Curtiss C-46E-1-CS Commando
N30019 (c/n 2975)
This image of a C-46E illustrates the stepped
windscreen versus the flush glazing of the earlier
models. It also had
revised doors (for paratroop operations). This particular C-46
resided at
the western end of Hawthorne Municipal Airport for
several years in the late 1950s-early 1960s
(I lived
virtually next door). It was a late model, (despite its
serial of 43-47418) not being
delivered until July 1945 when WW II was almost
over. It was built to a Lend-Lease contract
ostensibly for China, but, in the
event, stayed in the USA, and was purchased from Reconstruction
Finance Corporation stock by a Dr. Seeley G. Mudd at the end of
1945. It was leased to the
Ibex Corporation from 1948 until
1967 (the period in which the above shot was taken) and was
then sold to aircraft brokers A.J.
Levin & Co. It was purchased by Cooperativos de la Industria
Pesquera of Tijuana in 1968 and registered XB-LIU.
(Shouldn't that have been XA- ?).
Last reported as late as
1977 as being stored at Ensenada, Baja California.
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