| AC-119G Shadow AC-119K Stinger | |
|---|---|
 An AC-119 gunship on the tarmac | |
| Type | Fixed-wing gunship |
| Manufacturer | Fairchild |
| Introduced | November 1968 |
| Retired | USAF: 1971 RVNAF: 1975 |
| Primary users | United States Air Force South Vietnam Air Force |
| Number built | 52 |
The Fairchild AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stinger were twin-engine piston-powered gunships developed by the United States during the Vietnam War. For the game see Gunship (video game The term " gunship " is used in several contexts all sharing the general idea of a light craft armed An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing building testing selling and maintaining Aircraft, Aircraft parts Fairchild was an aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale New York, Hagerstown Maryland and San Antonio Texas History The VNAF (abbreviation for V iet N am A ir F orce Vietnamese is "Không Quân Việt Nam" started off as a few hand The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia They replaced the inadequate AC-47 Spooky and supplemented the newer AC-130. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Lockheed AC-130 Gunship is a heavily-armed ground attack airplane The AC-119 program (Project Gunship III) came after the AC-130, not before.
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Design and development
By late 1967, the idea of the fixed-wing gunship had been proven so successful that the United States Air Force was having a difficult time keeping up with demand. The newer AC-130s that had been created under Project Gunship II were effective, but were being mostly used for interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Lockheed AC-130 Gunship is a heavily-armed ground attack airplane The Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam through Furthermore, the C-130 airframe was in active service as a transport, vital to the war effort in Southeast Asia. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Air Force desperately needed a new gunship to replace the vulnerable and underpowered AC-47 in supporting "Troops In Contact" (known as TIC), as well as, supplementing the AC-130 in attacking targets on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout
The C-119 Flying Boxcar presented an obvious choice, having been phased out of frontline service in favor of the C-123 and C-130, and with the stock of available airframes in U.S. Air Force Reserve being sufficient. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Air Force Reserve Command ( AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM of the U In February 1968, under the USAF program Project Gunship III, 26 C-119Gs were converted to AC-119G standard, initially taking on the name "Creep," but later assigned the callsign "Shadow. "[1] These aircraft were primarily intended to replace the AC-47 in the TIC role. In addition, Fairchild-Hiller, which was contracted for all the conversions, converted 26 C-119Ks into AC-119Ks primarily for the "truck hunter" role over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Fairchild was an aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale New York, Hagerstown Maryland and San Antonio Texas These aircraft were called "Stingers" primarily in reference to the two M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannons they carried in addition to the AC-119G's four GAU-2/A miniguns. The M61 Vulcan is a 20 mm Hydraulically or Pneumatically driven six- barreled air-cooled The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an
Project Gunship III, being a follow-on to the success of the AC-130 series, meant that the AC-119 was a more advanced aircraft in both its iterations than the AC-47. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Even the TIC AC-119G featured some of the most up-to-date ECM and radar equipment, as well as more basic technology including an AVQ-8 Xenon light, a Night Observation Sight (NOS) and an LAU-74/A flare launcher. Electronic Countermeasures ( ECM') are a subsection of Electronic warfare which includes any sort of electrical or electronic device designed to trick
The AC-119K, designed to hit trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, was more advanced. Included in the conversion was the AN/APN-147 Doppler Navigation radar, AN/AAD-4 Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR), AN/APQ-133 side-looking beacon tracking radar and AN/APQ-136 search radar.
