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The Douglas AC-47 ("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 Fairchild AC-119G Shadow and AC-119K Stinger were twin-engine piston-powered gunships developed by the United States during the Vietnam War. They replaced the Douglas AC-47 Spooky and operated alongside the early versions of the AC-130 Spectre gunship.
Later, during the Vietnam era, the 14th Air Commando Squadron, flew Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunships between 1967 and 1968. The 14th flew out of Nha Trang Air Base , Phan Rang Air Base , Bien Hoa Air Base , and Binh Thuy Air Base , providing fire support in defense of US air bases, special forces camps, Republic of Vietnam Army outposts, and South ...
Developed during the Vietnam War as "Project Gunship II", the AC-130 replaced the Douglas AC-47 Spooky, or "Gunship I". The sole operator is the United States Air Force, which uses the AC-130J Ghostrider. Close air support roles include supporting ground troops, escorting convoys, and urban operations. Air-interdiction missions are conducted ...
On 2 July 1969 the first 5 AC-47 Spooky gunships were handed over to the RVNAF to form the 817th Combat Squadron which became operational at the base on 31 August. [11]: 252 In 1970, with American units leaving the country, the RVNAF transport fleet was greatly increased at Tan Son Nhut.
Although nominally stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam, the squadron was organized at Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas, where it trained as the first gunship unit in the Air Force for the next three months. It flew night combat missions in South Vietnam manning the Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunship beginning in November 1965. By year's ...
That gaiety hides a deeper, lasting pain at losing loved ones in combat. A 2004 study of Vietnam combat veterans by Ilona PIvar, now a psychologist the Department of Veterans Affairs, found that grief over losing a combat buddy was comparable, more than 30 years later, to that of bereaved a spouse whose partner had died in the previous six months.
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky was the first notable modern gunship. In 1964, during the Vietnam War, [2] the popular Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport was successfully modified into a gunship by the United States Air Force with three side-firing Miniguns for circling attacks. At the time the aircraft was known as a "Dragonship", "Puff, the Magic ...