CoolPix - Vintage Military: Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando Cockpit
Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 11:41AM 
(click pic for hi-res)
Here’s a really neat picture of a Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando cockpit for another CoolPix entry in the 'Vintage Military' category. Big versions of pictures like this are particularly good for spending some time studying how things are laid out. I especially like how you can imagine how open this cockpit would feel since there are second row of windows at the knee and hip areas.
When I was a kid I learned quickly to tell a C-46 from a Douglas C-47 (DC-3) by looking for the crease that runs along the fuselage, the smoothly integrated cockpit windows, and by its chubbier overall look. But back then I always thought the two airplanes were very similar in capability. The truth is that the C-46 Commando is a bigger, more powerful aircraft with a significantly larger payload.
Originally designed in the late 30’s as an airliner, the CW-20, as it was designated then, was meant to take what the DC-3 could do to a higher level, literally. The CW-20 was pressurized. That’s why the crease was there... it was part of a fuselage design to minimize pressurization stresses. With the onset of WWII, the CW-20 quickly wound up as the unpressurized cargo aircraft we know as the C-46.
Ultimately ending up with two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines of about 2,000 hp each, the C-46 had a payload about twice that of the C-47, and it could take that load higher as well. That led to the airplane being used extensively in the China/Burma/India regions in WWII flying over the Himalaya Mountains.
Even tho over 3,000 of them were built, that’s a relatively small number compared to C-47/DC-3 production. Plus, the much higher operating expenses of the larger engines made it difficult for the airplane to compete with the DC-3 after the war as a small airliner. As it turns out, very few C-46’s remain airworthy today.
Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando
Reader Comments (4)
kafulm e3d3fd1842 https://parrotsays.com/largsoftcomzo
kafulm e3d3fd1842 https://parrotsays.com/largsoftcomzo
kafulm e3d3fd1842 https://parrotsays.com/largsoftcomzo
kafulm e3d3fd1842 https://parrotsays.com/largsoftcomzo