John Hupe's AC-119K Stinger Flies Again

Written by Ron Van Putte Forty years after its last flight in Thailand, it takes its final flight Feature As seen in the November 2013 issue of Model Aviation. In June 2012, I had the opportunity to be a part of an amazing story involving an RC model of an AC-119K Stinger gunship that was built in 1972 by John Hupe, an Air Force officer, while he served as a navigator and sensor operator in the 18th Special Operations Squadron (SOS). John flew a full-scale AC-119K in Vietnam, executing search and destroy missions at night over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Back in the Vietnam War…