Meet Curtiss C-46 Commando
The C-46 grew from Curtiss's CW-20 airliner design into a military transport. Its broad fuselage gave it substantial cargo capacity, while two large radial engines supplied the power. It worked alongside the C-47 but was a larger aircraft with a different airframe and systems.
The Commando continued into civilian freight operations after the war. Its period flight deck includes systems that predate modern route-following automation; the simulator manual's Sperry Gyropilot is best understood in that historical context.
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C-46 Commando
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Edition / package Aviator
Attitude and direction control from an earlier era
The C-46 manual describes the Sperry Gyropilot and hydraulic instrumentation. Its automation maintains attitude and direction rather than acting like a modern flight-management system that follows an entire route. That distinction helps make sense of the controls in this large piston transport.
Microsoft / aircraft developers · Curtiss C-46 Commanndo Manual ↗Archived simulator manual; installed package revision not observed · PDF pp.4,6-7
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Curtiss C-46 Commanndo ManualMicrosoft / aircraft developers Microsoft Flight Simulator aircraft manualsMicrosoft / aircraft developersAircraft background
Curtiss C-46 CommandoWikipedia contributors · Research background · Wikipedia revision 1373606151 · retrieved 2026-09-12Resource
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