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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.
AC-47 Gunship. The squadron was reactivated in October 1969 at England Air Force Base, Louisiana as the 548th Special Operations Training Squadron. Its mission was to train Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots and crews on the Douglas AC-47 Spooky gunship, which the United States was transferring to South Vietnamese control in the conflict ...
Nightly air cover was provided by an orbiting AC-47 Spooky gunship, which patrolled mainly the "rocket belt" surrounding the air base, but operational control was not given local commanders. Because Phù Cát never experienced a direct infantry attack, the AC-47 patrol was commonly diverted to priority missions resulting in a lapse of coverage ...
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 ...
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 ...
Tan Son Nhut Air Base in 1962. The uncrowded flight line reflects the level of USAF/RVNAF activity Douglas DC-6B VIP Transport of the RVNAF 314th Special Missions Squadron RVNAF C-47 Skytrains of the 413th Transportation Squadron on the crowded flightline at Tan Son Nhut in 1966 along with a Royal Air Force De Havilland Dove, a USAF Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, and several other aircraft
In November 1967 Phan Rang became a forward operating location for 4 AC-47 Spooky gunships of the newly-activated 14th Air Commando Squadron. [12] On 31 January 1968 at the start of the Tet Offensive, naval gunfire from USS Mansfield was used to deter a VC attack on the base and gunfire from the USS New Jersey later deterred a similar attack. [13]
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.