WTF is a "AC-130 helicopter gunship"?

[unhappycamper]

Is it like an Osprey? Or is the Associated Press and Ms. Dozier blissfully unaware about military toys? Or perhaps somebody in the Pentagon had to write this article quickly without fact checking?

:wtf:

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2011/11/ap-pakistan-afghanistan-mistaken-identity-could-cause-fatal-raid-112811/


on edit to add: This is what an AC-130 looks like:

[taterguy]

1. It's a top-secret weapon

Well, it was a secret until the AP spilled the beans.

[Bucky]

12. That picture in the OP is pretty old. I remember a thread about it at least 3 years ago

So "top secret" may be an exaggeration. And I know how you loathe exaggeration.

[krispos42]

2. It's simple

Engines 1 and 2 at full throttle and full forward propeller pitch.

Engines 3 and 4 and full throttle and full aft propeller pitch.

:D

[unhappycamper]

4. ..

:rofl:

[hootinholler]

23. lol

Are they numbered that way? On a ship the left engines would be 1 and 3 the right would be 2 and 4, or the other way, IIRC port is odd numbers.

[krispos42]

26. I always understood that they were numbered sequentially.

I have pics someplace of a C-130 cockpit (traveling Air Force display) and the fuel-management control board (a fairly complex item) simply numbered them 1, 2, 3, and 4.



My kid spent a LOT of time in that cockpit...

[hootinholler]

27. I have no idea, which is why I asked. n/t

[PavePusher]

30. krispos is correct.

Aircraft engines generally numbered sequentially from crews' left to right.

I've spent a lot of time on those, as well. (Former maintenance troop. Go Air Force!)

[xchrom]

3. incompetents. the lot of them. nt

[bluedigger]

5. Spooky doesn't care what you call it.

It'll kill you anyways.

[Bandit]

7. I thought the C-47 was Spooky and the C-130 was Puff

:shrug:

[TexasProgresive]

22. Here's a nice piece on the AC-47

I heard a rumor that the guns would bury themselves in casings- so air men would clear the casings away with grain scoops-might be just a story.

While other aircraft would eventually succeed the C-47, such as the C-119 and C-130 with their larger capacity and features, the C-47 pioneered the development of gunships with the first AC-47 during the Vietnam war. It's Call Sign was "Spooky".

The AC-47 was capable of putting a highly explosive bullet into every square yard of a football field size target in 3 seconds, and it could do this intermittently while loitering over it's same target for hours as long as it had the ammo on board.

It didn't take long for it to earn the nickname "Puff, the Magic Dragon", or "Dragonship". Impressive from a distance, it appeared to roar as never ending blazes of bright red tracer rounds from it's mini guns shot to the ground against a dark background of night.

http://pinkmingos.hubpages.com/hub/The-Douglas-AC-47-Puff-the-Magic-Dragon-Vietnam-Gunship

[Bandit]

24. I remember well, both of those spewing out the fire power.

You could hear the crackle of the bullets even a click away, and at night it was a truly spectacular display..Imagine taking a red marker and drawing lines in the sky. It was something to behold.

[bluedigger]

29. We're both right, sort of.

The Vietnam era AC-47 was known as both "Spooky" and "Puff the Magic Dragon". The new AC-130 comes in both H "Spectre" and U "Spooky" variants, depending on armament. Maybe the planned J model will be named "Puff" again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_AC-130

[JHB]

6. I think it's (b) and (c) in your list above...

...Ms. Dozier (or an editor at AP) automatically putting "helicopter" in front of "gunship", without really knowing what an AC-130 actually is, and Army Times just running the AP story without much editing. (Heck, the people at Army Times who actually put it up might not know either. No reason to assume they are soldiers when a cozy contractor can get it done for more (in his pocket).)

[sammytko]

11. Army times is not published by the Army.

It's a private business catering to army news.

[unhappycamper]

15. I think Gannet controls all the federal rags, including the military ones. n/t

[krispos42]

8. Let's not forget to add...

...that in addition to the fireworks display (anti-missile flares), it mounts a couple of side-firing 20mm gatling guns (6,000 rounds per minute... each), a 40mm Bofors cannon, and a 105mm howitzer. It circles the target, spraying death in a leisurely fashion, for hours if need be.

it is most definitely a gunship, and most definitely NOT a helicopter!

[charlie and algernon]

10. Who ever thought to put an ARTILLERY piece in an aircraft is either demented or brilliant

:rofl:

[-..__...]

14. Kind of like the concept behind GAU-8 and A-10...

:smoke:

[krispos42]

19. The .50 BMG launches a 700-grain bullet at 2,978 ft/s

For 13,971 foot-pounds of energy

That 30mm launches a 6,560-grain shell at 3,250 ft/s, which I make out to be just shy of 154,000 ft-pounds of energy.

That would, um, HURT.

[krispos42]

17. "Flying artillery"

The piece only weighs 3,000 pounds and the shells are about 15 pounds apiece, so I guess it's just brilliance... assuming the recoil doesn't launch the howitzer across the hold. :-)

[hobbit709]

18. Look up WWII

B25, a Mosquito variant, and even a couple of German types.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. And one Russian bird

All of them are the predecessors in that role to an uggly bird currently in inventory.

[pinboy3niner]

20. Something a bit different--aerial rocket artillery--was used in the Vietnam War

It was an integral part of the Army's two airmobile divisions, the 1st Cav and the 101st Airborne. Rather than putting howitzers on helicopters, the concept involved arming and using helicopter gunships to accomplish fire missions traditionally assigned to tube artillery:

Aerial Rocket Artillery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Rocket_Artillery

[dionysus]

9. it sure as hell isn't a helicopter.... they've been around a long time.

:shrug:

[Bucky]

13. How is that a helicopter?

[hobbit709]

21. See reply #2

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. Looks like it's been corrected

Now reads "Records show the aerial response included Apache attack helicopters and an AC-130 gunship."

[hootinholler]

25. Spoilsport!

:P