CC-CAT Curtiss
C-46
(c/n 33236)
Sociedad de Transportes
Aeros, Ltda (ALA) was formed in 1954 by the merger of two small
carriers: Lyon Air and Air
Chile. Its backers were a large nitrate producing company of north
-ern Chile. The airline
offered cut rate fares from Santiago to Panama (via Guayaquil) and on
to
Havana, Cuba. In addition to C-46s it also flew a Consolidated
B-24 Liberator Transport.
As business grew, Lockheed Constellations were leased from
Cubana CC-CAT was one of
the C-46s picked up with the
acquisition of Lyon Air. They had acquired it from Peru where it
had flown as
OB-OAB-244. This aircraft was originally a USAAF
C-46D-10-CU with serial
44-77840. ALA was taken over by LADECO in 1957. The C-46
remained in Chile and was
scrapped in 1982.