Lockheed Martin’s AC-130 gunship is one of the most lethal aircraft ever made,
equipped with a wide array of technological innovations such as night vision,
sophisticated sensors that can detect enemy formations and vehicles from miles away, and an
offensive arsenal that ranges from rapid-firing machine guns to impressive explosive canons.
The revered AC-130 has been around for almost six decades. It was first introduced in the Vietnam
War as a replacement for the Spooky AC-47 under the top-secret Project Gunship II, and created
havoc in North Vietnam to support American and South Vietnamese ground troops from 1969 to 1975.
The aircraft soon earned its nickname ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ after its unmistakable roar
when firing its weapons and the flares it launched that lit up entire combat zones.
After several upgrades, it also served in the Cold and Gulf wars, and because of its role in
the War on Terror, many people still believe it is one of American’s recent innovations.
In reality, it is a legendary powerhouse.
The Rise of the Gunships
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces and the British Royal Air Force
operated over 10,000 converted civilian Douglas DC3 propeller-driven airliners.
The military version of this aircraft was the Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota.
It was chosen by the Army for its outstanding speed, built quality, and ample storage capacity.
The C-47s saw action in almost all theatres of the war.
They were primarily used as transport for cargo and supplies,
carrying the wounded to medical outposts and dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines.
They also carried men and dropped supplies in Guadalcanal, New Guinea,
and Burma in the Pacific while dropping thousands of American, British, and Canadian paratroopers
during the invasion of Normandy and Operation Market Garden. In addition, they airlifted
valuable supplies to encircled American soldiers during the Battle of Bastogne in Belgium.
In the postwar, C-47s also became essential in the 1948 Berlin Airlift
after the Soviets halted all trains transporting food and other goods to West Berlin,
forcing the Allies to resupply the city by air.
However, as the first conflicts of the Cold War started to surface around the world,
the Army was interested in developing a well-rounded aircraft that could assist
friendly troops against a superior enemy force.
Project Gunship
The US Air Force began modifying C-47s in the early 1960s for
potential combat usage under the Project Gunship program.
Three 7.62-millimeter General Electric miniguns were placed through rear window
openings and the cargo door on the pilot’s left side. The miniguns were activated by a
control on the cockpit, and the pilot could either fire them individually or together.
This became the first attempt of the US to create a side-firing gunship for close air support.
The two conversions made were designated AC-47D for attack cargo.
As the conflict in Vietnam escalated against the Viet Cong,
American advisors and the Air Force began to outfit other C-47s to drop
parachute flares during offensive and defensive night operations.
These aircraft were designated FC-47, with the ‘F’ standing for flare.
But the use of flares was not enough to fend off enemy attacks. Firepower was desperately needed.
Consequently, US forces in Vietnam approved the fixed-wing gunship concept and began to fit their
own flare C-47s with three M134 7.62-millimeter miniguns. The gunship was thus born.
These conversions started to be delivered in Vietnam by early 1964 for immediate combat use.
The gunship had the standard measures of a C-47: a 95-foot wingspan,
64.5 feet in length, and 16.5 feet in height.
Pratt and Whitney engines gave it a maximum speed of 229 miles per hour and a cruise speed of 150
miles with an approximate range of 1,500 miles. The aircraft also had a loiter time of seven hours
to provide coverage over a designated area at 3,000 feet above ground level.
A crew of seven was required to fly the aircraft, including a pilot,
copilot, navigator, loadmaster, flight engineers, and two gunners that assisted with the weapons.
As the miniguns were fixed, angle and altitude were essential for firing with pinpoint accuracy.
The three M134 MGs could pour between 50 and 100 rounds per second.
The gunship could also provide suppressing fire over a tight circle of 52 yards in diameter,
placing one round every 2.4 yards during a three-second burst.
The first converted C47s were used with devastating effects.
In combination with the flares it dropped from the skies, the gunships
were able to stop and obliterate the Viet Cong during night attacks.
The time of the gunship had come.
The Protector of the Skies
The first gunships quickly earned a new nickname forged in battle. Friendly forces that saw it
blast enemies to pieces from the sky began calling it ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon.’
The name came from the guttural roar made by its miniguns when fired
and the flares it dropped that lit entire warzones during night operations.
