Commando 41-12405

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-15-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 41-12405

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26532

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU172

FATE: Unknown

  June 1943 to October 1945

  41-12405 - USAAF (USA)

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17 June 1943

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

7 July 1943

Assigned to ATC India-China Wing.

15 August 1944

Assigned to Brookley Field, AL.

Prior to October 1944

Assigned to ATC Domestic Wing, 6^th Ferrying Group based at Long Beach AAF, CA.

13 February 1945

Received major damage at Long Beach AAF, CA in a ground loop.

Pilot: 1^st Lt Jules C. Gindraux (survived, later became Lebanon's Middle East Airlines first Captain)

  October 1945 to 1947

  41-12405 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

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30 October 1945

Transferred to RFC, stored at Ontario AAF, CA.

  1947 to April 1948

  41-12405 - ADOLPH "AL" W. SCHWIMMER (USA)

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1947

Purchased from RFC.

Refurbished in Burbank, CA.

  April 1948 to May 1948

  RX-137 - LAPSA (LINEAS AEREAS DE PANAMA SA) (PANAMA)

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April 1948

Purchased.

Ferried from Burbank, CA to Panama City Tocumen International, Panama.

May 1948

Ferried from Panama City Tocumen International, Panama to Ekron AB, Israel.

  May 1948 to September 1948

  RX-137 - IAF (ISRAELI AIR FORCE) (ISRAEL)

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May 1948

Transferred.

May 1948 to August 1948

Participated in Operation Balak, flying military supplies between Zatec, Czechoslovakia to Ekron AB, Israel.

August 1948 to October 1948

Participated in Operation Dust, flying troops & supplies between Ekron AB and Ruhama, Israel.

17 September 1948

Panamanian registration cancelled.

  September 1948 to January 1950

  1707 - IAF (ISRAELI AIR FORCE) (ISRAEL)

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September 1948

Reregistered. [Panamanian registration may have been worn longer, or removed before]

  January 1950 to March 1955

  4X-ACE - EL AL (ISRAEL)

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24 January 1950

Purchased.

Used in cargo configuration.

1 March 1955

Registration cancelled.

 

Right: 4X-ACE sitting on a ramp in Israel.
Photo credit: El Al / moreshet.elal.co.il