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The C-119 Flying Boxcar,
was a twin-engine, twin-boom, twin-tail transport designed to
carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechanized
equipment, and to drop cargo and troops by parachute (utilizing
its "clamshell" cargo doors in the rear cockpit). The
first C-119 made its maiden flight in November 1947 and by the
time production ceased in 1955, more than 1,150 C-119s had been
built. The USAF used the airplane extensively during the Korean
Conflict as a transport. In South Vietnam, the airplane once
again entered combat, this time in the ground support role as
the AC-119G "Shadow" and AC-119K "Stinger" gunships
mounting side-firing weapons capable of unleashing up to 6,000
rounds per minute per gun. When acting as a transport, the C-119 could
carry up to 62 fully-equipped troops or a 30,000 pound cargo
load.
Perhaps the Boxcar's most notable feat
happened when it made the world's first mid-air recovery of a capsule returning from outer space. This occurred southwest
of Honolulu, Hawaii on 19 August 1960 when it snagged the chute
attached to the Discovery XIV satellite at an altitude of 8,000
feet.
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