Commando 41-12361
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-10-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 41-12361
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26488
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU128
FATE: Written off
Operational Record
May 1943 to September 1943
41-12361 - USAAF (USA)
4 May 1943
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
Assigned to Detroit Wayne County, MI.
28 June 1943
Damaged in Billings, MT in a landing accident. Northwest Airlines pilot.
September 1943 to April 1944
41-12361 - NORTHWEST AIRLINES (USA)
16 September 1943
Leased to Northwest Airlines, based in St Paul Minneapolis, MN.
April 1944 to October 1945
41-12361 - USAAF (USA)
28 April 1944
Returned to USAAF, assigned to Brookley Field, AL.
October 1945 to unknown date
41-12361 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)
25 October 1945
Transferred to RFC, stored at Walnut Ridge AAF, AR.
Unknown date to December 1949
N????? - CALIFORNIA ATLANTIC AIRWAYS (USA)
Unknown date
Purchased from RFC.
December 1949 to July 1951
CB-39 - LAB (LLOYD AEREO BOLIVIANO) (BOLIVIA)
4 December 1949
Purchased.
24 April 1950
Damaged in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Rebuilt.
July 1951
CP-539 - LOIDE AEREO NACIONAL (BRAZIL)
21 July 1951
Purchased
29 July 1951
Crashed in Cochabamba, Bolivia while taking off for the delivery flight (7/7 fatalities).
The Commando was bought 8 days prior by Loide Aéreo Nacional of Brazil from Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano and had to be delivered to Rio de Janeiro. Shortly after takeoff from Cochabamba, while in the initial climb, the airplane hit a tree and crashed in flames. All seven occupants were killed.
The aircraft was still wearing registration CB-39. Apparently, CP-539 was never taken up.
[often quoted incorrectly as being 41-12367]
Right: a newspaper shot of CB-39 / CP-539 after its crash in Cochabamba.
Photo credit: unknown
Last edited: 02/01/2019