Commando 42-96621

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

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96621

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30283

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU819

FATE: Written off

  July 1944 to December 1950

  42-96621 - USAAF (USA)

15 July 1944

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

7 August 1944

Assigned to ATC North African Division.

21 May 1945

Received major damage in Abadan, Iran in a landing accident.

Pilot: George F. Stevens

Unknown date

Assigned to Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.

23 July 1946

Condemned for salvage, probably by the Army-Navy Liquidation Commission.

Right & below: 42-96621, unknown date and location.
Photo credit: www.worldwarphotos.info

  December 1950 to 1951

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

December 1950

Purchased.

  1951

  EP-ACM - IRANIAN AIRWAYS (IRAN)

1951

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

  1951 to April 1951

  N50574 - AIRCAR (AIR CARRIER SERVICE CORPORATION) (USA)

1951

Purchased.

  April 1951 to July 1952

  PP-YQE - REAL TRANSPORTES AEREOS (BRAZIL)

26 April 1951

Purchased.

  July 1952 to April 1957

  PP-VCF - VARIG (BRAZIL)

2 July 1952

Purchased.

8 September 1952

Registered.

November 1953

Fitted with underwing Turbomeca Palas jet engines. [date uncertain, done at Officine Aeronavali according to JB, RZ erroneously calls this Commando a Super 46C]

7 April 1957

Damaged beyond repair in Bage, Brazil in an accident after an engine fire on takeoff (40/40 fatalities).

Pilot: Fernando Silva Leandro

The Commando was operating a scheduled passenger flight between Bage and Porto Alegre with 5 crew and 35 passengers. Just after take-off, the pilot noticed an incipient fire in the left engine. He feathered the damaged engine and returned to the traffic pattern for a landing circuit. On final approach, when he considered that a safe landing could be made, he tried to lower the undercarriage. Because of the intensity of the fire, which was in the undercarriage wells and not, as the pilot thought, in the engine, some parts had probably melted and the undercarriage did not respond to the mechanism. Apparently the critical situation had already passed, since the fire, although intense, was not producing much smoke. The pilot, therefore decided to go around in order to avoid a belly landing. However, as he gave full throttle, flames enveloped the left wing which detached from the fuselage. The aircraft hit the ground and was destroyed. All occupants were killed.

Right: PP-VCF somewhere in Brazil, with the underwing Turbomeca Palas turbojets clearly visible.
Photo credit: Ed Coates / www.edcoatescollection.com
Below: these pictures of PP-VCF’s wreckage give a hint of how severe the crash was…
Photo credit: JM / www.jornalminuano.com.br