Douglas AC-47 Spooky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_AC-47_Spooky

The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "Puff, the Magic Dragon") was the first
in a series of fixed wing gunships developed by the United States Air Force
during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and
medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called
for close air support.

The AC-47 was a United States Air Force C-47, (the military version of the DC-3)
that had been modified by mounting three 7.62 mm General Electric miniguns to
fire through two rear window openings and the side cargo door, all on the left
(pilot's) side of the aircraft, to provide close air support for ground troops.
Other armament configurations could also be found on similar C-47-based aircraft
around the world. The guns were actuated by a control on the pilot's yoke
whereby he could control the guns either individually or together, although
gunners were also among the crew to assist with gun failures and similar issues.
It could orbit the target for hours, providing suppressing fire over an
elliptical area approximately 52 yd (47.5 m) in diameter, placing a round every
2.4 yd (2.2 m) during a three-second burst. The aircraft also carried flares it
could drop to illuminate the battleground.

The AC-47 had no previous design to gauge how successful it would be, because it
was the first of its kind. The USAF found itself in a precarious situation when
requests for additional gunships began to come in because it simply lacked
miniguns to fit additional aircraft after the first two conversions. The next
four aircraft were equipped with ten .30 caliber AN/M2 machine guns. These
weapons, using World War II and Korean War ammunition stocks, were quickly
discovered to jam easily, produce large amounts of gases from firing, and, even
in ten-gun groups, only provide the density of fire of a single minigun. All
four of these aircraft were retrofitted to the standard armament configuration
when additional miniguns arrived.

The AC-47 initially used SUU-11/A gun pods that were installed on locally
fabricated mounts for the gunship application. Emerson Electric eventually
developed the MXU-470/A to replace the gun pods, which were also used on later
gunships.


Role
Ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship

Manufacturer
Douglas Aircraft Company

First flight
1964

Introduction
1965

Status
In service with the Colombian Air Force

Primary user
United States Air Force (former)

Produced
rem

Number built
53

Developed from
C-47 Skytrain

In August 1964, years of fixed-wing gunship experimentation reached a new peak
with Project Tailchaser under the direction of Captain John C. Simons. This test
involved the conversion of a single Convair C-131B to be capable of firing a
single GAU-2/A Minigun at a downward angle out of the left side of the aircraft.
Even crude grease pencil crosshairs were quickly discovered to enable a pilot
flying in a pylon turn to hit a stationary area target with relative accuracy
and ease. The Armament Development and Test Center tested the craft at Eglin Air
Force Base, Florida, but lack of funding soon suspended the tests. In 1964,
Captain Ron W. Terry returned from temporary duty in South Vietnam as part of an
Air Force Systems Command team reviewing all aspects of air operations in
counter-insurgency warfare, where he had noted the usefulness of C-47s and
C-123s orbiting as flare ships during night attacks on fortified hamlets. He
received permission to conduct a live-fire test using the C-131 and revived the
side-firing gunship program.

By October, Terry's team under Project Gunship provided a C-47D, which was
converted to a similar standard as the Project Tailchaser aircraft and armed
with three miniguns, which were initially mounted on locally fabricated
mounts—essentially strapped gun pods intended for fixed-wing aircraft (SUU-11/A)
onto a mount allowing them to be fired remotely out the port side. Terry and a
testing team arrived at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, on 2 December 1964,
with equipment needed to modify two C-47s. The first test aircraft (43-48579, a
C-47B-5-DK mail courier converted to C-47D standard by removal of its
superchargers) was ready by 11 December, the second by 15 December, and both
were allocated to the 1st Air Commando Squadron for combat testing. The newly
dubbed "FC-47" often operated under the radio call sign "Puff". Its primary
mission involved protecting villages, hamlets, and personnel from mass attacks
by Vietcong (VC) guerrilla units.

Puff's first significant success occurred on the night of 23–24 December 1964.
An FC-47 arrived over the Special Forces outpost at Tranh Yend in the Mekong
Delta just 37 minutes after an air support request, fired 4,500 rounds of
ammunition, and broke the VC attack. The FC-47 was then called to support a
second outpost at Trung Hung, about 20 miles (32 km) away. The aircraft again
blunted the VC attack and forced a retreat. Between 15 and 26 December, all the
FC-47's 16 combat sorties were successful. On 8 February 1965, an FC-47 flying
over the B?ng Son area demonstrated its capabilities in the process of blunting
a VC offensive. For over four hours, it fired 20,500 rounds into a VC hilltop
position, killing an estimated 300 VC troops.

The early gunship trials were so successful, the second aircraft was returned to
the United States early in 1965 to provide crew training. In July 1965,
Headquarters USAF ordered TAC to establish an AC-47 squadron. By November 1965,
a total of five aircraft were operating with the 4th Air Commando Squadron,
activated in August as the first operational unit, and by the end of 1965, a
total of 26 had been converted. Training Detachment 8, 1st Air Commando Wing,
was subsequently established at Forbes AFB, Kansas. In Operation Big Shoot, the
4th ACS in Vietnam grew to 20 AC-47s (16 aircraft plus four reserves for
attrition).

