AC-119 Shadow/Stinger Gunship
The Fairchild AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stinger were twin-engine piston-powered gunships developed by the United States during the Vietnam War. They replaced the inadequate AC-47 Spooky and supplemented the newer AC-130. The AC-119 program (Project Gunship III) came after the AC-130, not before. 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. Furthermore, the C-130 airframe was in active service as a transport, vital to the war effort in Southeast Asia. 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. 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 US Air Force Reserve being sufficient. 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 <b>…</b>