During its first 20 combat sorties in the last days of December 1964 and the early
months of 1965, the two gunships put down more than 100 Viet Cong in every mission.
Hearing the roaring sound of its engines was more than enough to
make the Viet Cong retreat from attacking American and South Vietnamese outposts.
As the months passed, the number of gunships in Vietnam increased to 20.
From 1965 to 1969, they flew over 4,000 missions and achieved more than 5,500 combined hits while
saving countless allied units and forts from falling into the hands of the enemy.
In mid-1969, the already legendary gunships began to wear out,
and it was no longer feasible to continue repairing airframes built during the 1930s.
The last AC-47 flew in December of 1969
before they were put in the hands of South Vietnamese units.
Still, just in time to replace the Puff, a more lethal and powerful aircraft took over.
It was designated AC-130, but everyone knew it as the Shadow.
The Shadow AC-130
The first AC-130s arrived in Vietnam in 1968. While searching for a replacement for the AC-47s,
the armed forces chose the Lockheed C-130 as part of Project Gunship II.
The first conversions took place in 1967. Other than the new airframe,
the C-130 Hercules featured a night vision telescope, a forward-looking infrared device,
an analog fire-control computer, miniguns, and four 20-millimeter rotary cannons.
Prototype devices included a magnetic anomaly detector called Black Crow that could be used
to find hidden Viet Cong trucks in the jungle foliage covering the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Although pilots referred to the AC-130 as Shadow,
ground troops still referred to it as Puff Magic Dragon. The aircraft supported
American GIs during the Tet Offensive to push the enemy back into North Vietnam.
By 1970, over 30 AC-130s were operating across Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia. At first, the gunships operated with an escort of F4 Phantoms,
but later innovations helped the aircraft fly by itself.
In May and June of 1970, the AC-130s flew over 180 sorties, firing more than two
million rounds of 7.62-millimeter ammunition and about 20,000 20-millimeter cannon shells.
During these critical months, when US forces began to slowly withdraw from the front,
the gunships destroyed 600 Viet Cong vehicles and terminated over 3,500
infantry. Sometimes they would even destroy more than 25 trucks each night.
The gunships became the first and most lethal threat to the Ho Chi Minch trail.
Thanks to its night vision and infrared capabilities, the AC-130s halted enemy
convoys and destroyed tens of thousands of supplies that were sent to the Viet Cong.
The Surprise Package of the AC-130 featured two new 20-millimeter Vulcan cannons
and two 40-millimeter Bofors cannons that worked flawlessly with new electronic devices.
The combat effectiveness of the Surprise gunships was
deemed twice as effective as the previous models.
This paved the way for other iterations, such as the AC-130E,
which featured countermeasure electronics and a flare launching system to counter
Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles launched by SA7 Strela launchers.
However, the most lethal gunship configuration featured a 105-millimeter Howitzer cannon
instead of the Bofors cannon. The Howitzer drastically increased the range of the AC-130
and allowed firing from a higher altitude to avoid enemy missiles.
The Howitzer’s blast was lethal to vehicles, barracks, and enemy formations. Explosions
also helped Phantoms spot the targeted area prior to dropping napalm to bolster enemy casualties.
The AC-130 equipped with this cannon was shot down on March 30, 1972,
and no further attempts to mount a Howitzer on a gunship were made.
AC-130s were also coordinated with Special Forces soldiers stationed deep into enemy territory to
support their outposts when enemy troops attacked them. When the American military retreated,
firebases were constantly defended by gunships, while the Viet Cong attempted to outnumber them.
The last American gunship flew over Cambodia in August of 1973,
just before the Paris Peace Accords came into effect. Ultimately,
they saved thousands of American and South Vietnamese lives during the 10-year-long conflict.
The AC-130 would also see action during the American invasion of Panama,
Grenada, Somalia, Bosnia, and Operation Desert Storm.
In the early 2000s, AC-130s were launched during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi
Freedom to fight Terrorist forces after the 9/11 attacks on US soil. Then, in 2011, gunships also
took part in the US intervention in Libya as part of Operation Unified Protector. And in 2015,
AC-130s were part of a US-led coalition to destroy over 100 Islamic State oil tankers in Syria.
The latest versions of the AC-130 are still in service to this day.
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