The 4th ACS deployed to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, on 14 November 1965. Now
using the call sign Spooky, each of its three 7.62 mm miniguns could selectively
fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. Cruising in an overhead left-hand orbit
at 120 knots air speed at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 m), the gunship could
put a bullet or glowing red tracer (every fifth round) bullet into every square
yard of a football field-sized target in potentially less than 10 seconds. As
long as its 45-flare and 24,000-round basic load of ammunition held out, it
could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours.

In May 1966, the squadron moved north to Nha Trang Air Base to join the newly
activated 14th Air Commando Wing. The 3rd Air Commando Squadron was activated at
Nha Trang on 5 April 1968 as a second AC-47 squadron, with both squadrons
redesignated as Special Operations Squadrons on 1 August 1968. Flights of both
squadrons were stationed at bases throughout South Vietnam, and one flight of
the 4th SOS served at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base with the 432nd Tactical
Reconnaissance Wing. The work of the two AC-47 squadrons, each with 16 AC-47s
flown by aircrews younger than the aircraft they flew, was undoubtedly a key
contributor to the award of the Presidential Unit Citation to the 14th Air
Commando Wing in June 1968.

North Vietnam captured several AC-47s in 1975 and is very likely that some of
them may have seen combat in Cambodia.

In December 1984 and January 1985, the United States supplied two AC-47D
gunships to the El Salvador Air Force and trained aircrews to operate the
system. The AC-47 gunship carried three .50 cal machine guns and could loiter
and provide heavy firepower for army operations. As the FAS had long operated
C-47s, it was easy for the United States to train pilots and crew to operate the
aircraft as a weapons platform. By all accounts, the AC-47 soon became probably
the most effective weapon in the FAS arsenal.

Specifications (AC-47)

General characteristics
Crew: 7: pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, loadmaster and 2 gunners
Length: 64 ft 5 in (19.63 m)
Wingspan: 95 ft 0 in (28.96 m)
Height: 16 ft 11 in (5.16 m)
Wing area: 987 sq ft (91.7 m2)
Empty weight: 18,080 lb (8,201 kg)
Gross weight: 33,000 lb (14,969 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder air-cooled radial
piston engines, 1,200 hp (890 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 230 mph (370 km/h, 200 kn)
Cruise speed: 175 mph (282 km/h, 152 kn)
Range: 2,175 mi (3,500 km, 1,890 nmi)
Service ceiling: 24,450 ft (7,450 m)
Wing loading: 33.4 lb/sq ft (163 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (0.25 kW/kg)

Armament

Guns:
3 × 7.62 mm General Electric GAU-2/M134 miniguns, 2,000 rpm or
10 × .30 in Browning AN/M2 machine guns

48 × Mk 24 flares



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Airman First Class John L. Levitow

https://amcmuseum.org/history/airman...ohn-l-levitow/

On February 24, 1969, Airman First Class John L. Levitow was assigned duty as a
loadmaster aboard an AC-47 “Spooky” gunship flying a night mission in support of
Long Binh Army Post in South Vietnam when his aircraft was struck by a hostile
mortar round. The resulting explosion ripped a hole 3 feet, 1/4 inches in
diameter through the wing along with more than 3,500 holes in the fuselage. All
occupants in the cargo compartment were wounded and slammed against the floor
and fuselage. The explosion ripped an activated flare from the grasp of a
crewmember who had been launching flares to provide illumination for Army ground
troops engaged in combat. Airman Levitow, though stunned by the concussion of
the blast and suffering over 40 fragment wounds in his back and legs, staggered
to his feet and turned to assist the man nearest to him who had been knocked
down and bleeding heavily.

As he was moving his wounded comrade forward and away from the opened cargo
compartment door, he saw the smoking flare ahead of him in the aisle. Realizing
the danger involved and completely disregarding his own wounds, Airman Levitow
started toward the burning flare. The aircraft was partially out of control and
the flare was rolling wildly from side to side. Airmen Levitow struggled forward
despite the loss of blood from his many wounds and the partial loss of feeling
in his right leg. Unable to grasp the rolling flare with his hands, he threw
himself bodily upon the burning flare. Hugging the deadly device to his body, he
dragged himself back to the rear of the aircraft and hurled the flare through
the open cargo door. At that instant the flare separated and ignited in the air
but clear of the aircraft.

Airman Levitow, by his selfless actions, saved the aircraft and its entire crew
from certain death. For his heroism he received the Medal of Honor from
President Richard M. Nixon on May 14, 1970. He is the lowest ranking Air Force
member ever to receive the honor.

John Levitow was a regular visitor to Dover AFB and to the museum. On several
occasions he was guest speaker at the graduation ceremonies for the Airman
Leadership School. He was the Airlift-Tanker Association’s “Hall of Fame”
inductee for 1998 and a C-17 Globemaster III was named for him on January 23,
1998, “The Spirit of John L. Levitow.” He passed away at his home in Connecticut
on November 8, 2000.




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