C-46 - "China
Doll"
The Curtiss-Wright
C-46 Commando was the largest and heaviest twin-engine
aircraft to see service with the USAAF. It gained its
greatest fame in airlifting supplies over the Himalaya
Mountains in the China-Burma-India theater in World War
II, although it saw action in every theater.
The C-46 began its
career as a pressurized, 36-seat commercial airliner
with twin rudders, but the Army saw greater utility for
the aircraft as a transport. The USAAF first flew the
prototype on March 26, 1940, modified it to have a
single fin, and designated it the C-55. Demand for the
aircraft grew rapidly, and redesignated as the C-46
Commando, the aircraft entered service with the USAAF in
1942.
The “China Doll”
was one of the 234 C-46Fs built at the Curtiss plant in
Buffalo, New York. It rolled off the assembly line in
July 1945. Early assignments included the Sedalia Army
Air Base and other bases in the US. The plane was used
as a transport and glider tow plane, and flew with the
military until the early 1950s.
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