1951-1962




 

While the DC-3's and DC-4's civilian careers were interrupted by WW2, the opposite applies to the DC-6, which started off in response to a military airlift requirement, and went on to become Douglas' most successful four engined piston airliner. It's design was based on the already successful Douglas DC-4, but had various importants improvements, such as a pressurized cabin etc.
Swissair first bought 6 DC-6, those beeing HB-IBA, IBE, IBI, IBO, IBU and IBZ. Two furthe units, HB-IBC and a Douglas DC-6A (HB-IBB), were later added.

 

Manufacturer
Douglas Aircraft Inc., Santa Monica, CA (USA)
Span
35.81 m
Length 
32.46 m
Height 
8.74 m
Power (HP)  
4 x 2435
Cruising Speed
440 km/h
Passengers
69
Range
 2800 km
Area of Operation
Europe, USA, South America, Middle & Far East

 

HB-IBA

Douglas DC-6B

# 43274

24.06.1951

22.08.1962

 Zürich, later renamed Aargau, when it got the new Livery with one stripe only.
First DC-6, sold new to Swissair in 1951. Aircraft belonged to Swiss Confederation until 31.12.1955, when Swissair bought it. It was sold to Sterling Airways on August 23, 1962 and leased to Trollair in January 1972. Concare Aircraft Leasing Corporation bought it in April 1973, registering it first as N515AO and then as N515EA. Seminole Aviation bought it in June 1973 and sold it to Sis-Q Flying Service as N999SQ in January 1976. Later it was sold to Macavia International Corporation in May 1985 and then to T&G Aviation in February 1991. Since February 24, 1994, it has been registered to Everts Air Fuel Incorporated of Fairbanks, Alaska. It is probably broken up now.

HB-IBB

Douglas DC-6A

# 45551

02.10.1958

16.06.1961

 Uri
Delivered to Swissair in 1958 as HB-IBB for 5'990'000 CHF. This Aircraft was a DC-6A used as a freighter by Swissair. Sold to World Airways in 1961 as N45501. Then Sold to Transair Cargo Services, and had Registration HC-ATB before changing back to N45501. Probably broken up by now.

HB-IBC

Douglas DC-6B

# 43547

15.06.1958

15.07.1961

 Nidwalden
Delivered to American Airlines as N90764. Bought by Swissair in 1958 for CHF 7'000'000 and reg'd HB-IBC. Sold to LAB (Bolivia) and registered CP-707. With LAB it crashed on march 15th, 1963 near Tacora Volcano, Peru, due to bad visibility killing all 39 on board

HB-IBE

Douglas DC-6B

# 43275

18.07.1951

16.06.1962

 Genève
Delivered new to Swissair as HB-IBE in 1951. Belonged to Swiss Confederation until 31.12.1955. Was sold to Sterling in 1962 as OY-EAN. It was written off after a heavy landing in Gothenburg on december 23rd, 1967

HB-IBI

Douglas DC-6B

# 43750

23.10.1952

16.11.1962

 St. Gallen
Sold new to Swissair as HB-IBI for CHF 5'843'000 in 1952. Was sold to Sterling in 1962 as OY-EAP. It was written off after a heavy landing in Gothenburg on april 13rd, 1963

HB-IBO

Douglas DC-6B

# 44087

14.10.1953

09.10.1962

Bern, later Luzern
Sold new to Swissair for CHF 6'053'000 as HB-IBO on october 14, 1953. In 1962 it was leased to Finlantic as OH-DCB.Returned to Swissair in May 1953 and then sold to Olympic as SX-DAM. Later N111AN Concare Aircraft Leasing ; CF-QAN Conair Aviation; N111AN Rosenbalm Aviation, then Sis-Q Flying Service and a couple of other owners until beeing broken up in Santa Rosa Airport in 1997.

HB-IBU

Douglas DC-6B

# 44088

26.10.1953

14.03.1962

Vaud
Delivered new to Swissair as HB-IBU for CHF 5'997'000. Went to Balair in 1962. It was also used during the Biafra-War (Nigeria) in the late 60's. She was withdrawn from use in the early 70's and stored in Basel for a long time. Later she was sold to Span East Airlines in Florida as N617SE. She is now rotting in Kinshasa as 9Q-CVM of Lukas Air.

HB-IBZ

Douglas DC-6B

# 44089

26.10.1953

14.03.1961

Basel-Land
Sold new to Swissair in 1953 for CHF 5'973'000 as HB-IBZ. In 1961 the aircraft was transferred to Balair.
It was then sold to the Air Force of Zaïre as 9T-TLB and later broken up.


non-Swissair
 

HB-IBR

Douglas DC-6B

# 44165

BALAIR

 Delivered new to SAS as SE-BDT. Leased by Thai Airways International Co Ltd from 1960 until 1964 as HS-TGC. Was then returned to SAS as SE-BDT, and was later bought by Balair as HB-IBR, her last owner before she was scrapped

HB-IBS

Douglas DC-6B

# 45531

BALAIR

 Delivered to Hunting Clan Air Transport and later to British United as G-APNO. Later sold to Balair as HB-IBS. Was sold to Conair as C-GIBS.

HB-IBT

Douglas DC-6B

# 45532

RED CROSS

Delivered to Hunting Clan Air Transport and later to British United as G-APNP. It went to the international Red Cross afterwards. On May 7th, 1969, the International Red Cross lost HB-IBT at Uli airstrip, Nigeria.

HB-IBW

Douglas DC-6BF

# 43296

RED CROSS

 Delivered in Sep51 as N90807 to Slick Airways. It was bought 2 years later by Japan Air Lines as JA6201. It was reportedly leased shortly by Transavia Airlines in the Netherlands, with registration PH-TRI. Germanair purchased it in Sep68 and assigned D-ABAZ to it; in Jan70 it was parked and stored at Basel. A Swisse registration, HB-IBW, was assigned to it for Jet Aviation in Dec71. As such it operated relief flights for the Int'l Red Cross in Feb72.
It went back to the US for a new owner, Span East Airlines, in 1973 and N615SE became its tailnumber; it operated for Guyana Airways on a lease then. This was made official with registration 8R-GEC for Guyana Aws on 24Mar74, but was returned to Span East 31Jul76, with the former registration N615SE. It changed owner a couple of times thereafter and was eventually broken up for spare parts.

 

 

 

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last updated January 2009