20 Cold War-Era Warplanes of the U.S. Air Force

AC-119G Shadow, AC-119K Stinger

During the Vietnam War, Tactical Air Command’s 17th Special Operations Squadron (SOS) aircrew began flying AC-119Gs gunships. Four six-barrel miniguns were each capable of firing 6,000 rounds per minute of 7.62x51mm fire down on communists unlucky enough to find themselves on the receiving end of the Shadow. 18th SOS crews operated the AC-119K, which had — in addition to the four miniguns found on the G model — two turbojet engines mounted on the wings, two 20-mm M61 Vulcan cannons, along with an array of radars for finding and killing enemy trucks.