Commando 44-77445

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

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77445

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 32841

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1377

FATE: Unknown

  November 1944 to February 1946

  44-77445 - USAAF (USA)

22 November 1944

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

Assigned to Wright Field, OH and probabl used for flight tests.

Remained within the continental USA.

  February 1946 to May 1947

  44-77445 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

25 February 1946

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

  May 1947 to 1949

  N91031 - PRIVATE (USA)

May 1947

Purchased by Joe van Lierop of Hartford, MI.

8 May 1947

Registered.

Ferried from Walnut Ridge AAF, AR to Hartford, MI.

Van Lierop owned an airline named Commercial Air Cargo, but apparently N91031 never actually operated for it.

14 April 1949

Damaged in Miami, FL in a ground accident.

The Commando was blown against a truck. [there was no hurricane at that date, so this was possibly jet blast]

22 April 1949

Registration cancelled, exported to Cuba.

  1949 to 1960

  CU-C343 - CUBA AEROPOSTAL (CUBA)

1949

Purchased.

1960

Withdrawn from use and stored.

Fate unknown.

Right: CU-C343 with Cuba Aeropostal, unknown date & location.
Photo credit: Zoggavia