Commando 44-77721

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

USAAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 44-77721

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 33117

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU1653

FATE: Written off

  January 1945 to April 1945

  44-77721 - USAAF (USA)

18 January 1945

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

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

9 March 1945

Assigned to I Troop Carrier Command, 807^th AAFBU, Bergstrom AAF, TX.

17 March 1945

Damaged at Bergstrom AAF, TX in a ground accident.

While parked at Bergstrom AAF, TX, the Commando was hit by sistership 44-77620 of the same unit taxied nearby by Arnorld L. Gauthier.

18 April 1945

Damaged beyond repair 15 km north of Burnet, TX in a CFIT (4/4 fatalities).

Crew:
2^nd Lt Willard E. Jacobson, Pilot (pictured right)
2^nd Lt Herbert D. Fleming, Copilot
T/Sgt Francis J. Pombert
PFC Ross A. Capparelli

The Commando was conducting a low altitude navigation training flight. It departed Bergstrom AAF, TX at 2031LT but failed to return. The wreckage and bodies of all four occupants were located four days later. The airplane had crashed into a wooded hillside at an elevation of 1,500 feet.

23 April 1945

Surveyed.

1 June 1945

Reclamation completed.