Douglas DC-4E

DC-4E
The Douglas DC-4E in flight
General information
TypeExperimental airliner
ManufacturerDouglas Aircraft Company
Primary usersUnited Airlines[1]
Number built1[2]
History
First flightJune 7, 1938[3]
Developed intoDouglas DC-4
Nakajima G5N

The Douglas DC-4E was an American experimental airliner that was developed before World War II. The DC-4E never entered production due to being superseded by an entirely new design, the Douglas DC-4/C-54, which proved very successful.

Many of the aircraft's innovative design features found their way into the Nakajima G5N bomber after the single DC-4E prototype was sold to a Japanese airline and clandestinely dismantled for study by Nakajima at the behest of the Imperial Japanese Navy.[2]

  1. ^ Francillon 1988, pp. 266, 268.
  2. ^ a b Francillon 1988, p. 268.
  3. ^ Francillon 1988, p. 267.