Mission The Fairchild AC-119G/K is a fixed-wing, side-firing aerial gunship that provides close air support in defense of ground positions, armed reconnaissance and interdiction, and forward air controlling for fighter strikes. In Southeast Asia, AC-119Gs mainly flew fire support and air base defense missions, while the AC-119Ks were employed almost exclusively to destroy targets along …
Mission The Lockheed AC-130H/U is a fixed-wing, side-firing aerial gunship that provides close air support, air interdiction and force protection. Close air support missions include troops in contact, convoy escort and urban operations. Air interdiction missions are conducted against preplanned targets or targets of opportunity. Force protection missions include air base defense and facilities defense. Secondary missions include armed reconnaissance, forward …
Mission The Douglas AC-47D is a fixed-wing, side-firing aerial gunship that provides close air support in defense of ground positions, escort and patrol, pre-planned strikes against suitable targets, and forward air controlling for fighter strikes. Background In the early-1960s, the Air Force Systems Command began experimenting with fixed-wing, side-firing weapons systems for possible use in …
Overview The Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando was the largest and heaviest twin-engine aircraft to see service with the USAAF. It gained its greatest fame in airlifting supplies over “the Hump” (the Himalaya Mountains) in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater in World War II, although it saw action in every theater. The Commando began its career as a …
Overview The C-160 Transall first flew in 1963. Production was completed in 1972, but in 1977 the program was reinstated to produce a “new generation” C-160 for France. The last of these new generation aircraft entered service in 1987. The wings are high-mounted and equally tapered outboard of the two turboprop engines, which are mounted …
Overview The C-23B Sherpa, based on the Shorts 330 regional airliner which first flew on 22 August 1974, is a light military transport aircraft designed to operate efficiently, even under the most arduous conditions, in a wide range of mission configurations. The large square-section cargo hold, with excellent access at both ends, offers ready flexibility …
Overview With a requirement to replace the aging Curtiss C-46 Commando, the Japan Air Self-Defence Force drew up its C-X specification for an indigenous, medium-sized troop and freight transport in the early-1960s. The Nihon Aeroplane Manufacturing Company began its design in 1966 and, even before approval of the full-size mock-up, the company was contracted to build …
Overview Based on (or converted from) the airframe of the Il-76M military freighter, this aerial refueling tanker aircraft entered service in 1987 to replace the elderly and incapable Myasishchev M-4 “Bison”. Fitted with three Severin/UPAZ PAE external refueling units, one under each wing (which are reportedly sometimes removed on missions involving only a single receiver aircraft) and …
Overview In the mid-1960s, the Ilyushin OKB were tasked with designing a successor to the Antonov An-12 “Cub”, a medium range turboprop transport with good rough field capability. This new aircraft would have to possess twice the range and payload of the earlier type without suffering any loss in field performance, a many-wheeled chassis with high cross-country …
Overview Howard Hughes’s famous HK-1 Hercules (#NX37602) is a cargo-type flying boat designed to transport men and materials over long distances. Originally conceived by Henry J. Kaiser, a steelmaker and builder of Liberty ships, the aircraft was designed and constructed by Hughes and his staff. The original proposal for the enormous, 400,000-pound wooden flying boat, …
