Commando 42-61018

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-41-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-61018

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26893

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU533

FATE: Written off

  April 1944 to March 1945

  42-61018 - USAAF (USA)

3 April 1944

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

24 May 1944

Assigned to ATC India-China Wing, based at Station 6, Chabua, Assam, India.

31 July 1944

Received major damage in Chengkung, Yunnan, China in a taxi accident.

Pilot: Edward A. Kaszynski (survived)

3 August 1944

Assigned to Chungking, Sichuan, China.

5 September 1944

Assigned to ATC India-China Division, 1333^rd AAF Base Unit, Chabua, Assam, India.

6 September 1944

Condemned for salvage. [dates discrepancy? Or later reinstated?]

8 November 1944

Received major damage in Chabua, Assam, India in a ground accident.

Pilot: John D. Higgins

31 March 1945

Destroyed in Chabua, Assam, India in a midair explosion (fatalities).

Pilot: 2^nd Lt John L. Cain (killed, pictured)

As the Commando was taking off from Chabua, fuel was observed pouring out from the left wing. The aircraft exploded in midair shortly thereafter. This was 2^nd Lt Cain’s second mission of the day; he had volunteered for it in order to round up enough flight hours to be sent home, as his wife had just given birth.