C-46 Commando

Curtiss C-46F Commando

First Nations Transportation Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando

Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando
Flying Over The Himalayas Between India And China During WW2

C-46 is kind of an odd duck. It has was designed to be a pressurized airliner. In order to be pressurized, the fuselage has 'double-bubble' cross section the idea being that two smaller tubes can withstand more pressure than a single large one. However, none of the aircraft sold to the Army were pressurized, and near as I can tell the Army was the only customer.

In terms of power, size and carrying capacity the airplane was roughly 50% bigger than the DC-3 / C-47. Roughly 3,000 were built, or a third of the number of DC-3 / C-47's. The C-46's biggest claim to fame came from flying 'over the hump' from India into China.

Pilot's Post has a history of the Commando.

Semi-related post about The Flying Tigers.