This time lapse photo shows the tracer round trajectories. Air Force Douglas AC-47D Spooky gunship over Saigon in 1968. When fighting popped off, the crew would drop flares out of the open door and the pilot would fly a race track pattern over the target, pouring fire on it the whole time. The pilots would take off with a 7-man crew and seek out small bases and villages under fire by North Vietnamese forces. The triggers for the three guns were connected to a button in the pilot’s compartment. The final combat variant of the AC-47 consisted of the cargo plane with three 7.62mm miniguns mounted on the left side - two in modified portholes near the cargo door and one in the cargo door itself. Curtis LeMay approved the modification of two planes in 1964. The C-47 performed swimmingly as well, and Air Force leader Gen. Air Force AC-47 Dragon aircraft flies missions over South Vietnam in support of allied outposts. (Photo: Public Domain) A C-131B modified with gunsights and a minigun was successful in early tests and the experiment was repeated with a C-47. It was 1963 before the idea of a side-firing aircraft got another serious test. 30-cal machine gun and destroyed a target on the ground.īut the Army Air Corps and the Army Air Forces never came around to the idea. In fact, the technique had been tested successfully in 1927 when 1st Lt. The idea for a side-firing gunship had been floating around military circles since at least 1926. This time-lapse photo shows the tracer round trajectories. Air Force Douglas AC-47D Spooky gunship over the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) Team 21 compound at Pleiku in May 1969. It was a supply plane, a plane for dropping paratroopers, and a tow for gliders.īut it was in the Vietnam War that the “ Gooney Bird” would get its greatest mission - flying three 7.62mm miniguns through the night to devastate North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces. The C-47 fulfilled a number of roles in World War II and Korea.
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