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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The C-46 Commando was a twin-engine transport aircraft used primarily by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II and continued in service with the United States Air Force (USAF) and other air forces around the world post-war.

The C-46 was found to have much better load-hauling capabilities than the C-47 at the altitudes involved. The Commando also served in the Pacific theater, where it moved troops and supplies from island to island, contributing to the defeat of Japan.