The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company publicity. [2]

It produces a maximum thrust of 2,000 hp and drives four-bladed Curtiss Electric constant-speed propellers. The C-46 has a maximum speed of 230 knots at 15,000 feet and a cruise speed of 150 knots. It has a travel range of 2,740 nautical miles at 150 knots and 870 nautical miles at …

2023年9月26日 · Designed to compete with the Douglas DC-4 and Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the Curtiss C-46 Commando was supposed to be a pressurized high-altitude airliner that could fly non-stop between New York and Chicago. When Curtiss started work on the Curtiss C-46 Commando, a future war in Europe was unimportant to the non-interventionist United States.

2019年4月8日 · The Curtiss C-46 filled a niche during World War II for a high-altitude heavy hauler capable of operating from rough airstrips in far-flung locales. They called it the Curtiss Calamity, Ol’ Dumbo, the Flying Whale and, more recently, Miss Piggy.

Billed by Curtiss as the “Sub-Stratosphere Transport”, the airplane that became the C-46 military transport was actually intended to be a 36 passenger airliner with a pressurized cabin. It was an attempt to compete with that other famous airliner of the 1930’s - the Douglas DC-3.

The C-46 gained its greatest fame during WWII transporting war materials over the "Hump" from India to China after the Japanese had closed the Burma Road. C-46 flights on the treacherous air route over the Himalayas began in May 1943.

The Curtiss C-46 played a major, though oft-forgotten role in defeating Imperial Japan during WWII. The aircraft’s unique cargo-carrying capabilities and performance helped keep China in the war at a time when its collapse seemed imminent.

It was America's largest and heaviest twin-engine transport in World War II. The C-46 was a low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear and could obtain a top seed of 269 mph with an operational range of 1,200 miles. However, normal payload for middle distances was four tons.

2018年5月21日 · Page details technical specifications, development, and operational history of the Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando Twin-Engine Long-Range Transport Aircraft including pictures.

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 Hump” (the Himalaya Mountains) in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater in World War II, although it saw action in every theater.