Here's some background on the DC-4's from a 1967 article in the
Aramco World magazine:
In July 1956, a national U.S. magazine published a two-page map charting all air traffic over the North Atlantic at midnight on a random spring night. It showed that there were 110 aircraft: military planes, 70 commercial flights representing 18 airlines and, just about halfway to Europe, a lone DC-6B owned by a somewhat unusual airline—the Arabian American Oil Company.
It probably seems odd today to think that an oil company operating exclusive in a country as far away as Saudi Arabi would ever have operated an international airline. But 20 years ago when that airline was organized, commercial air service into and out of the Middle East was no[t] what it is today. It certainly wasn't sufficient to meet the pressing needs of a company engaged in the enormous postwar development of some of the world's biggest oil fields. So it was that on an April day in 1947 an Aramco pilot gunned a DC-4 Skymaster, the "Flying Camel," down a runway on Roosevelt Field, Long Island and headed for the Azores on the first leg of a 7,000-mile trip that after stops in Lisbon, Rome and Beirut, would end on the sandy shore of the Arabian Gulf.
Many Aramco veterans consider the late 40's and the 50's as the golden years of the company's Aviation Department—and with some reason. Before widespread commercial jet service finally eliminated the need for Aramco's own transatlantic flights—which ended on January 1, 1961—the "Camel" and her two younger sisters, the "Gazelle" and the "Oryx," had grown to DC-6B's and the company had logged a remarkable record. It had flown 17,200,000 miles with 87,600 international passengers and 7,300,000 pounds of cargo, made 2,400 Atlantic crossings and completed a satisfying 13 ½ years of scheduled international service without a single fatality or injury.
Saudi Aramco World : Fly The Desert Sky
A couple of pictures of the
Flying Camel DC-4 here:
Dhahran International Airport, Saudi Arabia