Commando 43-47279

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-60-CK Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47279

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 350

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK327

FATE: Unknown

  April 1945

  43-47279 - USAAF (USA)

6 April 1945

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Saint Louis, MO.

  April 1945 to February 1960

  43-47279 - ROCAF (REPUBLIC OF CHINA AIR FORCE) (CHINA)

13 April 1945

Departed the USA for China, transferred as part of Lend-Lease agreement.

[according to AB, this aircraft rather served in the USAAF until 15 April 1946, at which time it was purchased from the surplus in Chungking, Sichuan, China]

ca 1949

Evacuated to Taiwan.

  February 1960 to July 1960

  B-1509 - CHINA AIRLINES (TAIWAN)

6 February 1960

Registered.

  July 1960 to mid-1960's

  XW-PAI - VEHA AKAT (LAOS)

July 1960

Leased from China Airlines, but actually operated by ROCAF's Black Bat Squadron.

Flown in cargo configuration and Veha Akat livery by Taiwanese crews.

Used in military anti-communist support missions over Burma and Laos, flying supplies to YAVA (Yunnan Anticommunist Volunteer Army) and Taiwanese troops deployed in the region.

Right: XW-PAI observed by young spotters in Vientiane, Laos in 1963 or 1964.
Photo credit: Dave Hickler / UTD/Hickler/B54, photo no. 1-DH54-8-PB28

  Mid-1960's to unknown date

  B-1509 - CHINA AIRLINES (TAIWAN)

Mid-1960's

Returned from lease to Veha Akat.

Fate unknown.