Fairchild C - 119 Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C - 119 Flying Boxcar ( Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q ) was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II - era Fairchild C - 82 Packet , designed to carry cargo , personnel , litter patients , and mechanized equipment , and to drop cargo and troop s by parachute . The first C - 119 made its initial flight in November 1947 , and by the time production ceased in 1955 , more than 1 , 100 C - 119s had been built . Its cargo - hauling ability and unusual appearance earned it the nickname " Flying Boxcar " . Development . The Air Force C - 119 and Navy R4Q was initially a redesign of the earlier Fairchild C - 82 Packet , built between 1945 and 1948 . The Packet provided service to the Air Force ' s Tactical Air Command and Military Air Transport Service for nearly nine years during which time its design was found to have several serious problems . All of these were addressed in the C - 119 . In contrast to the C - 82 , the cockpit was moved forward to fit flush with the nose rather than its previous location over the cargo compartment . This resulted in more usable cargo space and larger loads than the C - 82 could accommodate . The C - 119 also featured more powerful engines , and a wider and stronger airframe . The first C - 119 prototype ( called the XC - 82B ) first flew in November 1947 , with deliveries of C - 119Bs from Fairchild ' s Hagerstown , Maryland factory beginning in December 1949 . In 1951 Henry J . Kaiser was awarded a contract to assemble additional C - 119s at the Kaiser - Frazer automotive factory located in the former B - 24 plant at Willow Run Airport in Belleville , Michigan . Initially , the Kaiser - built C - 119F would differ from the Fairchild aircraft by the use of Wright R - 3350 - 85 Duplex Cyclone engines in place of Fairchild ' s use of the Pratt & Whitney R - 4360 Wasp Major radial engine . The Wright engine was a proven design used previously on the B - 29 , and though it lacked the R - 4360 ' s supercharger s it proved to be virtually identical in performance , and possibly superior at higher altitudes . Kaiser would build 71 C - 119s at Willow Run in 1952 and 1953 ( AF Ser . No . 51 - 8098 to 51 - 8168 ) before converting the factory for a planned production of the Chase C - 123 that would never occur . The Kaiser sub - contract was frowned upon by Fairchild , and efforts were made through political channels to stop Kaiser ' s production , which may have proven successful . Following Kaiser ' s termination of C - 119 production the contract for the C - 123 was instead awarded to Fairchild . Most Kaiser - built aircraft were issued to the U . S . Marine Corps as R4Qs , with several later turned over to the South Vietnam ese Air Force in the 1970s . The AC - 119G " Shadow " gunship variant was fitted with four six - barrel 7 . 62 mm minigun s , armor plating , flare launchers , and night - capable infrared equipment . Like the AC - 130 that would succeed it , the AC - 119 would prove to be a potent weapon . The AC - 119 was made more deadly by the introduction of the AC - 119K " Stinger " version , which featured the addition of two General Electric M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannon , improved avionics , and two underwing - mounted General Electric J85 - GE - 17 turbojet engines , adding nearly of thrust . Other major variants included the EC - 119J , used for satellite tracking , and the YC - 119H Skyvan prototype , with larger wings and tail . In civilian use , many C - 119s feature the " Jet - Pack " modification , which incorporates a Westinghouse J34 turbojet engine in a nacelle above the fuselage . Production . Number Built : 1 , 183 consisting of : Two additional airframes were built by Fairchild for static tests Operational history . The aircraft saw extensive action during the Korean War as a troop and equipment transport . In July 1950 , four C - 119s were sent to FEAF for service tests . Two months later , the C - 119 deployed with the 314th Troop Carrier Group and served in Korea throughout the war . In December 1950 , after Chinese PLA troops blew up a bridge at a narrow point on the evacuation route between Koto - ri and Hungnam , blocking the withdrawal of U . N . forces , eight U . S . Air Force C - 119 Flying Boxcars flown by the 314th Troop Carrier Group were used to drop portable bridge sections by parachute . The bridge , consisting of eight separate sixteen - foot long , 2 , 900 - pound sections , was dropped one section at a time , using two parachutes on each section . Four of these sections , together with additional wooden extensions were successfully reassembled into a replacement bridge by Marine Corps combat engineers and the US Army 58th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company , enabling U . N . forces to reach Hungnam . From 1951 to 1962 , C - 119C , F and G models served with U . S . Air Forces in Europe ( USAFE ) and Far East Air Forces ( FEAF ) as the first - line Combat Cargo units , and did yeoman work as freight haulers with the 60th Troop Carrier Wing , the 317th Troop Carrier Wing and the 465th Troop Carrier Wing in Europe , based first in Germany and then in France with roughly 150 aircraft operating anywhere from Greenland to India . A similar number of aircraft served in the Pacific and the Far East . In 1958 , the 317th absorbed the 465th , and transitioned to the C - 130 s , but the units of the former 60th Troop Carrier Wing , the 10th , 11th and 12th Troop Carrier Squadrons , continued to fly C - 119s until 1962 , the last non - Air Force Reserve and non - Air National Guard operational units to fly the " Boxcars . " The USAF Strategic Air Command had C - 119 Flying Boxcars in service from 1955 to 1973 . The C - 119s saw service with the 456th Troop Carrier Wing which was attached to the Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) from 25 April 1955 to 26 May 1956 . The C - 119s performed aerial recovery of high altitude balloon - borne instrument packages . C - 119s from the 6593rd Test Squadron based at Hickam Air Force Base , Hawaii performed several aerial recoveries of film - return capsules during the early years of the Corona spy satellite program . On 19 August 1960 the recovery by a C - 119 of film from the Corona mission code - named Discoverer 14 was the first successful recovery of film from an orbiting satellite and the first aerial recovery of an object returning from Earth orbit . The C - 119 would go on to see extensive service in French Indochina , beginning in 1953 with aircraft secretly loaned by the CIA to French forces for troop support . These aircraft were generally flown in French markings by American CIA pilots often accompanied by French officers and support staff . The C - 119 was to play a major role during the siege at Dien Bien Phu , where they flew into increasingly heavy fire while dropping supplies to the besieged French forces . The only two American pilot casualties of the siege at Dien Bien Phu were James B . McGovern , Jr . ( " Earthquake McGoon " ) and Wallace ( " Wally " ) A . Buford . Both pilots , together with a French crew member , were killed in early June , 1954 , when their C - 119 , while making an artillery drop , was hit and crippled by Viet Minh anti - aircraft fire , and then flown some 75 miles East into Laos , where they crashed . During the Sino - Indian War of 1962 , the C - 119 was extensively used for supply of Indian forces . President Kennedy allowed sales of spares of C - 119 on priority basis upon request by the Indian government . During the Vietnam War , C - 119G ' s were modified as AC - 119G Shadows and AC - 119K Stingers . They were used successfully in both close air support missions in South Vietnam and interdiction missions against trucks and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail . All the AC - 119G Gunships were transferred to the South Vietnamese in 1973 when the American forces were withdrawn . After retirement from active duty , substantial numbers of C - 119s and R4Qs soldiered on in the U . S . Navy , U . S . Marine Corps , the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard until the mid - 1970s , the R4Qs also being redesignated as C - 119s in 1962 . The last military use of the C - 119 by the United States ended in 1974 when a single squadron of Navy Reserve C - 119s based at Naval Air Facility Detroit / Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Detroit , Michigan , and two squadrons based at Naval Air Station Los Alamitos , California replaced their C - 119s with newer aircraft . Many C - 119s were provided to other nations as part of the Military Assistance Program , including Belgium , Brazil , Ethiopia , India , Italy , Jordan , Taiwan , and ( as previously mentioned ) South Vietnam . The type was also used by the Royal Canadian Air Force , and by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps under the designation R4Q until 1962 when they were also redesignated as C - 119 . Civilian use . A number of aircraft were acquired by companies who were contracted by the United States Forest Service ( USFS ) and the Bureau of Land Management to provide airtanker s for fighting wildfires . Others were pressed into civilian cargo service . After a series of crashes , the age and safety of the aircraft being used as airtankers became a serious concern , and the U . S . C - 119 airtanker fleet was permanently grounded in 1987 . Eventually , many of these aircraft were provided to museums across the U . S . in a complicated - and ultimately illegal - scheme where stored USAF Lockheed C - 130 Hercules transports and Navy Lockheed P - 3 Orion anti - submarine patrol aircraft were provided to the contractors in exchange for the C - 119s . ( See U . S . Forest Service airtanker scandal . ) After the end of the airtanker days many C - 119s flew in Alaska for Northern Pacific Transport , Gifford Aviation , Stebbins & Ambler Air transport , and Delta Associates , being used for public service contracts , such as hauling building materials to the villages in the bush of Alaska that have no road access . Survivors . A number of C - 119s have been preserved in museums . Brazil Belgium India South Korea Taiwan - Republic of China United States Popular culture . The 2004 film " Flight of the Phoenix " employed a C - 119 instead of the C - 82 Packet featured in the original 1965 film . ( The aircraft in the novel is referred to as a " Skytruck " . ) The studio had been offered the Hawkins & Power ' s flyable C - 82 , but the director favored the more graceful lines of the C - 119 for this version . A C - 119G owned by Hawkins & Powers Aviation Inc . and registered as N15501 was flown to Africa with the addition of a single jet mounted on the upper surface , which was then removed for filming . Three ex - USMC C - 119Fs were also used for the various wreck scenes . An ex - RCAF C - 119 water bomber also makes several appearances at the training base in the 1989 movie " Always " . References . Bibliography . " Website of origin : < a href = " National % 20Museum % 20of % 20the % 20United % 20States % 20Air % 20Force " > USAF Museum < / a >