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C-46 Tinker Belle finds new home

By General Aviation News Staff · August 1, 2023 ·

The city of Monroe’s C-46, “The Tinker Belle,” has been sold to the non-profit Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The North Carolina city‘s Tourism Development Authority purchased the Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando from the Commemorative Air Force in 2011 with funds raised through hotel occupancy collections to showcase the city’s commitment to the aerospace industry, according to city officials.

Over the city’s 12-year ownership, The Tinker Belle has traveled to countless air shows across the country and internationally in Canada, including having the special honor of being placed at show center during the 2016 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, city officials noted.

“I have traveled with this aircraft to numerous shows and everywhere we go people are in line all day just to step up and catch a glimpse of this living piece of US history,” said Communications and Tourism Director Pete Hovanec. “It was always fun to educate the younger generations of the role Tinker Belle, and similar aircraft, played in shaping our future.”

The Tinker Belle has been a centerpiece of the Warbirds Over Monroe Air Show every November at the Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport (KEQY), where it has been housed when not in operation. It has also served as a piece of living history for school groups, civic organizations, and industries who are given tours by request.

The Tinker Belle was operated by the city in partnership with the non-profit organization Warriors and Warbirds.

Formed in 2005 by Bob Yanacsek and Bob Russell, Warriors and Warbirds has overseen day-to-day operations of The Tinker Belle.

“These guys have poured their hearts and souls, along with plenty of sweat and scraped knuckles, into keeping this aircraft flying. This group has been such an asset and the city of Monroe owes them a debt of gratitude for their efforts, dedication and support over the years,” said Hovanec.

“Over the many years Tinker Belle has been in our care, we have valued the esprit de corps that’s bonded our members together in our mission to preserve the memories of military aviation history,” said Warriors and Warbirds President Tim Beckerman.

North Carolina caretakers perform their final prop prime on The Tinker Belle before it makes it way to the Military Aviation Museum. (Photos by City of Monroe)

“We had a really great run, but in recent years it has become increasingly difficult to maintain and acquire parts specific to the aircraft due to its unique designation,” said Hovanec.

The city has also experienced hardship in finding a steady group of certified pilots to fly the C-46 due to the uniqueness of the aircraft, officials noted.

City staff spoke with representatives from the Military Aviation Museum in 2022 regarding the potential sale of the aircraft to their organization.

“As a museum, we see ourselves as caretakers of history, and it is a great honor to continue the tradition of preservation and heritage interpretation that was established by Warriors and Warbirds,” said Keegan Chetwynd, the museum’s director.

According to the terms of the sale, the museum will preserve the cultural and historical significance of the aircraft and will ensure that it will be housed in its facility in perpetuity as an item of historic significance, city officials reported.

“While this is a very bittersweet time for us, we couldn’t be more excited to see Tinker Belle go to an amazing organization dedicated to the preservation and operation of historic aircraft,” said Hovanec. “We have no doubt they will do whatever is needed to showcase this rare bird for years to come.”

The proceeds of the sale will be returned to the Tourism Development Authority Capital Fund since the original purchase was made out of that account.

About The Tinker Belle

The Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando was a transport aircraft originally derived from a commercial high-altitude airliner design. The final C-46 was first introduced to the public in 1942.

It was used as a military transport during World War II by the United States Army Air Corps, as well as the US Navy/Marine Corps under the designation RC5.

Known to the men who flew it as “The Whale” or the “Curtiss Calamity,” the C-46 was the largest and heaviest twin-engine aircraft operated by the Air Corps, with enlarged cargo doors, a strengthened load floor, and a convertible cabin.

Because of its size and thick shell, the C-46 served as a perfect way to navigate violent weather, heavy cargo loads, high mountain terrain, and poorly-equipped airfields, city officials said.

It served as the main supply line from India and Burma to remote areas of China during World War II. The flight path through the Himalayas was known as “the Hump.” The Tinker Belle has several yellow camels painted under its name, which indicates how many times it flew “the Hump.” These images were added for historic significance and education, as The Tinker Belle itself never flew “the Hump,” according to city officials.

After World War II, a few surplus C-46 aircraft were briefly used in their original role as passenger airliners, but the glut of surplus C-47s dominated the marketplace so the C-46 was relegated to primarily cargo duty.

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Comments

  1. Don says

    August 2, 2023 at 3:46 pm

    Saw my last C46 in the Mekong Delta in ’66. 👍

  2. Andrew Deibert says

    August 2, 2023 at 11:06 am

    Also loved loved loved!!! Seeing paratroopers drop from her! What a sight.

  3. Andrew Deibert says

    August 2, 2023 at 11:05 am

    What a plane! So sad to see The Tinker Belle go. I and my kids have gone to Monroe airfield countless times to watch the action and Tinker Belle is always the highlight. We boarded it each year at Monroe Warbirds show. Really wish there was a public announcement to say goodbye and see her off (if there was, we all missed it). We love you Tinker Belle. Monroe Airfield will not be the same without you!!

  4. Julio C. Picchio says

    August 1, 2023 at 9:11 pm

    WOW,
    In the Winter of July, 1957 32F. My family, comprising of my Father, Mother, Sister and I flew commercially from, Santiago, Chile to Miami, Florida. I don’t recall the airline livery…
    The trip took 2 weeks with stops in Antofagasta, Chile. Lima Peru. Guayaquil, Ecuador.
    Panama City, Panama. Cali, Colombia. Caracas, Venezuela and finally Miami, Florida.
    As a 7.5 year old boy, it felt like a great adventure, later to find the my parents had lost everything during the post Peronist, dictatorship.
    Argentina had begun to desegregate and the downward spiral continues through today…
    I do remember that there where 15 passengers and cargo, consisting mainly of non cured cattle hides that emitted a growing fowl odor as we travelled North everything seemed to smell like death…
    Finally reached Miami, Florida 103F. with the port engine on fire. After a few days, my Father bought a car and made our way to !ong Beach, California by late July.
    Welcome to the United States of America…

    • R. Nelson says

      August 2, 2023 at 12:04 pm

      That’s such an amazing story of what we as Americans were able to do during the time of world war and the loss of so much materials to create the things we needed to successfully win that war yet without technology that we have today and drawn on paper using pencils and and architects and engineers feeling buildings full with people we were able to build the most sophisticated and strongest military in the world defeating communism and the Germans in a war that was meant to take over the world and that didn’t happen now we face China if we only had those brave men and women still operating today we would have no problems I don’t think that’s my personal opinion but I do believe in the honor and the determination of the American Spirit I think we still have it and it’s only being lost because of the government I know in our hearts when a person who is truly an honorable American who loves their country put their nose to the grindstone we could do anything we just got to get rid of the people in charge so that we are able to do what we are capable of doing and we proved it time and time again the only reason we keep what seems like when I put that in quotes losing wars we don’t lose them they yank us out just one more about to conclude success I know cuz I was in the Army and just as we were climbing that last peak to claim victory they would pull us off the line and we’d look ridiculous it was a shame at the lives lost over what seemed to be a winning situation anyway God Bless America

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