Meteor Air Transport  Curtiss C-46  N53594                       C/n  22486)

                                      

                                           Normally I only include one photo per type for each airline, but I'll make an exception with
                                           this Meteor Air Transport C-46 since it wound up as rather a "special" aircraft.  After being
                                           sold off by Meteor in 1960 it went to Riddle, Zantop Air Transport, Universal Airlines and a
                                           couple of leasing companies before being preserved.   Originally C-46F-1-CU 44-78663 it
                                           was acquired by the Confederate Air Force (changed to Commemorative Air Force when
                                           political correctness went berserk the world over) and from the 1990s on has been based at
                                           Camarillo, California.   It is named  'China Doll". and as such, is now a frequent visitor to air
                                           shows.   It was always difficult to photograph at Camarillo since it was parked close to the
                                           hangar and always surrounded by the CAF's T-6s etc. My shot below was taken at that venue
                                           in 2000, whilst the original of it as a civil conversion (above) was taken by Bill Larkins at Oak-
                                           land, California, fifty years previously (in September 1952).