Commando 43-47379
Aircraft Identification
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
Operational Record
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 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.
Last edited: 26/10/2023