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Top: Society: Military: Aviation: Aircraft: Gunships
| Submit sites that are primarily concerned with fixed wing gunships. Subcategories exist for all existing variants and sites that focus on one particular model should be submitted to those categories. |
Gunships are cargo-type aircraft that have been re-designed to provide close air support for troops in contact, or interdiction of supplies enroute to enemy positions. Gunships offer precision targeting and exceptionally long loiter times. Side mounted guns are a primary distinguishing feature.Gunships differ from other attack aircraft in that they carry only cannons. They have no bombs, rockets or missiles. They have no defensive weapons. Gunships also tend to have very large flight crews to operate the different sensors and guns.
| Sites that focus primarily on the AC-119 gunship should be submitted here. Sites that focus on the AC-119G should be submitted to the Shadow subcategory and sites that focus on the AC-119K should be submitted to the Stinger subcategory. |
The AC-119 was the third generation gunship, following the AC-47 and the AC-130. It was put in service due to the success of the AC-130, and the unavailability of the necessary C-130 Hercules airframes for gunship conversion.Built on the C-119 "Packet" airframe, two different version were developed. The AC-119G "Shadow" was designed to replace the AC-47 until additional AC-130's could come on line. It had four 7.62mm miniguns.
The AC-119K "Stinger" had increased engine power (two jet engines were added), as were two 20mm gatling guns, an improved fire control system, and forward looking infrared radar.
Stinger and Shadow took over the bulk of the "troops in contact" missions within South Vietnam, freeing the AC-130 gunships to focus on interdiction missions.
| Sites should be submitted that primarily deal with the AC/NC-123 Black Spot aircraft. |
The Fairchild NC-123 Black Spot was not technically a gunship, but was frequently referred to as the AC-123, and were often believed to be gunships, thus the inclusion in this category. The aircraft did not carry side-firing weapons, but rather had a very long, nose fairing that housed a forward-looking radar and two internal, aluminum weapons dispensers for CBU bomblets.Only two of these aircraft were converted from the basic C-123 Provider.Adding to the naming confusion was the fact that the two aircraft flew out of the 16th Special Operations Squadron in Ubon, Thailand. This was the same unit that flew the AC-130 gunship.
| Submit sites that have extensive content on the AC-130 family of gunships. Sites that focus on individual models, should be submitted to their respective subcategories: AC-130A, AC-130E and AC-130H sites should go to Spectre; AC-130U sites should go to Spooky. |
AC-130 gunships are a family of aircraft based on the C-130 Hercules airframe. These are generically referred to as "Spectre Gunships" even though the latest variant does not use that nickname.The AC-130 family of gunships carry laser designators that can assist attack aircraft with the delivery of laser-guided bombs. They also carry single-fire weapons in addition to the high-speed gatling-guns found on all other fixed wing gunships.
| Sites that primarily focus on the AC-47 (or FC-47) should be submitted here. As Airman First Class John Levitow won the Medal of Honor for actions on board an AC-47, sites that discuss the actions that led to the award may be appropriate as well. |
Built on the airframe of the C-47 "Dakota" transport, the AC-47 was the first-ever fixed-wing gunship to employ fixed-mount, rapid-fire, side-firing weapons to attack ground targets while orbiting them.Originally given the designation FC-47, but the fighter pilot community strongly objected to a two-engine transport being called a fighter aircraft, so the attack designation that had been last used in WW-II was resurrected and the aircraft became the AC-47.
Just as the official name was cause for some confusion, the AC-47 had a number of nicknames. Officially it was Spooky, but unofficially it was "puff the magic dragon" or just "puff". Among ground forces in Vietnam, all gunships came to be called "puff".
A total of 57 aircraft were converted into AC-47s during the Vietnam conflict, and it is believed that some are still in operation today in Africa and Central America.
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