The Curtiss Commando Page
The Curtiss Commando Page

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.

  April 1978 to June 1978

  N9900Z - BELLOMY-LAWSON AVIATION (USA)


27 April 1978

Transferred.

  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