Commando 43-47027

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47027

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 98

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK75

FATE: Written off

  October 1944

  43-47027 - USAAF (USA)

29 October 1944

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

  October 1944 to 1956

  39600 - US MARINE CORPS (USA)

29 October 1944

Transferred as R5C-1 and delivered to NAS San Diego, CA.

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

13 November 1944

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

November 1944

Assigned to Homeland Defense Network (HDN), MAG-35.

March 1945

Assigned to VMR-253 based on Guam, Marianna Islands.

30 April 1946

Assigned to MAG-25.

July 1946

Assigned to VMR-153.

23 September 1946

Assigned to Air Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.

October 1946

Assigned to Pearl Harbor, HI.

April 1947

Assigned to NAS San Diego, CA.

26 September 1947

Overhauled at NAS San Diego, CA. [also noted as 22 October 1947]

29 October 1947

Assigned to MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

November 1947

Assigned to Homeland Defense Network (HDN), MAG-11 based at MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

March 1948

Assigned to Air Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic based at MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

August 1948

Assigned to VMR-252 based at MCAS Cherry Point, NC.

  1956 to June 1957

  N4165A - L. B. SMITH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION (USA)

1956

Purchased, rebuilt and converted to CW-20T.

16 May 1957

Registration cancelled, exported to Sweden.

  June 1957 to September 1961

  SE-CFB - TRANSAIR SWEDEN (SWEDEN)

8 June 1957

Purchased in Miami, FL.

12 June 1957

Delivered at Stockholm Bromma, Sweden.

16 June 1957

Operated its first commercial flight for Transair Sweden.

Unknown date

Overhauled by Officine Aeronavali in Venice, Italy.

Right: SE-CFB taking off from Basel, Switzerland on 5 April 1959.
Photo credit: Walter Janach / bsl-mlh-planes.net

Below: two shots of SE-CFB in Malmo, Sweden.
Photo credit: transairsweden.com

  September 1961 to June 1962

  SE-CFB - ONUC (UNITED NATIONS OPERATION IN THE CONGO)

22 September 1961

Wet-leased by Transair Sweden to the United Nations mission in Congo.

Delivered from Malmo, Sweden to Leopoldville, Congo.

8 June 1962

Damaged beyond repair in Albertville, Congo (today Kalemie, DR Congo) in a landing accident (no fatalities).

The Commando was a writeoff, but several parts including the entire nose section were used to repair SE-CFC which had crashed three months earlier in Manono, Congo.

Below: crashed SE-CFB and the salvage operation of its nose section.
Photo credit: transairsweden.com