The Curtiss Commando Page
The Curtiss Commando Page

Commando 42-3621

Aircraft Identification

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-35-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-3621

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26754

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU394

FATE: Unknown

Operational Record

  February 1944

  42-3621 - USAAF (USA)


1 February 1944

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

  February 1944 to 1956

  ????? - US MARINE CORPS (USA)


7 February 1944

Transferred as R5C-1 and assigned to MCAS Cherry Point, NC. US Navy Bureau Number unknown.

  1956 to unknown date

  N9513C - CAPITOL AIR (USA)


1956

Purchased and christened “Tennessee”.

  Unknown date to February 1959

  N9513C - GOLDEN STATE AIRLINES (USA)


Unknown date

Probably leased from Capitol Air.

Below, left: N9513C seen in Oakland, CA in September 1958.
Photo credit: Larry Smalley / Ed Coates Collection

Below, right: Passengers waiting around N9513C in Buchanan Field, CA after their flight diverted from fogged-in San Francisco on 27 November 1958.
Photo credit: Bill Larkins / Wikimedia Commons

  February 1959 to March 1959

  LV-PMB - TSA (TRANSCONTINENTAL SA) (ARGENTINA)


February 1959

Purchased and assigned a temporary registration.

Unknown date

Converted to CW-20T. [may also have occurred before being purchased by Transcontinental]

  March 1959 to December 1961

  LV-FTY - TSA (TRANSCONTINENTAL SA) (ARGENTINA)


19 March 1959

Reregistered.

 

Right: LV-FTY in Transcontinental colors.
Photo credit: unknown

  December 1961 to February 1962

  LV-FTY - ALA (AUSTRAL LINEAS AEREAS) (ARGENTINA)


22 December 1961

Leased from Transcontinental.

8 February 1962

Certificate of airworthiness expired.

13 February 1962

End of lease contract. May have been taken over from Transcontinental after the latter's demise in August 1962, but actual fate unknown.

Last edited: 13/05/2019