Commando 42-96595

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

  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.

Below, left: 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, right: 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.

Left & below: 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.

  December 1976 to July 1977

  N337CA - TRI-9 AIRLINES (SINGAPORE)

14 December 1976

Purchased.

  July 1977 to September 1977

  N337CA - AMCO AIR INTERNATIONAL (SINGAPORE)

7 July 1977

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