Now this is a build I will be tuned into.
Back in '90/91 I was a loadmaster in the South African AF and the C-54 (DC-4) was one of the planes I worked on.
I can still hear the Flight engineer on a cold winters morning in the cockpit busy priming the engines, using the fuel boost pump and then (with hand on the magneto swithc) engage the starter motor swinging the large props. He would say " 12 blades, cold start -turning #3 - then count the blades as they roteted 3, 6, 9 12 and flip the magneto on....the engine would splutter , cough, billow allot of rich white smoke and over time settle into a nice smooth drone
The loadmaster had to "walk the props" on the first start of the day.You rotated the props by hand to clear any oil that drained into the lower cylinders.This on a 4 engine plane was allot of work!
The tail post was called a "millstead" it was hung from the tailskid by a pin and if the pax got out of the plane they tended to all rush to the rear. The millstead stoped it from tailsitting .
There were also metal lock blocks that were put into the undercart to stop it accedently retracting on the ground....as a LM I had to show the enginer before the engine start the items to ensure they had been removed, the "ryme" went like this "6 chocks, 2 lock , 1 pin, 1 pole, doors locked " or something like that, it had been more that 25 years since last I did this :-)
Theuns