Commando 43-46975
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-5-CK Commando
USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-46975
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 46
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK23
FATE: Unknown
Operational Record
August 1944 to June 1946
43-46975 - USAAF (USA)
23 August 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Louisville, KY.
Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command based at Baer Field, IN.
Remained within the continental USA.
Unknown date
Assigned to the 237th AAF Base Unit, Kirtland Field, NM.
Probably served the 16th Bombardment Operational Training Wing, Very Heavy in a support role.
8 November 1945
Received major damage at Kirtland Field, NM in a forced landing following an engine failure.
Pilot: Irwin O. "Jack" Steiner (survived, went on to fly in the Korean War and retired a USAF Lt. Col., pictured right)
June 1946 to unknown date
43-46975 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)
24 June 1946
Transferred to RFC and stored at Albuquerque, NM.
Fate unknown.
[it is possible that this Commando never flew again after its November 1945 accident at Albuquerque, NM and that only its wreckage was transferred to RFC]