The Curtiss Commando Page
The Curtiss Commando Page

Commando 43-47140

Aircraft Identification

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47140

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 211

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK188

FATE: Written off

Operational Record

  January 1945 to April 1945

  43-47140 - USAAF (USA)


21 January 1945

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

28 January 1945

Assigned to 20th Air Force, XX Bomber Command, 2nd Air Transport Squadron (Mobile) based in Luliang, Yunnan, China.

29 March 1945

Damaged beyond repair in Chinkiang, Jiangsu, China in a landing accident. [present-day Zhenjiang, Jiangsu]

Pilot: William A. Crawford

The Commando landed to long and fast. The pilot was forced to ground loop the aircraft off the side of the runway to avoid running off a high embankment at the runway end. The pilot was under strain as he had just witnessed the mid-air expolsion of a B-25 landing at night.

28 April 1945

Condemned for salvage.