Commando 42-96602

Aircraft Identification

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96602

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30264

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU800

FATE: Written off

Operational Record

July 1944 to 1955

42-96602 - USAAF (USA)

11 July 1944

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

31 July 1944

Assigned to ATC North African Division.

25 September 1944

Damaged in Casablanca, French Morocco in a ground accident while parked.

Unknown date

Assigned to Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.

[AV.CA then has this Commando assigned to 3028^th AAF Base Unit, based at Luke Field, AZ from 1946, but this is unlikely]

23 July 1946

Condemned for salvage, probably by the Army-Navy Liquidation Commission, but apparently not broken up.

1955 to November 1955

N9903F - SANDAY & CO. (USA)

1955

Purchased. [personal assumption – no source actually quotes Sanday, but see 42-96600 above]

Ferried from Cairo Payne Field, Egypt to Venice, Italy for overhaul at Officine Aeronavali.

November 1955 to November 1963

N9903F - RIDDLE AIRLINES (USA)

November 1955

Purchased.

16 January 1962

Received major damage at Loring AFB, ME in a belly landing following an engine failure (0/2 fatalities).

The Commando was operating a maintenance test flight from Loring AFB. An engine failed after takeoff and the copilot inadvertently feathered the wrong engine. No restart could be attempted as the battery was depleted. The aircraft glided down and landed with the gear partially extended.

Repaired.

November 1963 to unknown date