Commando 41-24672
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-20-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 41-24672
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26593
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU233
FATE: Unknown
Operational Record
August 1943
41-24672 - USAAF (USA)
13 August 1943
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
August 1943 to February 1957
39507 - US MARINE CORPS (USA)
28 August 1943
Transferred as R5C-1.
By August 1944
Assigned to MAW-4, VMJ-252.
September 1944
Assigned to MAG-35.
August 1945
Assigned to MAG-35 Service Squadron (Servron-35).
ca 1953
Assigned to the Blue Angels as support aircraft and based at NAS Corpus Christi, TX.
Right: 39507 seen at NAS Oakland, CA in 1953.
Photo credit: Bill Larkins / Wikimedia Commons
Below, left: a faded shot of 39507 at NAS Oakland, CA on 14 February 1953.
Photo credit: D. Olson / blueangels.org
Below, right: an artist’s view of 39507 in the late 1940’s, based at NAS Corpus Christi, TX.
Photo credit: Scale Aircraft Modelling Magazine, Vol.29, No.1, March 2007, Guideline Publications, ISSN 0956-1420
February 1957 to July 1957
N4086A - MARCO INDUSTRIES INC. (USA)
18 February 1957
Purchased from the US Navy.
February 1957 to August 1958
N4086A - L. B. SMITH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION (USA)
3 July 1957
Purchased.
1959
Converted to Super 46C. [most sources quote 1969 instead, but photographic evidence proves them wrong]
August 1958 to late 1958
N4086A - AEROPA (SWITZERLAND)
August 1958
Leased from L. B. Smith Aircraft Corporation by startup airline Aeropa and based in Basel, Switzerland.
18 November 1958
Delivered to Basel, Switzerland. The Commando was ferried from Miami, FL by infamous mercenary pilot Henry “Hank” Wharton. Registration HB-AAF was reserved, but never taken up.
Left: N4086A (would-be HB-AAF) in Aeropa colors. The drawing does not (but should) show the modified engine cowlings and prop spinners of the Super 46C conversion visible on several photographs.
Photo credit: www.wings.de.ms
Below: several shots of Aeropa’s N4086A in Basel, ca 1958
Photo credit: Sammlung W. Soltermann / bsl-mlh-planes.net
Late 1958 to March 1959
N4086A - L. B. SMITH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION (USA)
Late 1958
Lease contract cancelled as Aeropa never started operations. Aircraft subsequently remained in Basel for several weeks, grounded.
16 February 1959
Ferried back to the USA via Blackbushe, UK. [actually to the delivery place with the next owner]
Right: N4086A parked at Blakbushe, UK on 21 February 1959. Aeropa’s livery has been “neutralized”…
Photo credit: Robin A. Walker / Air Britain
March 1959 to April 1965
N4086A - OMAN-FARNSWORTH-WRIGHT (USA)
March 1959
Purchased and sent to Saudi Arabia to support the company's construction projects there, in Dhahran and Riyadh.
Later sent to Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan where the company has its Middle East regional headquarters.
August 1961
Ferried from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan back to the USA via Prestwick.
Left: N4086A in front of some unknown hangar for Oman-Farnsworth-Wright.
Photo credit: unknown / Air Britain
April 1965 to January 1975
N9900Z - INTERMOUNTAIN AVIATION (USA)
9 April 1965
Purchased.
26 May 1965
Registered.
Right: N9900Z at Intermountain's Marana, AZ base in 1968.
Photo credit: Neil Aird / www.dhc-2.com
Below, left: N9900Z in Marana, AZ.
Photo credit: Paul Zogg / zoggavia.com
Below, right: N9900Z exhibiting its cargo door in 1973.
Photo credit: Bob Gerrard / blueangels.org
January 1975 to March 1975
N9900Z - EVERGREEN HELICOPTERS (USA)
27 January 1975
Transferred as Intermountain was taken over by Evergreen Helicopters.
March 1975 to October 1975
N9900Z - JOHNSON FLYING SERVICE (USA)
17 March 1975
Transferred to Johnson Flying Service, just purchased by Evergreen Helicopters as its new airline subsidiary.
October 1975 to February 1978
N9900Z - EVERGREEN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES (USA)
31 October 1975
Transferred as Johnson Flying Service was renamed Evergreen International Airlines to reflect its new ownership.
February 1978 to April 1978
N9900Z - CHALLENGE AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY (USA)
9 February 1978
Purchased by Challenge Aerospace Technology, the engineering arm of Bellomy-Lawson Aviation.
10 February 1978
Delivered.
June 1978 to 1982
N9900Z - CAT (CHALLENGE AIR TRANSPORT) (USA)
15 June 1978
Transferred as CAT was spun off from Bellomy-Lawson.
Fate of the aircraft is unknown. A lonely source [PL] pretends it was scrapped around 1982 in Miami, FL. However the consensus seems to be that it left Miami some day and never came back. Rumor has it that the aircraft was used to supply the Contras in Nicaragua on behalf of the CIA…
Right: N9900Z in Miami,FL on 14 July 1979.
Photo credit: Mick Bajcar / airliners.net
Below, left: CAT’s N9900Z landing in Miami, FL in 1980.
Photo credit: Bob Gerrard / blueangels.org
Below, right: N9900Z in Memphis, TN in June 1980.
Photo credit: Carl Ford / www.airteamimages.com
Bottom, left: N9900Z seen in Miami, FL in September 1981.
Photo credit: Bob Groenendijk / www.airliners.net
Bottom, right: N9900Z pulling away from the customs ramp in Miami, FL in October 1981.
Photo credit: Geoff Goodall / www.goodall.com.au
All the way down: N9900Z receiving some maintenance on Miami’s ramp in front of a company DC6B.
Photo credit: R. A. Scholefield / airliners.net
Last edited: 18/02/2021