AC-130. One of the world's most dangerous aircraft.

Watched a show on this "Tank" in the air and was quite surprised at the current firepower.

The gattling guns I knew about, the 40mm I knew about however the 105mm howitzer I did not.

AC-130H Spectre - Military Aircraft

 

It is one serious weapon. All that firepower focussed onto one place!

YouTube - The AC-130H Spectre gunship
YouTube - AC-130 Spectre Gunship Operations in Afghanistan

And of course there was the C-47 Puff the Magic Drago during Nam. Have a look at the last picture showing how concentrated the arc of fire was!

Spooky & Puff the Magic Dragon; your friend above

 

The 105 is a brute!

 

My first ride in a C 130 was in 1968. During the next 6 years of my Army service I rode in them many times.

We used them in jump school.

I rode the "Blue Angels" C 130 from Germany to Morocco to Italy and back to Germany. At that time I was part of the 7th Army Parachute Team and us and the "Blues" were on a European Tour.

When on tour with the Parachute Team C 130's would ferry us around. I recall standing between the two pilots when we flew down the corridor out of Berlin. Sometimes these aircraft were "Special Op's C 130's and had equipment in it that was covered over and we were not allowed near it.

There is no feeling in the world like sitting in the back of a C 130 and watching the ramp slowly come down to reveal the sky and other Hercules in formation with you.

C 130's and C 47's protected our perimeter in Vietnam when we were under attack.

As you can see I have fond memories of C 130's, of its looks, smell and sounds. I think you must have had to ride in one to appreciate the smell and sounds. Something akin to "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

An aircraft that has stood the test of time. Along with the B 52 and C 47these aircraft must hold records for continuous military service.

 

You sly so and so David. I knew you'd done service in Vietnam but didn't know you were part of a Parachute Team too.

How about starting a thread with a resume of your career?

 

Don't know about a thread but..........

I was a member of the "Golden Knights" in the U.S. and the 7th Army Parachute Team when stationed in Germany. These teams are the equivalent of the "Red Devils" freefall team.

When we were in Germany we used to visit with the Red Devils a lot. We jumped at the Aldershot Army Day together, circa 1974.

 

Do you have any photos in jump gear, David?

 

This one taken about 5 years ago.

 

David
I cannot think of ANYTHING that I would like to do less than jump out of a plane (excepting anything involving spiders and snakes possibly)!

Sounds like more than enough for a thread to me. Do tell us more about Vietnam.

 

This one circa 1974.

 

This one taken at jump school, 1968.

 

Hero shot and picture of parachute just beginning its deployment sequence.

 

Great pictures David. I particularly like the one from 1968 (the year I was born!). I real poster-boy picture.

And like father like son.

 

I was posted to the Tactical Comms Wing of 38 group in 1982. We used the c130 aka Herc aka fat Albert a lot for exercises and tacevals. It got to such a point, that Loadmasters would ask if anyone had not flown in one before and if no hands were lifted used to turn away!

The scarest flight was part of Ex Handy Andy 7, which was out Taceval! Both Elvis Everington and myself was asked if we would like to stand in the cockpit. We both agreed and climbed up and made ourselves secure, or at least as secure as we could!

We flew from Brize to kevil airfield at 250 feet/250 knots! The pilot was throwing the plane all over the shop to avoid various things, including a set of traffic lights at red, I thought we would have stopped for them! Elvis and I hung on and just let our bodies go with the flow.

We had to go down as we were involved in releasing the cargo, the intention was to do a tactic landing and for the landrovers to drive out over the ramp as the aircraft was still moving. We exited the aircraft and moved out to the concentration area. We managed to get both landrovers and trailers out and on the runway before the pilot had closed down his engines! The UKMAMs team on the next kite, took fifteen minutes to get the landrovers off and they were the professional movers!

The best thing about C130 and why I prefer them to airliners, was the fact that once you were given the all clear to release seatbelts, we would crab our sleeping bags and find a comfy spot to sleep! Try doing that in a Boeing 737 series 800!

The only draw back was the hairy arsed loadmaster throwing the packed lunches at everyone! And they did not even smile when they did it!

