Commando 42-3664

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-3664

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26797

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU437

FATE: Written off

  February 1944 to November 1945

  42-3664 - USAAF (USA)

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2 February 1944

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

28 February 1944

Assigned to ATC Central African Wing.

18 June 1945

Assigned to Morrison Field, FL.

  November 1945 to unknown date

  42-3664 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

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16 November 1945

Transferred to RFC, stored at Ontario AAF, CA.

  Unknown date to April 1948

  N????? - ADOLPH "AL" W. SCHWIMMER (USA)

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Unknown date

Purchased from RFC.

  April 1948 to May 1948

  RX-133 (I) - LAPSA (LINEAS AEREAS DE PANAMA SA) (PANAMA)

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April 1948

Purchased.

  May 1948 to July 1948

  RX-133 (I) - IAF (ISRAELI AIR FORCE) (ISRAEL)

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May 1948

Purchased.

4 July 1948

Damaged beyond repair at Ekron Airfield, Israel in a ground fire (no fatalities).

The Commando was scheduled for a flight from Ekron Airfield, Israel to Zatec Air Base, Czechoslovakia as part of the arms smuggling flights to Israel taking place during Operation Balak. During startup at Ekron, the no.1 engine caught fire. The fire was put out, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage to the left hand side of the fuselage. It appeared that fuel had been spilled on the left wing during the fueling operation using a manual fuel pump.

The Commando possibly never received an IAF military registration.