Passenger Plane Crash Landing On Interstate 45 South

[guy chachere]

OK - wonder if I am just dreaming this or if it really happened.

Early 70's seem to remember a passenger plane making an emergency landing - 45 south (still just frontage road) on the east side in a field next to the road.

Think it was either before or after the drag strip.

 

am I crazy?

[JLWM8609]

On 7/23/2020 at 10:42 AM, guy chachere said:

OK - wonder if I am just dreaming this or if it really happened.

Early 70's seem to remember a passenger plane making an emergency landing - 45 south (still just frontage road) on the east side in a field next to the road.

Think it was either before or after the drag strip.

 

am I crazy?

Is this it?

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Zachry-International/Curtiss-C-46-Commando-CW-20/173716?qsp=eJwljTsOwjAQRO8ytQsSFBDuoEdQcIHVehMsBcdabyRQlLuTTzcfzZsJPCSTr71%2BWeBRhJTfcMik9CnwEygqK7V2pzS2xDaqKHx9PrhlOybTH3xTNQ4qXRwSfNVcHMqgdlsaBDK5Mks2Cdjzh4YVgSCFt6tuva5XKfrc3fG02BBL7mmjiFHsMc9/zAE6HA%3D%3D

[FilioScotia]

This plane has an illustrious history.

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.

Called the “CW-20T” by Curtiss, the prototype first flew in March of 1940. The CW-20T had twin vertical stabilizers and was powered by two Wright R-2600 14 cylinder engines producing 1,600 horsepower each, and turned three blade Hamilton-Standard constant speed propellers.

 

Initially, the C-46 was used to ferry cargo across the South Atlantic. It also saw some use as a glider tug in the European theatre. However, the C-46 became famous for its use in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, flying supplies over Himalaya Mountains, otherwise known as “the Hump”. By March of 1942, the Japanese had control of nearly all of the supply routes through the area. Consequently, all of the supplies needed by Chiang Kai-Shek and Claire Chennault's American Volunteer Group - the famous Flying Tigers - had to be flown in to China. Some of the terrain in the area rises to over 14,000 feet. 

 

The C-46’s military career didn’t end with World War Two. The United States used the C-46 (along with some other World War Two types) to fly missions during the Korean War and the CIA used it during the Bay of Pigs invasion.

   

Still, age and wear have taken their toll, and there are only around a dozen C-46 Commandos still flying today. Two of them are owned and flown by the Commemorative Air Force.