Commando 42-96538

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96538

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30200

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU736

FATE: Written off

  June 1944 to ca 1953

  42-96538 - USAAF (USA)

11 July 1944

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

3 August 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.

  1950 to unknown date

  SU-AFP - SAIDE (SERVICES AERIENS INTERNATIONAUX D'EGYPTE) (EGYPT)

1950

Purchased.

  Unknown date to 1952

  EP-ACW - IRANIAN AIRWAYS (IRAN)

Unknown date

Purchased, but probably never taken up. [or was the Commando leased, and then returned to SAIDE?]

Right: this photo, taken on 10 December 1950 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, raises countless questions…
Photo credit: Harry Pot / Wikimedia Commons

  1952 to 1961

  N50549 - MODERN AIR TRANSPORT (USA)

1952

Purchased.

14 October 1951

Damaged in Miami, FL in an accident. [AB, but dates discrepancy, as the plane was still in the Air Force and probably stored in Cairo!]

8 November 1955

Damaged 23 km from Roswell, NM in a belly landing due to fuel exhaustion.

November 1955

Converted to Super 46C. [quoted by all sources as C-46T?]

Left: N50549, Modern Air Transport.
Photo credit: unknown / AirwaysMag.com

  1961 to 1962

  CF-NAD - NORDAIR (CANADA)

1961

Purchased. [probably August 1961 if like sistership 42-107376 / CF-NAE]

  1962 to 1963

  CF-NAD - EASTERN PROVINCIAL AIRWAYS (CANADA)

1962

Leased from Nordair.

Above, right: CF-NAD in the Newfoundland backcountry with Eastern Provincial.
Photo credit: Betamax King / Flikr

Left: CF-NAD in its Eastern Provincial days. Note the old Modern Air Transport paint scheme!
Photo credit: Betamax King / Flikr

  1963 to May 1967

  CF-NAD - NORDAIR (CANADA)

1963

Returned from lease contract with Eastern Provincial Airways.

15 May 1967

Damaged beyond repair at Cape Dyer, Northwest Territories, Canada in a landing accident (4/4 fatalities)

The approach to Cape Dyer Station was attempted in whiteout conditions. On final, the pilot failed to realize his altitude was too low, and the airplane struck the ground a mile short of the runway threshold. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all four occupants were killed.

Right & below: CF-NAD’s wreckage at Cape Dyer, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Photo credit: Rick Linton / ASN