Commando 42-96673

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96673

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30335

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU871

FATE: Written off

  August 1944 to January 1945

  42-96673 - USAAF (USA)

10 August 1944

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

21 September 1944

Assigned to ATC India-China Division.

8 January 1945

Damaged beyond repair in Xiaguan, Yunnan, China in a forced landing (no fatalities).

Pilot: Harvey B. Elder

Enroute, an unknown technical failure forced the crew to attempt an emergency landing. The pilot performed a belly landing at Xiaguan on the south of Lake Dali in Dali Prefecture, Yunnan, China. While all occupants were uninjured, the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

[The location was previousy transliterated as "Hsiakwan", thus resulting a the misidentification of the site to Siakwan Island on the Yangtze River off Nanjing]

Condemned for salvage.