Commando 44-77420

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46D-5-CU Commando

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77420

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 32816

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1352

FATE: Unknown

[uncertainty exists over the wartime history of this Commando: it was either assigned to the Southwest Pacific theatre and went missing there, or it spent the war in the continental USA and was later transferred to RFC and the Republic of China Air Force - there is probably a serial number mixup somewhere. As there is evidence to support both stories, we have decided to expose both of them here until the issue is solved.]

  November 1944 to January 1945

  44-77420 - USAAF (USA)

14 November 1944

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.

Assigned to the 5^th Air Force, 54^th Troop Carrier Wing, 375^th Troop Carrier Group, 56^th Troop Carrier Squadron operating in the Southwest Pacific theater.

29 January 1945

Went missing somewhere in the Southwest Pacific theatre (10/10 missing). [MACR 13781]

Pilot: 2^nd Lt. William P. Speiss [spelling not confirmed]

Condemned for salvage.

  November 1944 to March 1946

  44-77420 - USAAF (USA)

14 November 1944

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.

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

Unknown date

Assigned to the 807^th AAF Base Unit, Bergstrom AAF, TX with I Troop Carrier Command.

16 January 1945

Received major damage at Bergstrom AAF, TX in a ground collision with parked Commando 44-77428.

Pilot: Orville C. Chandler

10 July 1945

Damaged at Bergstrom AAF, TX due to a mechanical failure.

Pilot: Victor R. Davis

  March 1946 to August 1948

  44-77420 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

1 March 1946

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

ca 1948

Taken out of storage and overhauled by TALOA under a US Government contract to prepare the aircraft for delivery to China.

  August 1948 to unknown date

  C-46361 - ROCAF (REPUBLIC OF CHINA AIR FORCE) (CHINA)

11 August 1948

Departed Oakland, CA for delivery to Shanghai, China.

Possibly used in the air bridge between mainland China and Taiwan in 1948-1949.

Fate unknown.