Commando 42-3626

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-3626

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26759

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU399

FATE: Unknown

  January 1944

  42-3626 - CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION (USA)

9 January 1944

Transferred from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY to the one in Louisville, KY.

  January 1944

  42-3626 - USAAF (USA)

28 January 1944

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Louisville, KY.

  January 1944 to unknown date

  39541 - US MARINE CORPS (USA)

28 January 1944

Transferred as R5C-1 and assigned to MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

11 February 1944

US Navy Bureau Number assigned.

By August 1944

Assigned to VMR-252.

June 1945

Assigned to MAW-3, SMS-15 [probably MAG-15 Service Marine Squadron].

27 June 1945

Assigned to VMR-953, based at MCAS Ewa, CA.

June 1945

Assigned to MAG-35 Service Squadron (Servron-35).

October 1945

Assigned to NAS San Diego, CA.

10 July 1946

Reconditionned at NAS San Diego, CA.

17 July 1946

Assigned to VMR-252, based at MCAS El Toro, CA.

12 September 1947

Assigned to Homeland Defense Network (HDN), MAG-11.

Unknown date

Assigned to MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

2 November 1947

Assigned to NAS Colombus, OH.

  Unknown date to 1963

  N9514C - THE DUNES HOTEL (USA)

Unknown date

Purchased from US Navy and christened “The Magic Carpet Flight”.

Below, left: N9514C in Long Beach, CA in October 1961.
Photo credit: Ed Coates / Ed Coates Collection

Below, right: The Magic Carpet Flight coming to Oakland, CA to pick up its load of gamblers.
Photo credit: Bill Larkins / Ed Coates Collection

  1963 to February 1964

  N9514C - C-46 PARTS INC. (USA)

1963

Purchased.

  February 1964 to March 1972

  XA-PEX - SAESA (SERVICIOS AEREOS ESPECIALES SA) (MEXICO)

February 1964

Purchased.

24 April 1964

Registered.

Unknown date

Withdrawn from use and stored in Mexico City, Mexico.

24 February 1970

Registration cancelled.

Right: XA-PEX in a calm corner of Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico City on 16 November 1971.
Photo credit: Christian Volpati / airlinefan.com

  March 1972 to unknown date

  N11807 - WESTERNAIR (USA)

10 March 1972

Purchased, but the deal apparently did not go through. The aircraft was kept stored in Mexico City, Mexico and the registration was never taken up.

14 January 1977

Registration cancelled. [date reported as late as 4 February 2017 by AV.CA!]

June 1978

Last seen derelict in Mexico City, Mexico, still in SAESA colors with its old Mexican registration.