The armament scheme for both aircraft was simpler than that of the AC-130. The AC-119G had a total of four GAU-2A/A miniguns in SUU-11A/A pods, all on mounts similar to those used on early AC-47s. The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an Like late model AC-47s, these were soon changed to the purpose-built MXU-470/A minigun modules. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an The AC-119K, needing a more powerful and longer range "punch" to take out vehicles, featured two M61 20 mm cannons in addition to the four Miniguns of the AC-119G. The M61 Vulcan is a 20 mm Hydraulically or Pneumatically driven six- barreled air-cooled
Operational service
By November 1968, the aircraft had deployed to Vietnam and joined the 14th Special Operations Wing at Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa province, on The AC-119Gs were formed into the 17th Special Operations Squadron, and the AC-119Ks into the 18th Special Operations Squadron. With the addition of the two types, the 14th SOW for a time in 1968 was flying eight different aircraft from ten different bases in South Vietnam. The 14th SOW was deactivated in 1971. Limited numbers continued to be operated out of Hurlburt Field, Florida as late as the fall of 1972, but the AC-119 was shortly after, phased out of the US Air Force. Hurlburt Field is a US Air Force installation located in Okaloosa County Florida, immediately west of the Town of Mary Esther and is part of the The AC-119G and -K continued to serve in extremely small numbers with the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) until the de facto reunification of the country in 1975. History The VNAF (abbreviation for V iet N am A ir F orce Vietnamese is "Không Quân Việt Nam" started off as a few hand During the Vietnam War, only five AC-119 Gunship IIIs were lost to all causes. [2]
Operators
Specifications (AC-119G)
General characteristics
- Crew: 6 (day), 8 (night)
- Length: 86 ft 5¾ in (26. "RVN" redirects here RVN is also the former callsign of a TV station in Wagga Wagga New South Wales Australia History The VNAF (abbreviation for V iet N am A ir F orce Vietnamese is "Không Quân Việt Nam" started off as a few hand The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 36 m)
- Wingspan: 109 ft 3¼ in (33. The wingspan (or just span) of an airplane or a Bird, is the distance from the left wingtip to the right wingtip 31 m)
- Height: 26 ft 7¾ in (8. 12 m)
- Wing area: 1,400 ft² (130 m²)
- Empty weight: 40,125 lb (18,200 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 62,000 lb (28,100 kg)
- Powerplant: 2× Wright R-3350-85 "Duplex Cyclone" radial engines, 3,500 hp (2,610 kW) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 180 knots (210 mph, 335 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 130 knots (150 mph, 240 km/h)
- Range: 1,680 nm (1,930 mi, 3,100 km)
- Service ceiling 23,300 ft (7,100 m)
Armament
- 4× GAU-2/A 7. The Maximum Takeoff Weight or Maximum Takeoff Mass of an Aircraft is the maximum weight at which the pilot of the aircraft is allowed to attempt to take off WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion Engine configuration in which the cylinders point outward from a central In Aviation, V-speeds or Velocity-speeds are standard terms used to define Airspeeds important or useful to the operation of Aircraft, such In Aviation, V-speeds or Velocity-speeds are standard terms used to define Airspeeds important or useful to the operation of Aircraft, such The maximal total range is the distance an Aircraft can fly between Takeoff and Landing, as limited by fuel capacity in powered aircraft or cross-country In Aeronautics, a ceiling is the maximum Density altitude an aircraft can reach under a set of conditions 62 mm (0. 30 in) miniguns, 1,500 rounds/gun
- 2x M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannons (AC-119K variant)
- 60× Mk 24 flares in an LAU-74/A flare launcher
References
- Notes
- ^ Fairchild AC-119 Gunship "Shadow"
- ^ Hobson 2001
- Bibliography
- Hobson, Chris. The minigun is a multi-barrel Machine gun with a high rate of fire (several thousand Rounds per minute) employing Gatling -style rotating barrels and an The M61 Vulcan is a 20 mm Hydraulically or Pneumatically driven six- barreled air-cooled "Vietnam Air Losses, USAF/USN/USMC, Fixed-Wing Aircraft Losses in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973. " North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. ISBN 1-85780-1156.
- Petrie, Bill. AC-119G Shadow (USAF AC-119 Gunships). AC-119 Gunship Association, updated: 12 January 2006. Events 475 - Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Retrieved: 11 April 2007. Events 491 - Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine Emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
- Petrie, Bill. AC-119K Stinger (USAF AC-119 Gunships). AC-119 Gunship Association, updated: 27 February 2006. Events 1560 - The Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, is signed by England and the Congregation Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Retrieved: 11 April 2007. Events 491 - Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine Emperor, with the name of Anastasius I. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
External links
See also
Related development
Comparable aircraft
WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Lockheed AC-130 Gunship is a heavily-armed ground attack airplaneDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic