Commando 42-96595
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96595
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30257
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU793
FATE: Broken up
Operational Record
July 1944 to September 1956
42-96595 - USAAF (USA)
13 July 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
2 August 1944
Assigned to ATC North African Division.
Unknown date
Assigned to Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.
23 July 1946
Condemned for salvage, probably by the Army-Navy Liquidation Commission, but apparently not broken up.
September 1956 to October 1956
?????? - SANDAY & CO. (USA)
4 September 1956
Purchased.
December 1955
Registration N9888F alloted. [date discrepancy]
October 1956 to November 1957
N9888F - BOREAS CORPORATION (USA)
16 October 1956
Registered.
18 October 1956
Purchased.
Probably 1956-1957
Ferried from Cairo Payne Field, Egypt to Venice, Italy for overhaul and conversion to C-46R at Officine Aeronavali.
November 1957 to June 1971
LN-FOS - FRED OLSEN AIR TRANSPORT (NORWAY)
18 November 1957
Purchased.
18 December 1957
Registered.
22 July 1970 to 25 August 1970
Based at Rotterdam, Netherlands to carry out ad hoc cargo flights to & from the UK dring the strikes in British harbors.
Right: undated picture of LN-FOS, probably taken in Southend, UK. Note the unusual font of the titles.
Photo credit: Tony Hancke / Southend Airport Aviation Database
Below: LN-FOS in Rotterdam, 4 August 1970, waiting for freight during the strikes in the British harbours.
Photo credit: Jack Wolbrink / avia-dejavu.net
June 1971 to July 1974
XW-PHN - CASI (CONTINENTAL AIR SERVICES INC.) (USA)
June 1971
Purchased.
29 June 1971
Delivered in Vientiane, Laos. Equipped with 60 “payloader” seats that folded against the side walls when carrying cargo. Mostly used on rice-dropping missions in Laos.
24 August 1971
Based temporarily in Udorn, Thailand due to the Mekong floods, and continued performing missions into Laos.
15 September 1971
Based again in Vientiane, Laos.
2 July 1974
Registration cancelled.
Below, both: XW-PHN on some southeast Asian ramp, after making an emergency landing following an engine failure.
Photo credit: unknown / Fine Scale Modeler
July 1974 to February 1976
N337CA - CASI (CONTINENTAL AIR SERVICES INC.) (USA)
9 July 1974
Reregistered.
Late 1974 to 10 April 1975
Flew on a US Embassy contract, between Bangkok, Thailand and Phnom Penh, Cambodia and local flights within Cambodia.
12-14 May 1975
Performed evacuation flights from Long Tieng, Laos before it fell to North Vietnamese forces.
Late 1975
Ferried to Seletar AB, Singapore, withdrawn from use and stored.
February 1976 to December 1976
N337CA - AMCO AIR INTERNATIONAL (SINGAPORE)
16 February 1976
Purchased.
September 1977 to November 1978
N337CA - KRIS AIR (SINGAPORE)
13 September 1977
Purchased by Daniel T. Cooley to be operated by Kris Air.
November 1978 to January 1981
N337CA - PRIVATE (SINGAPORE)
6 November 1978
Purchased by Max E. Moore.
January 1981
Broken up at Sanday & Co., Seletar AB, Singapore.
Right: Seletar AB, Singapore, July 1980: N337CA lies engineless, still wearing its old Kris Air paint scheme & titles.
Photo credit: Geoff Goodall / www.goodall.com.au
