Flight,

We knew its for-runner as Puff and The Jolly Green Giant, they were awsome in Nam. Todays version has come along way but I am sure the only difference it would have made in Nam is a higher enamy body count and fewer Names on "THE WALL". Too bad "What IF" isn't retroactive.

>HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AP) - It's official name is the AC-130. Some call
>it simply the Big Gun. Packed with a unique combination of airborne
>firepower, it is one of the most fearsome warplanes.
>
>Just one look shows why.
>
>This plane does not drop bombs or break speed records. Flying night or
>the day, loitering at low altitude, it fires shells the likes of which
>would be expected to be found on a tank, an artillery piece or a
>battleship.
>
>The steel gun barrel that protrudes from the left side of the AC-130's
>fuselage is big enough to stick an arm down. It fires 105 mm shells -
>each about 33 pounds and 3 feet long. Even resting idle and unarmed, the
>cannon is a chilling sight.
>
>Closer to the cockpit door, on the same side of the plane, is even more
>weaponry: a 40 mm Bofors cannon capable of 100 shots per minute and a 25
>mm Gatling gun that fires as many as 1,800 rounds per minute.
>
>Together, these guns can inflict death and destruction on a scale
>unmatched by any other aircraft that performs low-flying support for
>ground troops. Over their 35 years in service, individual AC-130s have
>carried such nicknames as Grim Reaper, Jaws of Death, Ultimate End,
>Exterminator and Grave Digger.
>
>If war comes to Iraq, AC-130s surely will be there, flown by crews from
>two special operations squadrons based at Hurlburt Field - the 4th,
>flying the newer U model called Spooky, and the 16th, flying the H
>model, called Spectre.
>
>The Spooky has advanced features not found on the Spectre. These include
>a more effective radar for long-range target detection, a Global
>Positioning System for satellite navigation, and a capability to
>simultaneously attack two targets as much as a half-mile apart.
>
>The newer model, which costs about $190 million, also carries twice as
>much ammunition. The older model runs about $132 million.
>
>All 21 AC-130s - 13 Spookys and eight Spectres - are based at Hurlburt.
>Most of them have returned for maintenance and repairs after months
>flying missions against al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Afghanistan.
>
>Gen. Tommy Franks, the Central Command commander who ordered the AC-130
>into that battle, is quick to praise its performance.
>
>"I would sum it up by saying simply, I'm a fan," Franks said in a Nov.
>28 interview with The Associated Press.
>
>At Hurlburt, Air Force officials declined to make AC-130 crew members
>available for interviews. A public affairs officer, Lt. Rosemary Heiss,
>said they were too busy training. She gave a visiting reporter a tour,
>however, of a 1990-model Spooky parked on the tarmac, and described what
>it is like inside while its guns are blazing.
>
>"It's dark, it's loud, it smells and it's intimidating," she said.
>
>The origins of the AC-130 gunship date to the Vietnam War, where the
>first ones saw action in 1968. They are converted C-130 Hercules
>transport planes, modified to add not only guns but also advanced
>navigation systems and a variety of sensors for detecting threats and
>targets, including FLIR, or forward-looking infrared radar. This radar
>is mounted under the plane's nose. It senses heat emissions and creates
>a video image.
>
>The plane normally has a crew of 13 - five officers and eight enlisted.
>
>Although the AC-130s played a central role in defeating the Taliban and
>chasing al-Qaida from Afghanistan, they also were involved in two highly
>publicized controversies.
>
>On March 2, the opening day of the last major U.S. offensive in
>Afghanistan, an AC-130 mistakenly fired on friendly forces, killing an
>American soldier. An investigation concluded that the plane's crew had
>been plagued by equipment problems including flawed navigation systems
>that contributed to the erroneous targeting. The Pentagon had originally
>reported that the U.S. soldier had been killed by mortar fire from enemy
>forces.
>
>On July 1, an AC-130 pounded several villages in Afghanistan's Uruzgan
>province, and Afghan authorities said afterward that 48 civilians were
>killed, including women and children celebrating a wedding. U.S.
>officials defended the AC-130 crew, saying they opened fire only after
>coming under hostile fire from the ground.
>
>The last time an AC-130 was lost on an overseas mission was March 15,
>1994, when a Spectre gunship went down off the coast of Kenya shortly
>after taking off for a surveillance mission over Mogadishu, Somalia.
>Eight members of the crew were killed. The crash was caused by a
>detonation of the 105 mm gun while airborne.
>
>One AC-130 Spectre also was lost in the 1991 Gulf War. That one was shot
>down by a surface-to-air missile on Jan. 31, 1991 while supporting
>allied ground forces in the Battle of Khafji, Saudi Arabia. All 14
>members of the crew were killed.

Tom Gator 851.