Commando 43-47177

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47177

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 247 [swapped mistakenly with 248, which received serial number 43-47176]

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK224

FATE: Unknown

  February 1945 to November 1945

  43-47177 - USAAF (USA)

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14 February 1945

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

Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command based at Baer Field, IN.

Unknown date

Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command, 805^th AAF Base Unit, George Field, IL.

22 April 1945

Received major damaged at George Field, IL in a ground collision with sistership 44-78044.

Pilot: Buford Lee Foster (survived)

  November 1945 to 1950

  43-47177 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

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6 November 1945

Transferred to RFC and stored at Walnut Ridge AAF, AR.

  1950 to 1952

  N66321 - CAPITOL AIR (USA)

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1950

Purchased from RFC.

  1952 to 1952

  N79239 - CAPITOL AIR (USA)

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1952

Reregistered.

  1952 to September 1952

  AP-AGF - UNKNOWN OPERATOR (PAKISTAN)

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1952

Purchased, but probably not taken up. [possibly Orient Airways]

  September 1952 to April 1953

  N9961F - ULTRAMAR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (USA)

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6 September 1952

Delivered via Prestwick, UK.

12 September 1952

Registered.

9 February 1953

Registration cancelled, exported to Venezuela.

  April 1953 to unknown date

  YV-C-ARF - RANSA (RUTAS AEREAS NACIONALES SA) (VENEZUELA)

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April 1953

Purchased.

8 May 1953

Registered.

1968

Withdrawn from use and stored.

Fate unknown.

 

Below, left: YV-C-ARF loading meat in Trinidad de Orichuna, in the Apure state of Venezuela, 1954.
Photo credit: Luis Heraclio Medina C. / Twitter

Below, right: the same in Miami, FL in July 1959.
Photo credit: xsacman / Flickr