Commando 42-96820
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-50-CU Commando
USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-96820
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 30482
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1018
FATE: Written off
Operational Record
September 1944
42-96820 - USAAF (USA)
15 September 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
September 1944 to June 1956
39565 - US MARINE CORPS (USA)
15 September 1944
Transferred as R5C-1 and delivered to NAS San Diego, CA.
October 1944
Assigned to Homeland Defense Network (HDN), MAG-35.
December 1944
Assigned to VMR-352, probably based at MCAS Cherry Point, NC.
13 February 1945
Assigned to VMR-353, based at Saipan, Marianna Islands.
Supported the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
April 1946
Assigned to Homeland Defense Network (HDN), MAG-21.
September 1946
Assigned to VMR-252, based at MCAS Miramar, CA.
29 October 1946
Assigned to NAS San Diego, CA.
20 February 1947
Reconditioned at NAS San Diego, CA.
June 1947
Stored at NAS Litchfield Park, AZ.
June 1956 to July 1956 July 1956 to August 1956
TI-1011 - SOUTHERN CROSS AIRWAYS (USA)
July 1956
Purchased. [only mentioned by PL – strange, unlikely?]
Unknown date to May 1959
CC-CIA-0497 - TRANSA CHILE (CHILE)
Unknown date
Leased from Lineas Aereas Interpolar.
21 May 1959
Damaged beyond repair in Moro, Peru in a CFIT (8/8 fatalities).
The Commando was operating a cargo flight between Miami, FL and Arica, Chile with 4 crew and 4 merchants to whom the cargo was belonging. It stopped for refueling in Panama and in Talara, Peru. After going missing, the aircraft was found crashed into Cerro Shano, a 10,000-foot mountain part of the Cordillera Negra in Peru.
Last edited: 10/08/2020