it all a ok in this nearly 3 minute video. The military version of this big airplane is the c54 skymaster,and I hope we bring these great old birds back out of the mothball state in arizona. Come on men we need to preserve history here and lets get some others out of the desert too.
I remember seeing one of those when I lived in Vredenburg. It flew very low from the direction of Saldahna. Living in Rhodesia, I saw lots of daks, first time I ever saw a dc4. Thing was huge. Looked like same camo scheme as the rhodies.
Amazing. I've loved C-54s since one landed here in NW Ga. in the late 70s (loaded with weed of all things) in a tiny field, then was flown out a yr later by the new owner. They made a goofy movie called "Polk co. pot plane", which only had a few seconds of the plane in it. The vid is here on utube.
Very fine pilots in the SAAF; always have been and they know their trade inside and out. Risk management was fineas it would have been thoroughly researched and planned out to the last dotted "i" and crossed "t" well beforehand
Personally I'd be a bit hesitant to stunt a plane as old as a C-54 like that, especially doing that pull-up so close and perpendicular to the show line (i.e., pulling up close to or over the crowd), but it also appears to me that the pilot knows his airplane and her capabilities well.
As the late Tex Jonhston said "you can do aerobatics in any airplane,there is a fine line in that envelope,just know the limits". He did a pair of aileron rolls in a B- 707 wihixh is in the Udvar Hazy Museum in Dulles Airport,Washingotn DC. I have seen it twice at the museum and and I imagine Capt. Jonhston seating in the pilot seat rolling the 707...WOW. Who ever is the pilot and crew in this flight,I take my hat offf and admire them.
Definitely no corrosion in the main spar then ? I was half expecting something to fold on the old lady given the loadings on wings/control surfaces. Great stick work by the pilot. Took my breath away.
That Fouga did not lose a wing due to repeated Gs or airframe fatigue. It lost it because the wingtip tank came off and struck the tail, removing part of it. The airframe loads resulting from the loss of the tail then overstressed the wing. The root cause was the faulty installation of the tip tank. Totally different circumstances than you're speaking of.
The real impressive thing in this video is the simultaneous restart of No 3 & No 4. That airplane with no cargo load and probably a very light fuel load could easily handle the stresses the pilot was putting on it.
If I was an adversary fighter pilot and witnessed this loony enemy captain of a four-engine transport resorting to these wild gyrations in a desperate attempt to evade me, I would circle around him, get his serial number, and then send him a medal, a bottle of the best champagne I could afford, and a promise that he could meet my younger sister after the war.
it appears to me that at 2:17 the airplane starts and completes a loop climbing to vertical and then back to inverted and come out by going into a dive. If that is not a loop, then I used the wrong term. It is not a barrel roll similar to the maneuver that Tex Johnson pulled with the Boeing 707 prototype, the Boeing 367-80 in 1954, at the Lake Washington Boat Races, and I cannot believe it is a recommended maneuver in this airplane at a relative low altitude.
This Footage was taken at Dunnottar Flying School - near Springs - outside Johannesburg, South Africa. I know because I spent my 2 year national service as ground crew there after being kicked off pilots course.
Hi BoeingFE, yes I do see your point and can only bow to your professional experience in this area. I am not an aviation professional and possibly let my admiration for their piloting skills cloud my judgement. Thanks for replying!
Hi Shabbypants54. No questioning the flying ability of the SAAF pilots. My concern was, and still is, that the low pass in the configuration it was flown leaves no room for error or engine/propeller malfunction. With over fifty years in aviation, 12 years as a ground engineer and thousands of hours as a flight engineer I just do not consider the demonstration to be foolproof. Malfunctions often are sudden and unflagged.
I fear that doing these 2G+ manoeuvres repeatedly, is too much for these old birds. I flew one of our squadron birds to LaCrosse, WI in early 2000s and French V-tail Fouga snapped a wing and killed not only the pilot, but a newly wed bride who had one a raffle to ride. The profile was not a high G one, either.
Some really great flying, but I think it's poor judgement to stress an old airplane that much, and poor judgement to point it towards the spectators while doing such maneuvers.
Hmmm. Our warbird insurance company takes a dim view of such maneuvers in "their" aircraft - not to mention the FAA's opinion. Perhaps we should relocate to South Africa. Good show nonetheless.