But, I did a total of 17 jumps, not out of a C130 but 16 from a C47 Dakota and one from a Britton Norman Defender!

On the Dakota, we used D10 non-steerable parachutes as we were traing with the Rhodesian Army, there was just three of us from the RAF and a load of squaddies!

Because we were RAF, we were the first to jump! Quite an experience, into the hot and humid air and looking down could see the drop zone climbing up towards you!

The eighth and qualifying jump was made at night into a combat zone! As we approached, the inside of the kite was lit by the flashes of the flak as it exploded near the plane!

Standing in the doorway, I could see the tracer cris-crossing underneath with both red and green tracer coming towards me! As I drifted down, I was aware that the tracer seemed to be heading for me! I must admit that at one point I was aware of the fact that it seemed that I was drifting down faster, must have something to do with my trousers filling up with brown stuff!

On the ground we gathered together and made for the battalion HQ, which was formed behind some anthills. Having cross trained as a combat medic, I got involved with treating the light injuries caused by the landing!

Thank god it was only a exercise but they did get pretty close with the live ammo! That included mortars which landed close where I had set up the casualty station!

My last jump was the one from the Defender and that was in Belize, I jumped with the SAS and it was to drop close to a downed Puma. The funny thing was, the angle irons aka the Anglian regt thought I was a SAS man and treated me with the utmost respect!

 

Okay, time for you blokes with time in the services to perhaps start a thread in bios or somewhere and just add to it as you remember stuff!

There's just too much good stuff in your heads!

Please!

 

I've never been in the services, but I did 34 jumps with a club in the 1980's.
Which means I have even less excuse than the rest of you because no-one paid me to do it, in fact I was the one paying, not only to jump but to be verbally abused by ex-forces instructors (we had an ex-Para and an ex-Royal Marine, who of course hated each other).

I did 17 static line and then 17 free-fall jumps, mainly from a BN Islander, the last few from a Cessna 206. But I was pretty useless - I have always been crap at sports so I just didn't have the co-ordination to stay in the stable spread position, hence taking 17 jumps to get to free-fall in the first place. At least once I pulled on my back - not recommended. And to be honest, when I was in the right position I panicked when I saw the ground (i.e. as my body rotated from face forward as I left the aircraft to face down) and pulled too soon.

Salvation came when the club ran out of money and went bust; I gave it up at that point.

 

We have such a thread, its called the line book - hence the expression "shooting a line"!

 

Am I crazy in that i want to do a parachute jump? Got nothing whatsoever to do with the fact I would be straped onto a good looking jump instructor. Oh no.

 

Perhaps, the 'jumpers' in the group should start a new thread of the topic.
Staying on the AC-130, it is indeed one hell of a weapons platform. It is an infantry man's dream of fire support. The challenge really is for the FAC (forward air controller) to coordinate package delivery properly. Of course, the coordination problem goes way up as the gunships belong to the Air Force while the men on the ground are either Army or Marines.
Am wondering, tho, if there have been any 'anti-ship' missions for the AC-13o? Maybe they can be deployed against the pirates in the Indian Ocean out of Diego.

 

I have to disagree with the title of this thread.

AC-130 is a transport plane modified to be a heavy support for the ground force. Its use is really limited to the situations
1. Where you already have total air supremacy (not just air superiority), or rather the enemy does not have any air force to speak of.
2. Your enemy doesn't have any anti-air weapon. That is, they can't shoot back.

That is said, AC-130 can only be used against insurgents. It is totally useless against any real military with air force and air defense capability.

Even in Iraq, one AC-130 was shot down because they were silly enough to stay after the daylight came. A single surface-to-air missile brought it down and all hands were lost just like that. And you know how terrible Iraqi's air defense was.

The only place it was effective was in Afghanistan where Taliban had no air force, and all stingers' were out of power (batteries in stinger missiles require replacement after all those years). They had no capability to shoot down even a single unarmed UAV, as it was demonstrated at the very beginning of the invasion of Afghanistan.

AC-130 is totally useless until you destroy entire enemy air force and all air defenses, which is quite impossible when you are against a real foe.