Commando 42-96581
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96581
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30243
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU779
FATE: Written off
Operational Record
June 1944 to April 1946
42-96581 - USAAF (USA)
26 June 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
27 July 1944
Assigned to ATC India-China Division.
Unknown date
Assigned to Chungking, Sichuan, China.
April 1946 to 1951
????? - ROCAF (REPUBLIC OF CHINA AIR FORCE) (CHINA)
15 April 1946
Purchased.
1948
Withdrawn from use.
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IT IS ACTUALLY UNLIKELY THAT 42-96581 WAS EVER STORED IN CHUNGKING, AND THEN SOLD TO ROCAF. THIS IS MOST PROBABLY A TYPO REPEATED BY ALL SOURCES, FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: - ROCAF COMMANDOS WERE EITHER TURNED TO THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AIR FORCE OR FLED TO TAIWAN IN 1948, AND - VARIG COMMANDOS COMING THROUGH THIS CHANNEL WERE PREVIOUSLY STORED AT CAIRO PAYNE FIELD, EGYPT. THUS WE DEEM HIGHLY PROBABLE THAT 42-96581 WAS STORED IN CAIRO (NOT CHUNGKING) BY THE USAAF UNTIL BEING PURCHASED BY VARIG IN 1951.
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1951 to February 1972
PP-VBY - VARIG (BRAZIL)
1951
Purchased.
11 June 1951
Ferry permit issued.
Ferried from Cairo Payne Field, Egypt to Venice, Italy for overhaul at Officine Aeronavali.
[some sources as usual mention direct ownership of this aircraft by Officine Aeronavali]
December 1952
Converted to passenger configuration, with underwing Turbomeca Palas jet engines.
May 1962
Converted to Super 46C.
26 January 1965
Damaged in Alfonse, Peru in unknown circumstances. [this location cannot be identified]
3 February 1972
Registration cancelled.
August 1972 to February 1975
N355BY - AVIATION SALES & SERVICES INC. (USA)
August 1972
Purchased.
Above: N355BY freshly out of VARIG, whose colors it still wears.
Photo credit: NA3T / www.na3t.org
Left: a color shot of the same period. Exact date and location are unknown.
Photo credit: Werner Fischdick / BAAA
February 1975 to September 1976
N355BY - FLORIDA NATIONAL AIRWAYS (USA)
27 February 1975
Purchased.
Right: N355BY at the Fort Lauderdale base of Florida National Airways, October 1975.
Photo credit: Werner Fischdick / ASN
Below: the same on the Bush Aviation ramp in Fort Lauderdale, FL on 26 May 1976. Bush would later own the aircraft.
Photo credit: Vito Cedrini / Airliners.net
September 1976 to February 1977
N355BY - LEASE COMPANY GENERAL INC. (USA)
3 September 1976
Purchased.
Unknown date
Assigned Colombian registration HK-2020 but not taken up.
February 1977 to September 1979
N355BY - BUSH AVIATION INC. (USA)
8 February 1977
Purchased.
Right: still in bare metal finish, N355BY in 1977, probably in its Bush Aviation days.
Photo credit: The Aviation Photo Company
September 1979 to November 1980
N355BY - BWI LEASING INC. (USA)
14 September 1979
Purchased.
15 November 1980
Damaged beyond repair off Norman Cay, Bahamas in a ditching (0/2 fatalities).
The Commando was being operated to smuggle drugs as part of the Medellin Cartel air transport operation managed by Carlos Lehder in Norman Cay. That Bahamas island was used for refueling stops on flights bound for the US. When N355BY reached Norman Cay that day, construction equipement was blocking the runway and the aircraft had to ditch in the shallow lagoon. The precious cargo was recovered, but not the aircraft.
Left: contemporary underwater pictures of N355BY.
Photo credit: Mike Scalora / Wikimedia Commons
Below: N355BY still sitting today off Norman Cay, Bahamas.
Photo credit: unknown
Bottom: N355BY, a warplane and drug-smuggling aircraft, now an attraction for snorkelers!
Photo credit: unknown
Last edited: 09/01/2020