Commando 42-107360

VARIANT: Curtiss C-46A-40-CU Commando

USAF SERIAL NUMBER (S/N): 42-107360

CURTISS CONSTRUCTION NUMBER (C/N): 27047

COMMANDO LINE NUMBER (L/N): CU687

FATE: Written off

  May 1944 to September 1944

  42-107360 - USAAF (USA)

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30 May 1944

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

13 July 1944

Assigned to ATC North African Division, based at Station 7, Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.

22 September 1944

Damaged beyond repair at RAF Bahrain, Bahrain in an accident after takeoff (34/34 fatalities).

Crew:
1^st Lt Herve D. Maheu, Pilot
Lt Merlin R. Willey
SSgt James L. Warner
Sgt Philip Stuchinsky

Passengers:
1^st Lt Oliver J. Jaros Jr
TSgt Malcolm V. Thornton
Sgt Edwin P. Gaikowski
Sgt Edward W. Grimes
Sgt Curtis D. Newsome
Cpl Charles L. Cox
Cpl Harry E. Dolbey Jr
Cpl George F. Gibbs
Cpl Edmund Hill Jr
Cpl Thomas L. Kee
Cpl Prentice L. Williams
Cpl James Yervasi
Cpl Alfred L. Zeve
PFC Aldo A. Bellagio
PFC Jacob L. Cain
PFC Louis D. Coniglio
PFC Eugene J. Dalaski
PFC Harry W. Ervin
PFC Theodore N. Hawley
PFC Gerald E. Hopkins
PFC Arcade M. Moreland
PFC John Ozarchuk
Pvt Julius C. Edmonds
Pvt Augustus P. Fallotico
Pvt Robert W. Jenkins
Pvt Howard L. Krum
Pvt Ellis E. Lanfear
Pvt Gin Lew
Pvt Arthur H. Mason
Pvt Frank P. McLaughlin

The Commando was carrying a load of 30 paratroopers from RAF Habbaniya, Iraq to Karachi, Sindh, India with a refueling stop in Bahrain. After takeoff from Bahrain, while climbing to a height of about 800 feet, the aircraft banked left and dove into the sea. All 34 occupants were killed on impact.

[This accident is erroneously reported by AB & JB as occurring in Casablanca Anfa, French Morocco – same day, same story, just different place]

23 September 1944

Condemned for salvage, “washout”.