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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 ...
During the Vietnam War, the AC-47 Spooky gunship was nicknamed the "Dragon" or "Dragon ship" by the Americans because of its armament and firepower. The nickname soon caught on, and American troops began to call the AC-47 "Puff the Magic Dragon". [47]
At the time the aircraft was known as a "Dragonship", "Puff, the Magic Dragon" or "Spooky" (officially designated FC-47, later corrected to AC-47). Its three 7.62 mm (0.300 in) miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. [10]
"Puff, the Magic Dragon" (poem)" is a 1958 poem by Lenny Lipton, the basis of the eponymous song; Puff the Magic Dragon (TV franchise), a series of U.S. animated TV specials from Fred Wolf Films. Puff the Magic Dragon, a 1978 U.S. animated TV program based on the eponymous song; Douglas AC-47, a USAF flying gunship nicknamed "Puff the Magic ...
With the base in enemy hands, Kirby requests an airstrike by an AC-47 gunship, callsign Puff the Magic Dragon, which annihilates the Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese Army regulars within Camp A-107. With the enemy having taken major casualties, Kirby and his team re-occupy the destroyed camp.
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 ...
By the end of the year, the difficulties had been worked out and the units were again being fitted to AC-47s, AC-119s, and AC-130s, with a specific ammunition load that replaced every fifth 'ball' round with a tracer round to enable better accuracy by the gunners, and also earning these airborne gunships the nickname 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by ...