Commando 43-46979

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-5-CK Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-46979

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 50

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK27

FATE: Written off

Right: CC-CAZ, the last livery of 43-46979.
Photo credit: unknown

  August 1944 to September 1947

  43-46979 - USAAF (USA)

August 1944

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Louisville, KY.

Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command.

Unknown date

Assigned to 807^th AAF Base Unit, Bergstrom AAF, TX.

20 September 1945

Damaged at Bergstrom AAF, TX, probably in a taxi accident.

Pilot: Garlington C. Wilburn

  September 1947 to January 1958

  43-46979 - USAF (USA)

18 September 1947

Transferred.

Unknown date

Modified by Curtiss-Wright for USAF.

  January 1958 to March 1959

  N5508A - AIR INTERNATIONAL INC. (USA)

January 1958

Purchased from USAF.

30 January 1958

Registered. [30 January 1959 according to JB, probably a typo]

  March 1959 to unknown date

  N5508A - LONE STAR INC. (USA)

3 March 1959

Purchased.

8 May 2018

Registration cancelled.

  Unknown date to May 1971

  CC-CAZ - ALFA (AEROLINEAS FLECHA AUSTRAL) (CHILE)

Unknown date

Purchased.

[CC-CAZ was previously described as C-46F c/n 50, but no C-46F with that c/n exists, and CC-CAZ did not seem to have the square wingtips of the F variant - thence, it is assumed that CC-CAZ was in fact 43-46979]

25 May 1971

Damaged beyond repair at Santiago Los Cerrillos, Chile in a takeoff accident (4/4 fatalities).

Occupants:
Jacques Lagas Navarro, Captain (former hero of the Cuban revolution for flying a B-26 during the Bay of Pigs invasion)
Edgardo Osses Valdivia, First Officer
Carlos Castro, Engineer
Hugo Arcaya, owner of the aircraft

The Commando was operating a cargo flight from Santiago Los Cerrillos to Arica with three crewmembers and one passenger. Departure was delayed by four hours as mechanics were fixing the ignition system of the right engine. The airplane was finally ready to depart around 0400 LT, and it was cleared for takeoff at 0423 LT. The heavily loaded Commando took most of the runway to lift off. However, passing 300 feet in the climb, the right engine failed. The pilot radioed that he was coming back for a landing, however the airplane failed to climbs and hit 20-meter high trees before crashing in a field. The tail remained more or less intact, while the rest of the aircraft disintegrated on impact. A post-crash fire burnt the wreckage and its occupants.

It was never established for certain why CC-CAZ crashed that day. The three possibilities brought up by the investigation were (1) the airplane not being able to fly on one engine because it may have been overloaded, (2) the left engine failing seconds after the right one or (3) the pilot stalling while turning back to the airport.

Right: Jacques Ernesto Lagas Navarro, the last pilot of CC-CAZ
Photo credit: Juan Carlos Velasco

Below: three shots of the wreckage of CC-CAZ on 25 May 1971.
Photo credit: MNAE / DGAC

Below, right: a stone was erected at the crash site.
Photo credit: Juan Carlos Velasco