Commando 41-5190

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-1-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 41-5190

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26392

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU32

FATE: Written off

Top view of 41-5190.
Photo credit : Joe Idoni / joeidoni.smugmug.com

  December 1942 to October 1945

  41-5190 - USAAF (USA)

28 December 1942

Accepted by the USAAF. Delivery delayed most likely for Curtiss to apply modifications.

2 February 1943

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

Assigned to New York LaGuardia, NY.

Sometime between 1943 and 1945

Likely assigned to 3^rd Operational Training Unit (3 OTU) at Reno AAF, NV.

25 October 1945

Damaged beyond repair in the San Gabriel mountain range in a CFIT (4/4 fatalities).

The Commando took off at 0100LT from San Bernardino AAF, CA on an instrument flight to Reno AAF, NV. A few minutes later, while cruising in poor weather conditions, the aircraft hit the west slope of Mt Baldy at a height of 10,064 feet. The wreckage was found a day later with all four occupants killed. At the time of the accident, visibility was poor due to low clouds and precipitations.

[Erroneously quoted by some sources [AB] as reclamation completed at San Bernardino AAF, CA at the same date]

Wreckage of 41-5190 still visible today on West Mount Baldy.
Photo credit : Joe Idoni / joeidoni.smugmug.com