Douglas Aircraft began designing its DC-4 in 1936 at the urging of United Airlines President William Patterson, who offered to underwrite half of the engineering costs. Ultimately, United, American, Eastern, TWA and Pan Am gave $100,000 apiece for the plane's development. Douglas rolled out the big, triple-tailed aircraft in June 1939, but World War II intervened before the company could begin production. The U.S. Secretary of War asked United to cancel its order so Douglas could concentrate on producing an unpressurized version of the DC-4 for military use. That aircraft became known as the C-54.
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