Commando 42-96792
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-45-CU Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96792
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30454
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU990
FATE: Stored
Operational Record
September 1944 to August 1949
42-96792 - USAAF (USA)
13 September 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
3 October 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.
August 1949 to August 1951
SU-AFU - SAIDE (SERVICES AERIENS INTERNATIONAUX D'EGYPTE) (EGYPT)
13 August 1949
Purchased.
August 1951 to October 1951
N3940C - PRIVATE (USA)
31 August 1951
Purchased by Ben Terry.
[AB quotes this Commando as operated by Transaire de Cuba around this time, but no info]
October 1951 to November 1951
N3940C - AIRCAR (AIR CARRIER SERVICE CORPORATION) (USA)
31 October 1951
Purchased.
July 1952 to September 1969
PP-VCG - VARIG (BRAZIL)
1 July 1952
Transferred as REAL merged into VARIG.
8 September 1952
Reregistered.
Unknown date
Fitted with Turbomeca Palas turbojets.
July 1961
Converted to Super 46C.
10 September 1969
Registration cancelled for export.
Right: A fantastic air-to-air shot of PP-VCG, in its Palas configuration.
Photo credit: unknown / Historia da Vida de un Aeronauta http://cmtebordini.blogspot.com/2012/05/
Below: PP-VCG at an unknow date, with the underwing turbojets clearly visible.
Photo credit: unknown postcard / www.edcoatescollection.com
July 1970 to May 1971
YV-C-SBP - ACASA (AEROVIAS CA SERVICIOS APURE) (VENEZUELA)
28 July 1970
Purchased.
6 October 1970
Registration cancelled as not taken up.
May 1971 to April 1973
N8874 - CAROLINA AIRCRAFT CORPORATION (USA)
10 May 1971
Repossessed from ACASA.
April 1973 to 1974
N8874 - FLORIDA AIRCRAFT LEASING CORPORATION (USA)
April 1973
Purchased and stored at Fort Lauderdale, FL.
[AB quotes this Commando operated by Dow Jones & Co. in that period]
October 1974 to February 1978
N8874 - AIR HAITI (HAITI)
October 1974
Leased from Kendall Aircraft Leasing Corporation, and christened “Vertieves” [or “Vertieres”].
Right: Barely fitting in the frame, N8874 still bearing its US registration is seen in Miami, FL in the mid-1970’s.
Photo credit: Geoff Goodall / www.goodall.com.au
Below: Freshly leased N8874 is being towed up Miami’s ramp on 19 June 1974.
Photo credit: The Binman / Airliners.net
February 1978 to present
HH-AHD - AIR HAITI (HAITI)
3 February 1978
Purchased and registered.
Unknown date
Withdrawn from use and stored in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Above: the same in San Juan, PR now registered in Haiti, starting the port engine in a cloud of smoke in December 1981.
Photo credit: Danny Grew / www.edcoatescollection.com
Left: the beginning of the end: HH-AHD already missing an engine in 1989 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Photo credit: Larry Johnson / AV.CA
Last edited: 13/09/2020