The 1930s witnessed significant airliner development. The Curtiss T-32 Condor II, developed against an American Airways specification for a 12-seat luxury sleeper transport for overnight multi-stop services across the United States, made its first flight on 30 January 1933. A little over a week later, Boeing’s all-metal Model 247 made its first flight from Seattle, to be followed in May 1934 by the Douglas DC-2. The arrival of these faster, state-of-the-art monoplanes gave United and Transcontinental & Western a considerable commercial advantage over American; and, in 1936, Curtiss set about designing an aircraft to complete with them.
The CW-20 was conceived as a larger and faster alternative to the DC-3. It had had two particular selling points: first, it was pressurised, so could fly above bad weather; and second, it incorporated the new concept of a separate underfloor cargo hold, thus freeing up cabin space to accommodate up to 34 passengers compared with the DC-3’s 21. But development was slow and with war in Europe well under way by the time of the first flight, no commercial order was forthcoming. However, the CW-20’s large volume cargo capacity found favour with the United States Army Air Corps and it placed its first order in September 1940, giving the CW-20 the name Commando. Ultimately, the entire production run went to the US military, and the type served in most theatres during World War II, most impressively on re-supply flights across the Himalayas from India to China. A small number remains active, with four still flying commercially in Alaska and Canada.
First flight: 26 Mar 40 (c/n 101, NX19436)
Production: 3,180: 2,711 at Buffalo, NY; 28 at St. Louis, MO; 439 at Louisville, KY; and 2 by Higgins Industries at New Orleans, LA
First delivery: 28 Jun 42, to US Army Air Corps (c/n 26362, 41-5160)
Last delivery: 28 Feb 46, to US Army Air Force (c/n 22768, 44-78945)
Variants: CW-20 - prototype civil airliner powered by 2 Wright R-2600 Cyclones, featuring twin tails (subsequently re-engineered with a single fin) (1 built, at St. Louis);
CW-20A/C-46 - initial military version with pressurisation removed, powered by 2 Wright R-2800 Double Wasps (25 built, at Buffalo);
CW-20B/C-46A - C-46 with double cargo doors, strengthened floor, cargo winch and accommodation for 40 troops (1,942 built, comprising 1,041 at Buffalo, 439 at Louisville, 10 at St Louis and 2 at New Orleans; 160 were transferred to the US Marine Corps as R5C);
CW-20B-2/C-46D - C-46A optimised as a paratroop carrier with revised doors and accommodation for 50 troops (1,410 built at Buffalo);
CW-20B-3/C-46E - C-46A with single cargo door, stepped windshield, three-bladed Hamilton propellers and control boost system deleted (17 built at St. Louis)
CW-20B-4/C-46F - C-46A with three-bladed props, and control boost system deleted (234 built at Buffalo);
CW-20B-5/C-46G - C-46F with uprated engine, subsequently converted to XC-113 to test the TG-100 gas turbine engine (1 built at Buffalo).
Conversions: CW-20T - C-46 modification engineered by Air Carrier Engineering & L.B. Smith Aircraft, Miami, FL, with higher gross weight and powered by Wright R-2800C engines (first flight, Sep55); further developed as the Super 46 (around 50 converted). C-46R - C-46 similar modification engineered by Riddle Airlines (at least 63 converted, by Riddle Airlines and licensees).
Aircraft built at Buffalo can be identified from their five-digit c/ns, while those built at Louisville have three-digit c/ns; there are no St Louis or New Orleans-built survivors.
Further information on the C-46 can be found at https://curtisscommando.e-monsite.com/.
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