Commando 42-61070
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-41-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-61070
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26945
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU585
FATE: Written off
Operational Record
Unknown date to April 1944
42-61070 - CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION (USA)
Unknown date
Transferred from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY to the one in Louisville, KY.
April 1944 to April 1946
42-61070 - USAAF (USA)
25 April 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Louisville, KY.
25 May 1944
Assigned to ATC North African Wing.
Unknown date
Assigned to Karachi, Sindh, India.
April 1946 to April 1955
April 1955 to June 1955 September 1955 to May 1956
N75387 - NORMAN KORER (USA)
24 September 1955
Purchased by Norman Korer, Chicago, IL of the Airline Investment Corporation.
May 1956 to April 1960
AN-AIN - LANICA (NICARAGUA)
15 May 1956
Purchased.
5 April 1960
Damaged beyond repair in Siuna, Nicaragua in an accident after takeoff (2/20 fatalities).
The Commando was operating a scheduled passenger flight from Suina, Nicaragua. Shortly after takeoff, while climbing, the airplane stalled and crashed in flames in a wooded area located 1½ mile past the runway end. A crew member and a passenger were killed while 16 other occupants were injured. The airplane was totally destroyed by a post crash fire. During the investigation, when the port propeller was being dismantled it was discovered that the distributor valve was broken from the base of the junction with the engine crankshaft, the first threads having broken. The break appeared to be due to fatigue. From the evidence, the rupture of the distributor valve of the port propeller appears to have been the main cause of the accident, additional factors being unfavorable terrain, wind and altitude conditions. Total airframe time: 5,650 hours.
Right & below: pictures of AN-AIN’s crash in Siuna, Nicaragua.
Photo credit: Allen Drebert / ASN
Last edited: 27/08/2020