OT:Aviation
- Thread starter StrangerHorn
- Start date
skyraiders were the A-10 before the A-10. those things could take a licking and keep on strafing.
I know a few VC shit their pants when they see them coming in and haul ass! One of the best US planes, a old one but useful
The ones who never seen or heard it before died, and the ones who seen it before hear it and haul ass!
Who was the Spectre weapons guy that had the bumper sticker on his AC-130 gunship that said "You can run, but you'll just die tired" ?
I dunno!..LOL
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "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.
These airframes never were AC-47s and were actually regular unarmed C-47s.
- 3 × 7.62 mm General Electric GAU-2/M134 miniguns, 2,000 rpm or
- 10 × .30 in Browning AN/M2 machine guns
- 48 × Mk 24 flares
Last edited:
I'll see your tail dragger and raise youI dunno!..LOL
The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "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.
These airframes never were AC-47s and were actually regular unarmed C-47s.
- 3 × 7.62 mm General Electric GAU-2/M134 miniguns, 2,000 rpm or
- 10 × .30 in Browning AN/M2 machine guns
- 48 × Mk 24 flares
Oh you mean the ones that kicked us out of our own embassy? Those VC?
uh....Clob...usually you are right on with your comments. You might need to slow your roll with this one. Just a friendly tip.....
However, you are absolutely correct here. They did win....and we lost.....but it was not because of bad ordinance on our part. That war was decided in 1962 and whatever we did had no bearing on the outcome. We were not over there to win. We were over there to make certain folks lots and lots of $$$.
There was a Colonel in Hue City that no one above him in the Chain of Command like him, as he was prone to be wide open in his thoughts, one day the Press was asking him questions, and one cam up about , " How you could tell the difference between the VC and Regular people"?
He said that's the problem!, if it was my decision, I would take a the Good People and put them on ships in the Harbor and kill all the VC! And then Torpedo the ships in the Harbor and that was the last anyone ever seen of him!
He said that's the problem!, if it was my decision, I would take a the Good People and put them on ships in the Harbor and kill all the VC! And then Torpedo the ships in the Harbor and that was the last anyone ever seen of him!
It wasn't Losing that bothered me clob!
It was this!, All them young guys died for nothing!
Thats all I gotta say!
It was this!, All them young guys died for nothing!
Thats all I gotta say!
Last edited:
Oh I know all the back stories. I know the fighting with one hand tied behind our backs. I know the Washington political BS. And I know if given the opportunity, our forces would have mopped the floor with them. But we didn't. To this day my family members that served there still cringe at the very mention of it. But one thing they all have in common--- respect for their enemy. Say what you want about those people-- but they were TOUGH. Both mentally and physically.
actually Clob, I don't think we had a hope in hell of winning. When the Paris peace talks began, we had the upper hand.....or so it seemed. The US negotiators were stunned when Giap kept talking about the days after they had won the war. Our guys asked..."what are you talking about? Who do you think is winning this war right now?"...Giap said you are winning. But one day you will go home.
We should have loaded up and left right then and there.Hell, we had no business over there anyway. This is no reflection on our troops.They were first rate, but they suffered under the worst military leadership in the history of the USA. It quickly became apparent to our guys that the ONLY mission they had to accomplish was to stay alive for 13 months so they could go home. They were given no direction, no objectives, no guidance, no Congressional support.
And how many of our boys were left behind? Our simpering leaders could care less. The VC were fighting for home and country. Our guys were fighting for....uh....fighting for.....hell, they never were told what they were fighting for, but they found out the minute they got home. They were spit upon, vandalized, beaten by mobs and given no support. They had spent their time over there in constant danger. There was no front lines....no "rear area" where they could feel safe , even for a few hours. Most had been drafted, and yet they were called "war Mongers"
We should have loaded up and left right then and there.Hell, we had no business over there anyway. This is no reflection on our troops.They were first rate, but they suffered under the worst military leadership in the history of the USA. It quickly became apparent to our guys that the ONLY mission they had to accomplish was to stay alive for 13 months so they could go home. They were given no direction, no objectives, no guidance, no Congressional support.
And how many of our boys were left behind? Our simpering leaders could care less. The VC were fighting for home and country. Our guys were fighting for....uh....fighting for.....hell, they never were told what they were fighting for, but they found out the minute they got home. They were spit upon, vandalized, beaten by mobs and given no support. They had spent their time over there in constant danger. There was no front lines....no "rear area" where they could feel safe , even for a few hours. Most had been drafted, and yet they were called "war Mongers"
They were fighting to contain the evil communists from spreading all throughout the world
Even worse than our politicians were the "celebrities" that helped perpetuate the "baby killer" mantra.
Actually it was NOrth Vietnamese regulars.
One Marine I know (Col Tony Woods) planed the escape, just finished the book on the Marine who commanded Operation frequent wind, Maj Gen Carey. He also walked out of the Chosin, bad azz MoFo.
Another friend Col Junior Ortiz was a crewman on the last bird bringing the last Marine from the Embassy.
During Viet Nam, no base with Puff support was ever overrun.
Funny you should post this. On Sunday night I just re-watched “The Dirt” movie about the Crue. Talk about debauchery…
The weekend the F35 was revealed in Ft Worth at Lockheed, (after the press party) I was invited up by my best friend's brother in law. He was a Navy Hornet driver who had gone from active to reserve- and was also an aeronautical engineer. He was tasked with helping to develop the cockpit for the JSF.
The day we arrived, the (new) F16 models were all outside under the bays there and when we went inside, on one side of the factory were LINES of F16s. On the other side were JSFs in various stages of completion. There were big red ropes like you'd see at a night club line that kept you from walking down the rows of F35s. I could see on the computer screens the operating systems said "Microsoft MIL"..... I'd never seen that before.
We got to check out the SIM as well as the helmet with the huge ass HUD attached to it. Looked weird to me. That's when I was told there were cameras all over the plane that allowed you to look below, behind, in your blind spots etc- while driving the plane. The part that was weird to me-- I remember asking why there was no gun on the plane. I was told something like "meh.... smart munitions" or some such.
Now Clob even though i work in Fort Worth ill admit you probably know tons more about these jets than i do. I just know how to build em. However, the 35 is crazy advanced and i agree weird but it f's shit up. However the f16s we have are now being updated in software with similar technology and i wouldn't be surprised if a new version of them is made.
Dude, this was years ago..... I think... let me check.... sh!t... I can't find the year of the release.
My literal job in Vietnam was to communicate with the 0-2 and get him to put white phosphorus rockets on the target so the F-4s (the flying hydraulic leak) can come in and put bombs on target.
Wasn't Willie Pete pretty much outlawed after Vietnam?
In other words, you had a closely related job to today's modern "combat controller".
Similar threads
