Commando 43-47117

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-55-CK Commando

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47117

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 188

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK165

FATE: Broken up

  December 1944 to December 1948

  43-47117 - USAAF (USA)

30 December 1944

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

17 February 1945

Assigned to ATC North African Division.

Unknown date

Assigned to Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.

1 July 1946

Excluded from the inventory.

  December 1948 to February 1950

  F-BESL - GECAT FRET (FRANCE)

13 December 1948

Purchased.

Probably based in Algiers, French Algeria and used for cargo.

  February 1950 to unknown date

  F-BESL - LES AVIONS BLEUS (FRANCE)

16 February 1950

Purchased.

Based in Algiers, French Algeria.

7 June 1950

Damaged beyond repair at Paris le Bourget, France.

7 January 1952

Registration cancelled.

  Unknown date to ca 1985

  N5528A - PRIVATE (USA)

Unknown date

Purchased, probably as an unairworthy airframe, by Jacques Ritter of Miami, FL.

26 March 1959

Registered.

2 June 1959

Registration cancelled.

Unknown date

Displayed at the corner of Expressway & West 57^th Street in Miami, FL.

ca 1985

Broken up.

[it is unlikely that the Commando ever flew again after its 1950 accident in Paris]

Right: N5528A in Miami, FL on 30 September 1984, shortly before being broken up.
Photo credit: Mike Powney / AV.CA