Commando 43-47177
Aircraft Identification
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
Operational Record
February 1945 to November 1945
43-47177 - USAAF (USA)
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, 805th 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)
6 November 1945
Transferred to RFC and stored at Walnut Ridge AAF, AR.
1952 to September 1952
AP-AGF - UNKNOWN OPERATOR (PAKISTAN)
1952
Purchased, but probably not taken up. [possibly Orient Airways]
September 1952 to April 1953
N9961F - ULTRAMAR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (USA)
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)
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Withdrawn from use and stored.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
Last edited: 16/01/2024