Commando 44-77692

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

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77692

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 33088

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1624

FATE: Written off

  January 1945 to December 1945

  44-77692 - USAAF (USA)

15 January 1945

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

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

Remained within the continental USA.

  December 1945 to May 1948

  44-77692 - RFC (RECONSTRUCTION FINANCE CORPORATION) (USA)

12 December 1945

Transferred to RFC and stored at Bush Field, GA.

  May 1948 to July 1950

  44-77692 - USAF (USA)

21 May 1948

Returned to USAF service.

16 December 1948

Assigned to the 2465^th Air Force Reserve Training Center based at Wold-Chamberlain Field, MN.

Marked "M" and christened "The Haylift Express".

19 October 1949

Converted to TC-46D.

5 May 1950

Damaged beyond repair at Wold-Chamberlain Field, MN in a takeoff accident due to weather (0/31 fatalities).

Pilot: Lawrence F. Uebel (survived, went on to fly in Korea & Vietnam and retired a USAF Lt. Col., pictured right)

The Commando operated a military transport flight out of Wold-Chamberlain Field, MN with three crew members and 28 passengers, all ROTC students from the University of Minnesota. The airplane crashed in bad weather shortly after takeoff. All occupants escaped unhurt, but the left engine caught fire and the fuselage was cracked behind the cockpit section.

8 May 1950

Reclamation authorized.

11 July 1950

Reclamation completed.