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

phil65 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 03, 2025 4:16 pm

Mark Sampson wrote:

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.

Yes, when I was at the museum I was reading about her.
Definitely some interesting history..

Phil

APG85 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 05, 2025 5:56 am

Paul Stroud wrote:

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

I used to see this plane in one of the scrapyards behind DM in the 90's as well (off Kolb Rd.?). Somewhere I have a few pictures of it and a couple of A-26 fuselages sitting on the ground nearby. I was under the impression that this plane ended up at Chino.

Andy Marden · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2025 4:06 am

That will have been 44-77559, which was in Bobs Air Park on South Wilmot Road.
It is now in a storage compound at Yanks Air Museum Chino.

Paul Stroud · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2025 9:55 am

Andy Marden wrote:

That will have been 44-77559, which was in Bobs Air Park on South Wilmot Road.
It is now in a storage compound at Yanks Air Museum Chino.

Thank you for the info, Andy and APG, I've updated my Flickr accordingly :-)

Larry Kraus · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2025 12:24 pm

Not exactly an Air Force C-46, but it was working the 1981Alaska Fish Haul. This picture was taken at King Salmon Airport in July 1981. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the details, but I think that it came from the Japanese Air Force.

Fish Haul 23 by tanker622001, on Flickr

JohnH · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2025 7:18 pm

Paul Stroud wrote:

Andy Marden wrote:

That will have been 44-77559, which was in Bobs Air Park on South Wilmot Road.
It is now in a storage compound at Yanks Air Museum Chino.

Thank you for the info, Andy and APG, I've updated my Flickr accordingly :-)

That's not correct , you need to update it again. It's at Planes of Fame. This is on Wiki. I'll grab a pic next time I'm out there . Most Saturdays. Here is the one at Yanks , and it's posted on their website. https://yanksair.org/exhibition/curtiss ... -commando/

Larry Kraus · **Posted:** Sun Jul 06, 2025 10:21 pm

For what it’s worth, I found some information on the C-46 that was at King Salmon in 1981.

IMG_3503 by tanker622001, on Flickr

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1642

This thread has gone a tad off-beam: does anyone have photos of those final USAF C-46s at Eglin or Howard AFBs?

Stoney · **Posted:** Mon Jul 07, 2025 8:58 am

Larry
that C-46 came thru OAK from Japan and i saw it there and went in it to look around, it still had troop seats then. Fred had this and a C-54 to haul Salmon.

Larry Kraus · **Posted:** Mon Jul 07, 2025 12:31 pm

Thanks for that information, Stoney. The C-46 worked out of Egegik Beach with the rest of us. I don’t have a picture of it on the beach, but here’s my (TBM Inc’s) Super DC-3 (R4D-8/ C-117D) BuNo 12437/ N8538R and H & P’s C-119L (N3003). That Fish Haul was quite an operation and a good way to get yourself killed. Daylight wasn’t a factor, but you needed to carry a tide table to make sure the beach would be there long enough to land, load up with fish and take-off before the tide came in.

Fish Haul 2 by tanker622001, on Flickr

Hooligan2 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:26 pm

Larry/Stoney, we need a like button! :drink3:

Clifford Bossie · **Posted:** Mon Jul 07, 2025 1:45 pm

quemerford wrote:

This thread has gone a tad off-beam: does anyone have photos of those final USAF C-46s at Eglin or Howard AFBs?

Squadron Signal in Action 188 C-46 Commando has a photo on page 45 of C-46D 44-77766 in COIN gray that the caption states is a Howard AFB based airplane.

quemerford · **Joined:** Tue Jun 17, 2014 4:19 pm **Posts:** 1642

Clifford Bossie wrote:

quemerford wrote:

This thread has gone a tad off-beam: does anyone have photos of those final USAF C-46s at Eglin or Howard AFBs?

Squadron Signal in Action 188 C-46 Commando has a photo on page 45 of C-46D 44-77766 in COIN gray that the caption states is a Howard AFB based airplane.

Thanks for that: I'll take a look!

Andy Marden · **Posted:** Tue Jul 08, 2025 3:49 am

JohnH wrote:

Paul Stroud wrote:

Andy Marden wrote:

That will have been 44-77559, which was in Bobs Air Park on South Wilmot Road.
It is now in a storage compound at Yanks Air Museum Chino.

Thank you for the info, Andy and APG, I've updated my Flickr accordingly :-)

That's not correct , you need to update it again. It's at Planes of Fame. This is on Wiki. I'll grab a pic next time I'm out there . Most Saturdays. Here is the one at Yanks , and it's posted on their website. https://yanksair.org/exhibition/curtiss ... -commando/

Whoops, sorry, that was my brain fart. Planes of Fame is correct.

Nathan · **Posted:** Sun Jul 13, 2025 11:57 am

I get warm funny feelings when I see those C-46s in the AMARC boneyard way back in the 1990s!

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

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