Commando 41-12369

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 41-12369

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26496

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU136

FATE: Stored

  May 1943 to July 1943

  41-12369 - USAAF (USA)

17 May 1943

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

  July 1943 to ca 1951

  39502 - US MARINE CORPS (USA)

21 July 1943

Transferred as R5C-1.

By September 1944

Assigned to Homeland Defense Network (HDN), MAG-35.

31 August 1945

Assigned to MAG-35 Service Marine Squadron (SMS-35).

September 1945

Assigned to MAG-35 Service Squadron (Servron-35).

  ca 1951 to May 1953

  HK-608 - AIDA (INTERAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF AVIATION) (COLOMBIA)

ca 1951

Purchased. [date unconfirmed, could be ca 1958 as well but unlikely]

  May 1953 to 1953

  ????? - UNKNOWN OPERATOR (EGYPT)

May 1953

Supposedly purchased by some Egyptian operator.

7 May 1953

Ferry permit issued by Egyptian CAA but not taken up.

  1953 to February 1957

  PP-VDJ - VARIG (BRAZIL)

1953

Purchased. [date quoted as April 1968 by AB, but unlikely]

  February 1957 to May 1957

  N4085A (I) - MARCO INDUSTRIES INC. (USA)

18 February 1957

Purchased.

  May 1957 to December 1957

  N4085A (I) - L. B. SMITH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION (USA)

May 1957

Purchased and converted to Super 46C.

  December 1957 to September 1970

  PP-VCM - VARIG (BRAZIL)

11 December 1957

Purchased.

26 September 1958

Registered.

2 September 1970

Registration cancelled.

Right: PP-VCM in Sao Paulo Congonhas on 26 February 1970.
Photo credit: Vito Cedrini / airliners.net

Below: PP-VCM shown in VARIG’s pre-1961 livery as it returned to the airline converted to Super 46C standard.
Photo credit : www.varig-airlines.com

  September 1970 to February 1972

  HH-22 - AIR HAITI (HAITI)

September 1970

Purchased via Air Operations International, to be operated by Air Haiti.

Below: HH-22 caught at sunset in Miami in 1971.
Photo credit: RuthAS / Wikimedia Commons

  February 1972 to October 1978

  HH-222 - AIR HAITI (HAITI)

February 1972

Reregistered and christened "la Perle des Antilles" (Caribbean Pearl).

Above: HH-222 receiving maintenance on Miami’s ramp on 21 June 1978.
Photo credit: Mick Bajar / Air Britain

Right: "la Perle des Antilles" landing in Miami, FL
Photo credit : Bob Garrard / Flickr

  October 1978 to present

  HH-AHA - AIR HAITI (HAITI)

5 October 1978

Reregistered.

1988

Withdrawn from use and stored at Port-au-Prince, Haiti. [date also quoted as October 1991]

ca 2011

Wings disassembled from fuselage.

By 2018

Still parked wingless in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Left: HH-AHA taxiing to the ramp at San Juan Luis Munoz Marin airport, Puerto Rico in April 1989.
Photo credit: Keith Burton / Flickr

Below: HH-AHA and sistership HH-AHB rotting in the grass in Port-au-Prince, Haition 22 February 2010.
Photo credit: Jose Francisco Diaz Mellado / aviationcorner.net