Commando 43-47009

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47009

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 80

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK57

FATE: Written off

  October 1944

  43-47009 - USAAF (USA)

14 October 1944

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

  October 1944 to July 1946

  39585 - US MARINE CORPS (USA)

14 October 1944

Transferred as R5C-1 and delivered to Hartford, CT.

Sent to the Lockheed Modification Center at Dallas Love Field, TX.

31 October 1944

Delivered from the Lockheed Modification Center at Dallas Love Field, TX.

November 1944

Assigned to Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, CT.

10 July 1946

Destroyed near Palmer, MA after the crew bailed out following an uncontained engine fire (0/7 fatalities).

The Commando was performing a local training flight out of Westover Field, MA with 7 crewmembers onboard. While enroute, an engine caught fire. The crew tried to extinguish the fire, to no avail. As it became obvious that the fire was uncontained and spreading, it was decided to bail out and abandon the aircraft. All seven crewmembers were unhurt. Shortly after the crew bailed out, fire spread to the wing which eventually detached. The Commando dove into the ground and crashed in flames in a field.

Wreckage transferred to nearby NAS Quonset Point, RI.

21 October 1946

Struck off charge in Hartford, CT.