Commando 44-77574

Aircraft Identification

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77574

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 32970

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1506

FATE: Unknown

Operational Record

December 1944 to September 1947

44-77574 - USAAF (USA)

December 1944

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.

Early 1945

Assigned to the 9^th Air Force, 52^nd Troop Carrier Wing, 313^th Troop Carrier Group, 49^th Troop Carrier Squadron based at Grevillers-Achiet (B-54), France.

Marked "H2-G".

24 March 1945

Damaged over Germany during Operation Varsity.

Right: a video of 44-77574 taking off for Varsity on 24 March 1945 between times 1:39 and 1:46.
Photo credit: USAF / Youtube

September 1947 to March 1961

44-77574 - USAF (USA)

18 September 1947

Transferred.

Unknown date

Assigned to the 514^th Troop Carrier Group, Medium, 335^th Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium based at Mitchel AFB, NY.

16 January 1952

Collided with a parked aircraft at Burlington AFB, VT while taxiing, and inflicted minor damage to it. [Commando 44-76173 is mentionned as the parked aircraft, but that serial does not exist]

Pilot: 1^st Lt. Joseph J. Delahunt

Unknown date

Assigned to the 2578^thAir Force Reserve Training Center based at Ellington AFB, TX.

25 August 1953

Received minor damage at Ellington AFB, TX in a taxi accident.

Pilot: Kirk M. McClean

10 May 1958

Assigned to the Arizona Aircraft Storage Squadron and stored at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ.

2 February 1959

Sent to reclamation at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ.

March 1961 to September 1965

N9893Z - CAPITOL AIR (USA)

March 1961

Purchased from USAF.

Operated for the US Navy Bureau of Supplies and Accounts (BUSANDA) out of Oakland, CA.

Below, left: N9893Z seen at Oakland, CA in January 1965.
Photo credit: Bill Larkins / AV.CA

Below, right: the same in colors, still at Oakland, CA in 1965.
Photo credit: Terry Fletcher / AV.CA

September 1965 to July 1969

N9893Z - LUFTHANSA CARGO (WEST GERMANY)

September 1965

Operated by Capitol Air for Lufthansa Cargo Services, based at Berlin Tempelhof, West Germany.

July 1969

Lease contract ended.

Right: N9893Z at Barcelona El Prat, Spain; photo is dated 1964 but livery suggests late 1960's.
Photo credit: Adolf Malet / AviationCorner.net

Line 1 below, left: N9893Z at a German airport shortly after arriving in Europe.
Photo credit: Dave Welch / Air Britain

Line 1 below, right: N9893Z taxiing at London Heathrow, UK - note the BEA Britannia, Vanguards, Comet & Viscount!
Photo credit: FanJetUK

Line 2 below, left: at Heathrow again, a regular destination, in 1965.
Photo credit: Paul Howard / Air Britain

Line 2 below, right: N9893Z taxiing at Berlin Tempelhof, West Germany on 27 November 1965.
Photo credit: Ralf Manteufel / Air Britain

Line 3 below, left: at Tempelhof again on a warmer day, 1965.
Photo credit: BerlinSpotter

Line 3 below, right: N9893Z in Stuttgart, West Germany on 30 March 1966.
Photo credit: Ken Fielding / Wikimedia Commons

Line 4 below, left: changing a tyre in Liverpool, UK on 16 December 1966 during a charter for the Ford Motor Company.
Photo credit: Ian Keast / Bob O'Brien Collection

Line 4 below, right: N9893Z sporting Capitol's new livery at Tempelhof on 14 June 1969.
Photo credit: Ralf Manteufel / Air Britain