Commando 43-46987

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-46987

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 58

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK35

FATE: Written off

  September 1944 to February 1945

  43-46987 - USAAF (USA)

10 September 1944

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

20 November 1944

Assigned to ATC North African Division.

6 February 1945

Damaged beyond repair at Poltava, Ukraine, USSR in a takeoff accident.

Pilot: John D. Martin

Poltava was one of three major US airbases in the Ukraine. It was used for Operation Frantic, the shuttle bombing of Axis targets between bases in England, Italy and the USSR. It is likely that the Commando was on a support mission for the Eighth Air Force units stationed there at the time of the accident.

7 February 1945

Condemned for salvage.

Right: 43-46987 after its crash in Poltava, Ukraine on 6 February 1945.
Photo credit: USAF / National Archives