The C-76 was built of wood as a precaution against aluminium shortages but these did not arise in America during WWII. The type also had lots of issues. The first YC-76, 42-86918, lost its tail and crashed one week after its first flight in May 1943. The War Department swiftly cancelled its orders in August 1943. Eleven YC-76 and nine YC-76A airframes were completed by a new Curtiss plant in Kentucky, and five C-76s with lower serial numbers, including this machine, in Buffalo. The US roundel with a red outline was used during the summer of 1943. The chase plane is a CW-22B, NC19446. Photo by: Hans Groenhoff / Smithsonian Institution