Commando 43-46981

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-46981

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 52

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK29

FATE: Written off

  August 1944 to October 1945

  43-46981 - USAAF (USA)

30 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.

Late 1944

Assigned to the 349^th Troop Carrier Group, 312^th Troop Carrier Squadron, which trained under the auspices of I Troop Carrier Command from Pope Field, NC.

12 November 1944

Received major damage at Clinton City, OH in a landing accident due to a mechanical failure.

Pilot: John D. Kausel (survived)

  October 1945 to 1947

  43-46981 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

26 October 1945

Transferred to RFC and stored at Walnut Ridge AAF, AR.

  1947 to May 1949

  PP-DKF - OSCAR STEINER E COMPANHIA (BRAZIL)

1947

Purchased from RFC by Brazilian businessman Oscar Steiner.

Used for the carriage of meat from a slaughterhouse in Araguacema in the state of Tocantins to Belem, Brazil.

18 November 1947

Performed the first meat flight from Araguacema to Belem, Brazil.

5 May 1949

Damaged beyond repair near Abaetetuba, Brazil in a forced landing (2/6 fatalities).

Crew:
Pedro Antunes Steiner, Captain (the owner's son, killed in the crash)
Alfredo Avelion, First Officer

The Commando was operating a cargo flight from an Araguacema to Belem, Brazil, with a crew of two, three passengers and a load of meat. It crashed while attempting to make a forced landing for unknown reasons on the right bank of river Rio Moju. The Captain and a passenger - the Araguacema slaughterhouse owner - were killed, while the other four occupants were injured. They were transported by ship to Belem.

[location quoted as "Lake Tipicaguara" by AB, but location does not exist, and as "Tupaciguara" by BAAA, which is unlikely as that is in the state of Minas Gerais on the other side of Brazil]