Wow - never seen one in real life.
As a wee lad, we would have these in our back yard, I was practicing on being the black Marty Stouffer (Wild America tv show, look him up), you step on them, and they would not die, had to do the "step and wipe", and it had to be on a solid flat surface, preferably on a patio. Each time you step on them, they would get progressively madder (you would too) and come after you. I've never been stung, but I guess it would hurt.
Not like this though
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet