Curtiss C-46 COMMANDO

The Curtiss C-46 Commando, had the misfortune to be overshadowed by its famous and well-known comrade-in-arms C-47 Skytrain, but it was a magnificent transport aircraft that participated in Europe and in the Pacific during WWII. The aircraft was fully pressurized and was designed to compete with the most advanced transports of its time, although it did not obtain many civil orders. Then, it was offered to the USAAF that ordered 46 aircraft in 1940, but they had to be modified in aspects such as a non pressurized convertible cabin, the strengthened load floor and enlarged cargo doors to meet military requirements. Finally the Commando entered service in 1942 under designation C-46A and was also chosen by the US Navy, which ordered 40 examples. In 1944 the C-46D model was put into production and there was a final batch of C-46E before production ceased. After the war many C-46s were used in civil airlines, but their operating cost was much higher than that of the C-47, so they were soon relegated to carrying out loading tasks on civil cargo airlines.

C-46 COMMANDO gallery and more info