Commando 44-77561

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77561

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 32957

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1493

FATE: Written off

  December 1944 to December 1945

  44-77561 - USAAF (USA)

9 December 1944

Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Louisville, KY.

Assigned to Air Transport Command based at Baer Field, IN.

21 December 1944

Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command, 813^th AAF Base Unit, Sedalia AAF, MO.

Used for combat crew training.

26 October 1945

Destroyed 67 km east of Coos Bay, OR after most of the crew bailed out (3/12 fatalities). [date also noted as 31 October 1945 and 26 November 1945]

Pilot: Selden Blakemore Hickenlooper [TBC]

The Commando was operating a flight between Sedalia AAF, MO and McChord Field, WA via Fresno, CA with twelve occupants on board. Approaching McChord Field, the pilots were informed that poor weather conditions would make a landing impossible, so it was decided to turn back and return to Fresno. On the way back, most of the occupants bailed out for an unknown reason, while the plane crashed in a heavily wooded area. Rescuers arrived on site only two days later. Nine occupants had bailed out to safety, two were found dead in the aircraft wreckage and one was missing.

9 December 1945

Surveyed.

28 December 1945

Reclamation completed.