Commando 44-77532
Aircraft Identification
VARIANT: Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando
USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77532
CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 32928
COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1464
FATE: Written off
Operational Record
December 1944 to September 1947
44-77532 - USAAF (USA)
December 1944
Delivered from the Curtiss-Wright factory in Buffalo, NY.
September 1947 to May 1954
44-77532 - USAF (USA)
18 September 1947
Transferred.
Unknown date
Assigned to 2584th Air Force Reserve Training Center, based at Memphis AFB, TN.
6 August 1953
Received minor damage at Memphis AFB, TN in a landing accident due to a mechanical failure.
Pilot: Ralph E. Trostel (survived, pictured right)
Unknown date
Assigned to 2466th Air Force Reserve Training Center, based at Atterbury AFB, IN.
23 May 1954
Damaged beyond repair 13 km southeast of Center Point, TX in a CFIT (2/5 fatalities).
Crew:
Lt. Col. Ralph Strean Jr., Pilot (killed, pictured right)
Maj. Williams Isley, Copilot (injured)
Capt. Leon W. Kimberlin, Copilot (injured)
A/Man 2C Armin P. Koepp, Engineer (injured)
S/Sgt C. E. Cross (killed)
The Commando was operating the last leg of a training flight from El Paso, TX to Kelly AFB, TX and Atterbury AFB, IN, with five crew members on board. The airplane apparently got lost in southern Texas at night in heavy rain and eventually crashed into a hill side between Center Point, TX and Comfort, TX. Two of the occupants were killed.
24 May 1954
Wreckage found, helicopters sent to the crash site to remove the dead and the injured.
Last edited: 27/01/2024