Commando 43-47379

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

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 43-47379

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 449

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CK427

FATE: Broken up

  June 1945 to July 1946

  43-47379 - USAAF (USA)

21 June 1945

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

14 July 1945

Departed the USA for China via Karachi, Sindh, India.

Unknown date

Assigned to Chungking, Sichuan, China.

1 August 1946

Excluded from the inventory.

  July 1946 to December 1949

  XT-522 - CATC (CENTRAL AIR TRANSPORT CORPORATION) (CHINA)

July 1946

Transferred to CATC.

Mid-1949

Probably ferried to Hong Kong after the Nationalist defeat in mainland China.

13 November 1949

Registration certificate suspended by the Nationalist government.

16 November 1949

Impounded by British Authorities under threat from the Communist Chinese government.

Right & below: XT-522 on a ramp busy with Commando activity, somewhere in China, August 1949.
Photo credit: Life Magazine

  December 1949

  XT-522 - CLAIRE L. CHENNAULT & WHITING WILLAUER (USA)

12 December 1949

Purchased by Claire Chennault & Whiting Willauer, managers of CAT – while still grounded at Hong Kong Kai Tak. This was part of an attempt supported by the US State Department to regain ownership of several CNAC & CATC aircraft.

  December 1949 to unknown date

  N8323C - CAT (CIVIL AIR TRANSPORT) (TAIWAN)

19 December 1949

Transferred to CAT.

  Unknown dates

  N2050A - L. B. SMITH AIRCRAFT CORPORATION (USA)

Unknown date

Purchased.

  Unknown date to August 1957

  N1385N - US AIRLINES INC. (USA)

Unknown date

Purchased.

2 May 1952

Damaged in Goose Bay, NL in an undocumented accident.

Left: N1385N seemingly with US Airlines Inc., unknown date & location.
Photo credit: Alamy

  August 1957 to 1961

  XA-MEH - LAUSA (LINEAS AEREAS UNIDAS SA) (MEXICO)

August 1957

Purchased.

12 September 1957

Registered.

  1961 to March 1972

  XA-MEH - SAESA (SERVICIOS AEREOS ESPECIALES SA) (MEXICO)

1961

Purchased.

7 February 1969

Last inspection performed.

24 February 1970

Registration cancelled.

Below: XA-MEH appeared in the third season of TV series "I Spy", filmed in 1967.
Photo credit: Internet Movie Plane Database / IMPDB.org

  March 1972 to unknown date

  N11805 - WESTERNAIR (USA)

10 March 1972

Purchased.

25 June 2009

Registration cancelled

The Commando was broken up at an unknown date.