Douglas DC-4:
Transocean built up a formidable DC-4 fleet in the early post war years, which was used on services over the Pacific, to
Central and South American and across the Atlantic to Europe and the Middle East. A major source of business in the post
war years in Europe was flying emigrants from the Old World to the New and Transocean was heavily involved. The first
mention of Transocean in the newspapers is for 12th  August 1947 when one of its DC-4s came through Shannon carrying
40 emigrants to Canada, but had to turn back thirty minutes after departure due to an electrical fault and divert to Prestwick, as Shannon was then fog bound. By October 1947 Transocean had 14 DC-4s engaged in emigrant flights.
In March 1949 Orvis Nelson commanded a Transocean DC-4 which undertook a round-the-world flight, routing
Oakland-Bradley Field-Gander-Shannon-Frankfurt-Rome-Damascus-Karachi-Calcutta-Hong Kong-Okinawa-Tokyo-Guam-
Wake Island-Honolulu-Oakland.

Emigrant flights continued into 1949, including the transport of large numbers of Italians emigrating to Venezuela. One of
these flights, on 14th August 1949, ended in tragedy. The DC-4 N79998 (morse radio call KHHZU) with 49 passengers on
board had departed from Rome en route to Shannon, intending to fly onwards to Gander and then Caracas. Due to poor
navigation technique and some bad luck, the flight ended up off course and flew out over the Atlantic, not realizing that it had flown past Shannon. When the error was eventually realized, the DC-4 turned back towards Shannon but ran out of fuel and came down in the Atlantic a few miles off the Clare coast. Although most were rescued, sadly a few of the passengers 
perished.

Morse communication was in use at that time, as voice would not be widely used until 1952. The Shanwick diaries record a
Transocean DC-4 WHJHU Shannon to Keflavik on 17th August 1949 and WHJGY Shannon to Paris on 20th August '49,
which was carrying the remains of those passengers who had lost their lives in the crash off the Irish coast. KHVQJ was
another Transocean DC-4 on 25th August 1949, from Shannon to Copenhagen, although it is identified as N79994.
Saudi Arabian was one of the airlines which Transocean assisted during the 1950s, including supplying five DC-4s to the
airline. The former Transocean aircraft were painted and overhauled at Oakland before being flown to Saudi Arabia on
delivery through Shannon. Clearance was given for the five aircraft to pass through Shannon between 12 June and 20 July
1952, the aircraft in question being HZAAF, G, H and I and SA-R-4, which was for operation on behalf of the Saudi Royal
Family and even had a throne installed for the use of King Ibn Saud. It was used by the king to travel between his winter
palace at Riyadh and his summer palace at Taif, five hundred miles away. Following disposal by Saudi years later, this
became 00-FAI of Fairey Freight and was an occasional visitor to Dublin hauling meat, somewhat of a comedown from its
royal duties. Another Transocean DC-4 noted passing through Shannon during 1952 on the company's own flights was
N226A, which years later would become EI-AOR of Aer Turas.

Starting in 1954 Transocean received a large contract to fly Rhesus monkeys to the United States where they were used for
medical research. These were flown across the Pacific from Manila and also from New Delhi in India through Europe and
Shannon and across the Atlantic. In addition Transocean flew general pager and freight charters over the Atlantic with its
DC-4s, including MATS flights with USAF personnel and their dependents. DC-4s noted passing airborne from Shannon at
0103 hours en route to Gander with 76 souls on board.

Another airline supported by Transocean  was Iranian, with DC-4 EP-ADK over the ocean on 25th January 1955 en route
Gander to Shannon on delivery to Iranair. It appears that this aircraft had to return to Bradley Field for further work as it was
again over the ocean from Gander to Shannon less than two months later, on 19'th  March 1955. On 26th August 1957
N30045 routed from Windsor Locks direct to Shannon, which may also have been a delivery flight, as it became EP-ADZ of
Iranair shortly thereafter.

Lufthansa was another airline assisted by Transocean. As well as supplying navigators to the German airline for its Super
Constellation aircraft, Transocean also agreed to operate Lufthansa's transatlantic cargo services. Two DC-4s were
allocated to this contract, N30042 and N9864F, both of which were painted in full Lufthansa colour scheme but they
remained American registered and flown by Transocean crews. Starting in December 1957, flight DLH 040 westbound and
DLH 041 eastbound flew across the Atlantic twice weekly, routing Frankfurt-Manchester-Shannon-Gander-New York and
return. This operation continued until March 1959 when the DC4s were replaced by Transocean L1049 Super Constellation
N 1880, which was also painted in full Lufthansa scheme and delivered New York to Shannon on 5th March 1959. It was in
use until November 1959, when the contract was taken over by Flying Tiger Line for a few months until Lufthansa started to
operate their own cargo services with two of their own Starliners, which had been converted to freighters.