Commando 42-96707
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96707
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30369
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU905
FATE: Unknown
Operational Record
August 1944 to November 1945
42-96707 - USAAF (USA)
18 August 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command, based at Baer Field, IN.
November 1945 to 1948
42-96707 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)
6 November 1945
Transferred to RFC and stored at Walnut Ridge AAF, AR.
December 1948 to December 1949
XT-172 - CNAC (CHINA NATIONAL AVIATION CORPORATION) (CHINA)
23 December 1948
Purchased.
1949
Fled to Hong Kong, and grounded at Hong Kong Kai Tak by British authorities.
9 November 1949
Stolen with 11 other aircraft from Hong Kong Kai Tak by Communist defectors and ferried to Tianjin, China.
13 November 1949
Registration certificate suspended by the Nationalist government.
December 1949
XT-172 - CLAIRE L. CHENNAULT & WHITING WILLAUER (USA)
12 December 1949
Purchased by Claire Chennault & Whiting Willauer, managers of CAT – on paper only, as the Commando was in Communist hands in Tianjin. This was part of an attempt supported by the US State Department to regain ownership of several CNAC & CATC aircraft.
December 1949 to unknown date
N8387C - CAT (CIVIL AIR TRANSPORT) (TAIWAN)
19 December 1949
Transferred to CAT – once again, on paper only.
1953
Withdrawn from use. [where?]
Last edited: 19/08/2020