R5C-1
Twin-engined military transport aircraft for the US Marine Corps. Similar to the C-46A Commando. 160 built.
R5C-1: A total of 160 C-46As delivered to the USMC starting in February 1943. This included 92 C-46A-CUs and 68 C-46A-CKs of various blocks.
R5C-1T: At least one USN aircraft converted for training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Memphis, Tennessee ca. 1954.
R5C-1Z: At least one USMC aircraft converted to a VIP transport in 1946.
All 160 R5C-1's ordered by the USN were delivered to the USMC; the first aircraft was delivered on 25 February 1943 but deliveries were slow and by December 1943, only 30 Commandos had been received.
The first two squadrons were equipped with R5C-1's in August 1944 and by the end of the war, six squadrons were flying these aircraft, i.e.: - Marine Transport Squadron Two Hundred Fifty Two (VMR-252) had been in existence since the 1920's under various designations and had moved to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Ewa, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii in 1941. Equipped with R5C-1's in August 1944, the squadron flew supply and evacuation missions in support of the invasions of the Marshall Islands; Saipan, Tinian and Guam Islands in the Mariana Islands; and Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands.