Commando 41-12366

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 41-12366

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26493

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU133

FATE: Written off

  May 1943 to September 1947

  41-12366 - USAAF (USA)

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May 1943

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

13 June 1943

Damaged in Milwaukee, WI in a landing accident.

  September 1947 to March 1965

  41-12366 - USAF (USA)

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18 September 1947

Transferred.

Unknown date

Modified by Curtiss-Wright for USAF.

Unknown date

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

10 November 1957

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

1 April 1964

Sent for reclamation at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ.

  March 1965 to July 1967

  N91362 - C-46 PARTS INC. (USA)

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2 March 1965

Purchased engineless from USAF. Total airframe time 4,066 hours.

  March 1965 to August 1967

  N91362 - TRANS-CON AIR CARGOES (USA)

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24 July 1967

Purchased.

  August 1967 to 1972

  N91362 - KEN-AIR INC. (USA)

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8 August 1967

Registered.

7 September 1967

Registration cancelled for export to Taiwan. [but apparently this did not happen]

  1972 to December 1974

  XW-PKJ - LANE XANG AIRLINES (LAOS)

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1972

Purchased.

Operated in Cambodia for CAI (Cambodia Airlines International).

25 December 1974

Went missing near Aoral, Cambodia (11/11 missing).

The Commando was operating a passenger flight between Battambang and Phnom Penh Pochetong, Cambodia with two pilots, one cabin crew and eight passengers onboard. It crashed in the forest in Aoral District and was found only decades later. The aircraft was possibly involved in a CFIT, or might have been shot down as there were active guerillas in the area in those days.

 

Right & below: what was left of XW-PKJ in 2011. CAI’s logo is clearly visible on the tail.
Photo credit: Vorn Pov / www.aviation-safety.net