Yes, I had about a thousand hours or so in C-46s, most in the
left seat.

I have about 800 hours in the R5C-1, which is the PROPER name of that
aircraft. (:-)) The Marine Corps had two squadrons of them (VMR 153
and VMR 252) at Cherry Point from the end of WW II till about 1953,
when they were replaced with R4Q-2s (which the Air Force mistakenly
called the C-119).

I believe the Marines flew them in the Pacific during WW II, but I
was in high school then, so I'm not sure. BTW, Tyrone Power was a
pilot in VMR 252 in the Pacific.

Ablout half of our airplanes were unpainted, the other half were
blue. But where the blue paint had worn off, there was olive-drab
paint underneath, so I always assumed the Navy got those airplanes
and gave them to the Marines, after the Army wore them out.

Needless to say, it required a bit more run length for T/Os
and landings.

Although half a century has passed since I flew one, I think we
operated them in and out of 3,000 foot strips.

In the air, unless the hydraulic control boosters were
operable, it handled about like what I imagine picking up a horse one
handed might be.

IIRC, the R5C-1 was the equivalent of the C46a, and had no hydraulic
boost. It was heavy on the controls, but not too bad; it was a lot
easier to fly than the PB4Y-2 (single-finned B-24) I had flown before.

I wonder if any of them are
still flying - the last one I heard of was around 5 years back.

I saw one being fully refurbished in Red Deer, Alberta, about 1995.
Later I saw several at Fairbanks, Alaska. They fly supplies to the
many villages unreachable except by air.

The engines are a tad more complex than the R-1280s

PW R-2800s. Hell of a good engine. The Curtiss Electric props were
troublesome, though.

vince norris