Commando 42-3645

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-3645

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26778

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU418

FATE: Written off

  January 1944

  42-3645 - CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION (USA)

January 1944

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

  January 1944 to March 1946

  42-3645 - USAAF (USA)

26 January 1944

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

3 March 1944

Assigned to ATC Central African Wing.

2 June 1945

Assigned to Morrison Field, FL.

  March 1946 to 1947

  42-3645 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

26 March 1946

Transferred to RFC and stored at Ontario AAF, CA.

  1947 to February 1951

  42-3645 - VINELAND SCHOOL DISTRICT (USA)

1947

Purchased from RFC by the Vineland School District and turned into classroom for the Oklahoma migrants staying in Weedpatch Camp, CA. Price: $200.

Left: a class being taught in 42-3645’s roomy fuselage in the late 1940’s at Weedpatch Camp.
Photo credit: Jerry Stanley / Children of the Dust Bowl, Crown Publishers, 1992

  February 1951 to December 1957

  N111H - CHARLES C. FINN (USA)

February 1951

Purchased by Charles C. Finn and his twin brother George Finn, with the objective of making the aircraft airworthy again and start an airline with it. Price: $21,000. Christened “Patricia Lynn”.

19 October 1951

Ferried to Burbank, CA via Bakersfield, CA and handed over to International Airports Inc. for refurbishment. Advance of $15,000 lent by the latter to the Finn Brothers with a mortgage taken on N111H.

18 April 1952

Following a dispute with International Airports Inc. regarding the delayed delivery of the refurbished aircraft, the Finn Brothers brought their own men to Burbank, CA to complete N111H’s refurbishment.

25 May 1952

Ferried to Bakersfield, CA. Court case filed by International Airports Inc. against Charles C. Finn, demanding the sale of N111H and the reimbursement of the $15,000 lent to the latter.

3 July 1952

Court case filed by the US Government to cancel the sale of N111H to Charles C. Finn, as aircraft originally purchased from RFC for educational purposes had no right to be sold back due to their preferential price. The US Government also demanded that the $15,000 cash advance by International Airports Inc. be void, and that N111H be seized or $198,000 paid in lieu.

18 September 1952

Impounded by the US Marshalls at Bakersfield, CA pending Court ruling.

18 January 1953

Stolen from Government custody by the Finn Brothers and ferried to an abandoned airstrip in Nevada.

“The twins had to smuggle provisions aboard the Patricia Lynn, without being seen by the Bakersfield airport manager. In the dead of night they backed a truck up to the far side of her middle and stuffed her with food, heavy duty clothing, camping equipment, a stove, flashlights, guns and ammunition. A few nights later the weather favored them with a California fog, a real pea souper. They borrowed a gasoline truck, crept through the fog and fueled the C-46. They couldn’t take off before dawn in this muck, so they waited until the chill of the morning ate into their bones. They saw the mists turn purple, blue, charcoal, grey, dishwater and then they could see the whale-like bulk of the Patricia Lynn looming through the fog, like a big, soft, friendly ghost.”

“They fired up her engines and taxied down the runway to perform the run up. By this stage the airport manager had woken up and driven his car towards the C-46. Charlie Finn opened the throttles and veered off across a pasture, over ploughed ground, bumping and bouncing the aircraft like a pogo-stick! With the airport manager giving chase in his car, the C-46 staggered off the ploughed field, taking off cross-wind. They hedge-hopped right along the deck, so that the airport manager could not keep them in view. They headed south and when they reached the mountains turned east, went through the Tehachapi Pass and coasted along under the brow of the mountains. Then they took a heading towards Death Valley and just over the border in Nevada they found the abandoned airstrip, which they had been thinking would make an ideal Shangri-La in which to hide a fugitive airplane.”

Charles C. Finn remained to guard N111H, while George Finn was flown back to Los Angeles by a friend and made an appearance in a TV show to explain their situation. George Finn was immediately arrested for contempt of Court and breaching a Court order.

26 January 1953

Located by the FBI, and taken back by an armed squad after neutralizing Charles C. Finn who was entrenched in the aircraft. Later ferried by USAF pilots to Nellis AFB, NV.

Mid-1954

The Finn Brothers were sentenced to a year in prison after attempting to seize a USAF C-97 at Burbank, CA and to make a citizen arrest on a Federal Attorney, deeming the Federal Government to owe them compensation for impounding N111H.

November 1954

The Court ruled against the US Government and upheld the original sale of N111H to Charles C. Finn.

April 1955

The Court ruled in favor of International Airports Inc. and ordered the Sheriff to take possession of N111H, sell it by auction, and pay $10,014 to the plaintiff.

The full story of this adventure is told here.

  December 1957 to April 1961

  HK-489E - TEXACO COLOMBIA (COLOMBIA)

30 December 1957

Purchased by Texaco in a public auction. Sent for overhaul and painted in Texaco colors.

31 March 1959

Registered.

8 April 1961

Damaged beyond repair in Calderon, Colombia after a runway excursion on landing (0/29 fatalities).

[Several “Calderon” in Colombia, but it is probably Aeropuerto Calderon in Puerto Boyaca – the only Calderon in Colombia that has an airport and nearby oil fields. BAAA erroneously quotes “Calderon, Amazonas” which is a village deep in the Amazonian forest]