PP-AXO Curtiss C-46A
(c/n 30549)
The above image has been one of the "mystery"
photographs in my collection ever since I received
it from
Aerovias Brasil in 1952. Were the Nord 1203 Norecrins flown
in to Rio, or brought by ship
and
assembled there? Did Aerovias Brasil do the
assembling? How many Norecrins were imported
into Brazil?* They are unusual insofar as their c/ns
do not appear on the rudder in usual French style.
Anyway,
Aerovias Brasil operated four Curtiss C-46s from 1951 to about
1954. They were PP-AXN
PP-AXO, PP-AXP and PP-AXU. So far as I know, PP-AXO was the only
one to bear a name
("Territorio do Amapa"), as the
nose shot below illustrates. This aircraft began life as a
C-46A-50-CU.
Air Carrier
Service Corp (probably a broker) purchased it from war surplus storage
in 1950 when it was
registered
N51585 Shortly afterward it went to Brazil as PP-AXO. In
1954 it was sold to TABA who
leased it out
first to Loide (as PP-LDV) and later to Paraense Transportes
Aereos (as PP-BTI). It was
written off in a
crash 40 km from Vihena, Brazil on 23 Oct 1965.
* In June 2007 I rceived a
communication from Romulo Figueiredo in Rio de Janiero who advises that,
in fact,
some 50 Norecrins were imported. One has been preserved and is
in the Museu Asas de um
Sonho ("Wings
of a Dream Museum") in Sao Carlos. Romulo indicates that
this beautifully preserved
example
was re-engined with a Ranger taken from a PT-19!
