Final USAF C-46s - where are the photos?

[quemerford]

I was surprised to see a statement recently that the final USAF Curtiss C-46 was retired "in 1968" and assumed it was a mistake: not so!

By the spring of 1968, there were thirteen C-46Ds remaining in service, all appropriately assigned to the 24th Air Commando Wing at Howard AFB, Canal Zone. The 24th Air Commando Wing had gained these machines from the 605th Air Commando Squadron (also at Howard AFB) at the end of March. This latter unit had suffered a fatal accident on 1 September the previous year when C-46D s/n 44-77552 had crashed on take-off with the loss of seven lives.

On 17 May 1968 the 24th ACW retired its first Commando, s/n 44-78018, which departed for storage at Davis Monthan and was later earmarked for the Air Force Museum. A second C-46 (s/n 44-78380) had been routed to the Warner Robins Air Materiel Area on 29 March for overhaul but did not return to Howard AFB after rework.

The remaining eleven were finally retired between 17 and 20 June, all going to Air International Inc. in Miami for overhaul prior to transfer overseas as military aid. Most, if not all (and including 44-78380 from Robins AFB) were destined for the Republic of Korea AF.

Which brings me to my question: where are the photos of these last remaining USAF C-46s? I could only locate two images, both showing the NMUSAF machine in its final colours, with minor differences: The first one appears to have been taken at Albrook AFB possibly around the 1963/64 timescale:



And then the second (credit as shown), photographed as it had come out of storage at Davis Monthan and on its way to the Air Force Museum; note the ten-year 'zero' prefix to the tail number, circa 20 March 1972:



So does anyone have anything else? The Air Commando Wing at Eglin also operated C-46s into the mid-1960s but images of these are also notable by their absence. Were any given SEA camouflage like the C-47/AC-47 fleet?

[Mark Sampson]

I din't realize that any C-46s had stayed in service for so long. But a year or so ago I was at my friendly local air museum (Pima), and while gawking up at their C-46 (it's one big airplane), an old (even older than me) gentleman walked up next to me and said "I used to fly these in the Air Force". In our ensuing conversation I asked "What was it like to fly?" and he replied "It was a Beast". He was unaware that a few still fly for a living in Canada...
Sorry not to answer the question, but that[s too good a story not to tell.

[quemerford]

Thanks Mark; it's important to remember and share these recollections.

[Hooligan2]

it's one big airplane

Indeed, I always though they were much the same size as the C-47 until I saw my first C-46 alongside a C-47 at Miami. At least a size larger if not two!

I certainly thought they were long gone from USAF service soon after WWII...

No stories other than to recall the unfortunate end of one of the Dominican C-46s I saw at Miami in 1984. It was underslung by a CH-53 (I think) for delivery to a museum somewhere to the north. Unfortunately it began to rotate on the end of the strops, leaving the CH-53 crew no option other than dump the load into the gator-inhabited swamps below...

[quemerford]

it's one big airplane

Indeed, I always though they were much the same size as the C-47 until I saw my first C-46 alongside a C-47 at Miami. At least a size larger if not two!

I certainly thought they were long gone from USAF service soon after WWII...

No stories other than to recall the unfortunate end of one of the Dominican C-46s I saw at Miami in 1984. It was underslung by a CH-53 (I think) for delivery to a museum somewhere to the north. Unfortunately it began to rotate on the end of the strops, leaving the CH-53 crew no option other than dump the load into the gator-inhabited swamps below...

I saw that C-46 when I was there in '87; its demise must have been around that time because I remember the story.

[Steve Nelson]

I'm a bit surprised to see it retains the original four-blade Curtiss Electric propellers. I was under the impression that most postwar C-46s had the props replaced with the more reliable three-blade Hamilton Standards.

SN

[Chris Brame]

I shot 44-77559 at Chino back around '07; when was it retired?

[JohnB]

I think I asked a similar question here 20 + years ago...
I know I have asked about any C-78s and PT-17s since various books say they were only categorized as surplus in 1947/49.
Perhaps the late dates were just a paperwork exercise, the planes being long gone?

There are a few photos of usage armed CG-4s and the final B-24 (EZB-24M, now at Duxford), but generally it seems they were of so little interest, no one bothered to take photos.

One possibility about the C-46s...given their location and mysterious sounding unit, perhaps they were used to train Central or South American Air Forces...or in a more conspiratorial vein...were used by the CIA in the region in anti -guerrilla operations...hence, few photos?

[phil65]

Glenn Curtiss Museum

20250625_160223 by Philip Hartmann, on Flickr

20250625_160604 by Philip Hartmann, on Flickr

Phil

[Mark Sampson]

There's quite a story behind the Curtiss Museum's C-46. At least in the 1980s it was being used as a South American drug runner. Captured and confiscated by the DEA, it was passed to the Smithsonian, who loaned it to the Geneseo museum (under whatever name the museum had at the time). So I saw it sitting there for several years... eventually the C-46 was trucked the 40 or 50 miles to Hammondsport, where it sits today. That's just a rough outline based on my distant memory; I'm sure the full story is out on the inter webs somewhere, or someone here will have the correct details.
I visited the GCM last year, and it does seem to me that the Commando belongs inside. But at least it hasn't been scrapped.

[quemerford]

*duplicate post*

Last edited by quemerford on Wed Jul 02, 2025 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[quemerford]

I think I asked a similar question here 20 + years ago...
I know I have asked about any C-78s and PT-17s since various books say they were only categorized as surplus in 1947/49.
Perhaps the late dates were just a paperwork exercise, the planes being long gone?

Luckily this sort of report would show up on the record cards; the aircraft would be reported as "excess, grounded" (or similar). In the case of the C-46s the Howard AFB aircraft are all reporting in their primary role until retired.

One possibility about the C-46s...given their location and mysterious sounding unit, perhaps they were used to train Central or South American Air Forces...or in a more conspiratorial vein...were used by the CIA in the region in anti -guerrilla operations...hence, few photos?

Quite possible on the use for training Latin American personnel. Of note too is that there was a CIA unit at Eglin around this time, operating C-46s but with a spurious USAF unit (the 1045th Operational Evaluation and Training Group) attributed to them. These were retired a year or so before the 'Commando' Commandos. Serial numbers were 44-77991 and 77996.

Last edited by quemerford on Wed Jul 02, 2025 11:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[quemerford]

I shot 44-77559 at Chino back around '07; when was it retired?

This one retired from the 2578th Air Force Reserve Flying Center at Ellington AFB to Davis Monthan on 18Apr58.

[Paul Stroud]

Saw this C-46 in one of the scrapyards next to Davis Monthan in October '90, but unfortunately there's no serial visible. i wonder if it made it to preservation?

USAF C-46 Commando by Paul Stroud, on Flickr

[Ken]

Flying C-130's caused me to spend a fair amount of time at Howard AFB, and other US installations in the Canal Zone, between 93-99. It's a fascinating area with a rich history, much of it, I assume, classified. I know that hindsight is always 20/20, but I recall how exposed I felt flying a modern turboprop way off the grid in remote parts of S America. For all the advertising of the day that insinuated the rain forest was disappearing before our eyes, I would see places daily where the thick, high-canopy jungle would stretch to the horizon in every direction, and we discussed, that should we have to make a forced landing, it appeared likely that we'd be swallowed up and (absent an ELT) would never be heard from again. Flying C-46s down there wouldn't have been as glamorous as a Century-series fighter assignment somewhere, but it certainly carried equivalent risks and challenges.

Ken