CURTISS Commando (N1837M)

N1837M is reg to a 1944? CURTISS WRIGHT C-46F-1-CU S/N: 44-78565 Commando "Hot Stuff"
.....Some history at: http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=3037
SUPER THANK YOU! to everyone who helps keep these Ol’ historical birds flying

Awesome photo Jeroen..............

Oh wow. Love this. Thank You!
Also thanks to jesse kyzer for the link.
(She was once named Miss Piggy!)
Thanks also to the dedication of the mechanics and engineers who saved it from the scrapyard and rebuilt it after the accident.

I sure hope that I'm this good-looking when I'm 74 years old.
Yeah, a little dinged up in places, but that's OK. It just means that you've lived an active life.

Nice.

I always wondered why the C-46 didn't become the "plane of the century" instead of the DC-3. Much more powerful (R-2800's), faster and greater load capacity.

I wonder how many and where are those airworthy C-46’s? I’d really feel like to see her flying. It is majestic!

Role Military transport aircraft
National origin United States
Manufacturer Curtiss-Wright
First flight 26 March 1940
Introduction 1941
Status Active in limited civilian use
Primary users United States Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
United States Marine Corps
United States Navy
Produced 1940–1945
Number built 3,181[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Curtiss_C-46_Commandos

@Lucius Gravely, If there had been no DC-3, there would not have been any C-46 or any other modern a/c that was inspired by the DC-3. Pretty much every modern passenger or cargo plane has elements that were incorporated into the DC-3 design.

In football, you have what is called "Coaching Trees" where a great many current coaches can trace their coaching lineage back to an earlier coach. In aircraft, the "design tree" can almost always be traced back to the DC-3.

When I was in the USAF stationed in Panama we had a flock of them we called them the
Pregnant Gooney Birds
They had many problems with the elevators.

Korean Air Force (ROKAF) operated C-46's. Flew with them to Cheju-
ddo and P-Y-Do in 1966. At P-Y-Do,Rokaf radar station just off the North Korean coast at the time, landed on the beach at low tide. All crew members carried side arms in case of NK attack. Cheju-Do was another radar site. Grass landing field. Weather station there was a dugout with wind indicator and field telephone,

Thanks for the history, Mentor.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s in Vietnam and elsewhere in SE Asia, Continental Air Service operated a fleet of aircraft serving various US government agencies (not as dodgy as Air America). They had a C-46 several C-47s, Dornier STOL, SkyVan, and a couple of Beechcraft Barons. I was a Navy construction officer with projects at remote sites all around the Vietnam Central Highlands building facilities for the Vietnamese Army. I was usually flown around to my job sites in one of the Barons but at one time or another I rode in all the others... except the C-46. I regret not getting a ride in it. In my command, because of its shape, it was referred to as the "flying football."

David, also. thanks .so many guys with so much interesting stuff.

What a gorgeous aircraft! Beautiful photo, thanks for posting. Loved reading the comments, too, most educational!

A school chum's father "flew the hump" in a Commando. No radio beacons, no fields to which they might divert -- it was all or nothing. With the loads they were carring, these were literally at their service ceilings!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hump

my first flight as a passenger was in one of these flying cigars. I got off first, and my parents found their 4 year old son standing under the aircraft gazing fondly up at the ungainly bird. A few thousand hours flight time later i still enjoy the look of this buzzard....This things looks only slightly pregenant

As an Army PsyOp officer in Vietnam in the early 70s I occasionally had to go to places where Army aviation didn't. Fortunately, Air America did and I had the pleasure of getting there on one of these old beauties, ususlly out of Vung Tau, or one of their Volpar conversion Beech 18s. Loved these reliable old round-engine 46s.

Fabulous action shot!

Awesome shot Jeroen! KUDOS and Thanks!!