Commando 42-61044
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-61044
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26919
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU559
FATE: Unknown
Operational Record
April 1944 to 1951
42-61044 - USAAF (USA)
5 April 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
16 March 1944
Assigned to ATC North African Wing.
Unknown date
Assigned to Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.
23 July 1946
Condemned for salvage, probably by the Army-Navy Liquidation Commission.
1951 to October 1953
PP-VCI - VARIG (BRAZIL)
1951
Purchased and sent to Venice, Italy for overhaul at Officine Aeronavali.
22 September 1952
Delivered.
October 1953 to May 1957
PP-LDO - LOIDE AEREO NACIONAL (BRAZIL)
30 October 1953
Purchased.
19 November 1953
Delivered.
25 February 1954
Reregistered.
May 1957 to April 1962
PT-AXV - CHARQUEADA SANTA MARIA DO ARAGUAIA (BRAZIL)
14 May 1957
Purchased and christened “Caraja Sorrody”.
April 1962 to April 1964
PT-AXV - TAS (TRANSPORTES AEREOS SALVADOR) (BRAZIL)
13 April 1962
Leased from Charqueada Santa Maria do Araguaia.
April 1964 to May 1964
PT-AXV - CHARQUEADA SANTA MARIA DO ARAGUAIA (BRAZIL)
27 April 1964
Returned from lease contract with TAS.
May 1964 to July 1968
PP-BTZ - PARAENSE TRANSPORTES AEREOS (BRAZIL)
May 1964
Leased from Charqueada Santa Maria do Araguaia.
January 1966
Purchased.
12 July 1966
Reregistered.
July 1968 to 1969
PP-BTZ - VICAS COMERCIO E INDUSTRIA (BRAZIL)
6 July 1968
Leased from Leopoldo Rodrigues dos Santos.
1969 to November 1969
PP-BTZ - COMPANHIA MERIDIONAL DE MINERACAO (BRAZIL)
1969
Leased from Leopoldo Rodrigues dos Santos.
Right: operating for the mines, PP-BTZ offloads supplies after her first landing at Carajas Airstrip, serving the iron ore mine of Serra Norte on 27 November 1968. [dates discrepancy]
Photo credit: Brasil Mineral / www.brasilmineral.com.br
Below, left: PP-BTZ takes off from the newly-extended runway at Carajas on 27 November 1968. At the controls is Captain Jose Villar Ribeiro, who will purchase the aircraft a year later. [dates discrepancy]
Photo credit: Brasil Mineral / www.brasilmineral.com.br
November 1969 to July 1970
PP-BTZ - PRIVATE (BRAZIL)
26 November 1969
Purchased by Jose Villar Ribeiro.
Last edited: 04/01/2021