Commando 42-61071

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-61071

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 26946

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU586

FATE: Written off

  April 1944 to April 1946

  42-61071 - USAAF (USA)

14 April 1944

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

14 May 1944

Assigned to ATC North African Wing.

10 May 1944

Assigned to ATC India-China Wing. [date is assignment date]

14 July 1945

Received major damage at Station 182, France in a taxi accident. [location unknown, if BA182 in the French base numbering system, then it could be Diego Suarez in Madagascar?]

Pilot: Franklin Graff

Unknown date

Assigned to Karachi, Sindh, India.

   April 1946 to June 1955

  42-61071 - INDIAN GOVERNMENT (INDIA)

10 April 1946

Purchased.

  June 1955 to November 1955

  N????? - WESTERN HEMISPHERE IMPORT EXPORT COMPANY (USA)

24 June 1955

Purchased.

27 August 1955

Departed on a ferry flight from India to the USA.

11 September 1955

Arrived in Miami, FL from India.

  November 1955

  YV-C-ARU (I) - RANSA (RUTAS AEREAS NACIONALES SA) (VENEZUELA)

25 November 1955

Purchased.

  November 1955 to April 1966

  YV-C-ARV - RANSA (RUTAS AEREAS NACIONALES SA) (VENEZUELA)

November 1955

Reregistered.

Possibly initially registered YV-C-ARU, but soon reregistered YV-C-ARV.

[not to be confused with Commando 42-101233 also registered YV-C-ARU - registration possibly used twice?]

[AB erroneously quotes the aircraft reregistered first as YV-C-ARZ as part of a sale to Riddle, later cancelled, then reregistered again to YV-C-ARV before January 1956. YV-C-ARZ is in fact 44-78447]

  April 1966 to 1969

  HP-414 - APASA (AEROVIAS PANAMA SA) (PANAMA)

April 1966

Purchased.

Probably stored shortly thereafter, as APASA closed down in 1966.

  1969 to June 1989

  HI-163 - AEROMAR (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

1969

Purchased.

1975

Withdrawn from use and stored in Miami, FL.

2 June 1989

Destroyed in Miami, FL when accidentally dropped by the helicopter that was airlifting it to a nearby museum.

[PL erroneously quotes this aircraft as rrg HI-171, but that is 42-96724 – see pictures below of both aircraft stored side-by-side]

Below, left: HI-163 sitting in Miami, FL on 14 July 1979. In the background is sistership HI-171 with whom it is often mistaken.
Photo credit: Mick Bajcar / Airliners.net

Below, right: Miami, 6 November 1979. Two ships, two fates : HI-163 will end up accidentally destroyed while being transferred for preservation, while HI-171 soldiers on flying in Northern Canada as of 2018…
Photo credit: Peter Nicholson / www.airport-data.com