


C-46 Commando
Country | United States |
Manufacturer | Curtiss-Wright Corporation |
Primary Role | Transport |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseThe C-46 Commando transports were lovingly nicknamed "the Whales" by their United States Army Air Force crew and were best known for flying "the Hump" over the Himalayas to deliver supplies into China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. When they first flew on 26 Mar 1940, they were actually of a commercial transport design made for 36 passengers. However, by late 1941, the USAAF realized their cargo capacity and ordered 46 of them. These unpressurized transports had the largest cargo capacity of all Allied transports during WW2. Together with other models of transports, the Commandos delivered 45,000 tons of cargo per month to China between 1942 and 1945. These transports remain in use well after the war; between 1993 and 1995 they were still being used to deliver humanitarian supplies to Somalia.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.
ww2dbaseSpecifications provided by Alan Chanter.
Last Major Revision: Jul 2006
SPECIFICATIONS
C-46
Machinery | Two Pratt and Whitney R-2800-51 Twin Wasp 18-cylinder air-cooled radial engines rated at 2,000hp each |
Crew | 4 |
Span | 32.91 m |
Length | 23.27 m |
Height | 6.62 m |
Wing Area | 126.30 m² |
Weight, Empty | 13,608 kg |
Weight, Maximum | 20,412 kg |
Speed, Maximum | 435 km/h |
Speed, Cruising | 278 km/h |
Rate of Climb | 6.60 m/s |
Service Ceiling | 7,470 m |
Range, Normal | 5,069 km |
Photographs
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George Patton, 31 May 1944
10 Jul 2009 04:57:26 PM
These are still being flown comericaly on a daily basis by Buffalo Air in Yellowknife NorthWestTeratories in Canada.