Commando 42-101183

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-101183

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30638

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1174

FATE: Written off

  October 1944 to April 1946

  42-101183 - USAAF (USA)

9 October 1944

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

Assigned to the 4^th Combat Cargo Group, 13^th Combat Cargo Squadron based at Bowman Field, KY.

12 November 1944

Ferried from Morrison Field, FL to Sylhet, Bengal, India.

Crew:
1^st Lt. Walter K. Shelton, Pilot
2^nd Lt. Verne K. Shelton, Copilot
Sgt. Lloyd Eichelberger, Crew Chief
Sgt. William R. Burdick, Radio Operator

8 January 1945

Ferried through Karachi, Sindh, India. [a very late date; this Commando possibly broke down enroute?]

Mid-January 1945

Arrived in Agartala, Tripura, India with the 13^th Combat Cargo Squadron.

Transported reinforcements and supplies for Allied forces in Burma.

Late January 1945

Moved to Chittagong, Bengal, India with the 13^th Combat Cargo Squadron.

February 1945

Transported men, mules, and boats to support the Allied crossing of the Irrawaddy River, Burma.

May 1945

Dropped Gurkha paratroops during the assault on Rangoon.

Mid-1945

Assigned to the 1^st Combat Cargo Group, 1^st Combat Cargo Squadron based in China (probably Chengkung, Yunnan).

19 September 1945

1^st Combat Cargo Group, 1^st Combat Cargo Squadron renamed 512^th Troop Carrier Group, 326^th Troop Carrier Squadron.

28 September 1945

Damaged beyond repair 32 km southeast of Chihkiang AB, Hunan, China in an accident and destroyed by fire (20/20 fatalities).

Crew:
1^st Lt. Peter F. Genther Jr., Pilot (killed, pictured right during pilot graduation)
(unknown Copilot)
2^nd Lt. Harold A. Woeckner, Navigator

20 October 1945

Excluded from inventory.