Commando 42-96651
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96651
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30313
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU849
FATE: Unknown
Operational Record
July 1944 to ca 1955
42-96651 - USAAF (USA)
20 July 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
21 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.
ca 1955 to unknown date
N9892F - RIDDLE AIRLINES (USA)
ca 1955
Initially leased from Aircraft Investment Corporation, then purchased.
Unknown date
Ferried to Venice, Italy, overhauled and converted to C-46F by Officine Aeronavali.
["C-46F" is believed to mean "C-46 Freighter" and not the USAAF C-46F designation]
30 December 1955
Delivered to the USA via Prestwick, UK.
Unknown dates
N9892F - AAXICO (USA)
Unknown date
Leased from Riddle Airlines.
23 March 1960
Damaged at Brookley AFB, AL after bouncing and overshooting the runway on landing. Repaired.
Unknown date to November 1963
N9892F - RIDDLE AIRLINES (USA)
Unknown date
Returned from lease contract with AAXICO. [uncertain, as this Commando may have been leased much longer to them]
13 July 1961
Damaged in Albany, GA after settling back onto the runway [?]. Repaired.
November 1963 to ca 1967
N9892F - AIRLIFT INTERNATIONAL (USA)
29 November 1963
Transferred as Riddle Airlines became Airlift International.