INTRO

As it says in the description, this is not a Fairchild AC-119. Not really, anyway, since it was a quick build without using a blueprint... but it does rather look like one.

The real AC-119 was a gunship version of the Fairchild C-119 "Flying Boxcar" transport. By late 1967, the idea of the fixed-wing gunship had proven so successful, 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 armed reconnaissance and interdiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar presented an obvious choice, having been phased out of front-line service, making the airframes available for conversion.

Let's call this build a somewhat modernized version of the AC-119... with French markings.

ARMAMENT

• Side-mounted CN-105-57 cannon (105 mm) with a 12 rpm firing rate
• Side-mounted Bofors 40mm cannon with a 330 rpm firing rate
• Side-mounted rotary "Avenger" with a ridiculous firing rate
• Fixed, forward firing CN-105-57 cannon
• FIxed, forward firing Avenger
• Six Hellfire missiles
• Two rather standard "Cleavers"
• 150 flares + 150 chaff in a Matra "Phimat" pod under the right wing

CONTROLS

The plane is easy enough to control on takeoff and in flight. Unfortunately, it handles like... ehm... and old cargo plane.

AG1 : freezes the plane's controls, and allows you to aim the side-mounted guns (scroll through cams until you hit the right one) using pitch and yaw. This admittedly works best with a joystick; with the keyboard, taking a decent aim is impossible. Oh, and remember: the 105 and 40mm's are cannons, so you have to select them from the weapons menu. The Avengers can be fired by simply hitting space (so, simultaneously with the cannons if required).

AG2 : Switches on the gyro for stable, level flight. For when you don't want to run around in circles, but still want to take pot shots at passing hardware.

AG3, AG4 and AG5 provide different angles of "lean" for auto-circling. AG3 will start you off at only 20 degrees, which makes the plane fly rather large circles. Activating AG4 and AG5 will give you a greater lean angle/decreasing turn radius; de-activating AG3 and then AG4 increases the angle even more, the maximum with only AG5 activated. In all, this gives you a choice of 5 lean angles in approx. 10-degree increments.

AG8 : turns off the lights...

Well, have fun scrapping ground targets !