Directory of AC-47 Resources

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Built on the airframe of the C-47 "Dakota" transport, the AC-47 was the first-ever fixed-wing gunship to employ fixed-mount, rapid-fire, side-firing weapons to attack ground targets while orbiting them. Originally given the designation FC-47, but the fighter pilot community strongly objected to a two-engine transport being called a fighter aircraft, so the attack designation that had been last used in WW-II was resurrected and the aircraft became the AC-47. Just as the official name was cause for some confusion, the AC-47 had a number of nicknames. Officially it was Spooky, but unofficially it was "puff the magic dragon" or just "puff". Among ground forces in Vietnam, all gunships came to be called "puff". A total of 57 aircraft were converted into AC-47s during the Vietnam conflict, and it is believed that some are still in operation today in Africa and Central America.

Resources in This Category

• AC-47 (Spooky and Puff The Magic Dragon)

  http://www.1stcavmedic.com/glossary-files/ac-47-puff.htm
  Photos of aircraft on the ground and during a fire mission.

• AC-47 with miniguns.

  http://members.tripod.com/~TimeStalker/minigun.html
  Operational history of the aircraft.

• Global Security: AC-47

  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/ac-47.htm
  Describes the history and configuration of the aircraft beginning with its service in Vietnam through its deployment with the Columbian Air Force.

• Spooky

  http://www.douglasdc3.com/spooky/spooky.htm
  First-person narrative of a pilot getting qualified, in 2002, to fly a restored AC-47 gunship. Includes a number of interior and exterior photographs of the aircraft.

• Wikipedia: AC-47 Spooky

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC-47_Spooky
  History and configuration of the aircraft with relevant links.

 

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