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Puff!

pwilliepwillie Member Posts: 20,253 ✭✭✭
edited April 2016 in US Military Veteran Forum
...anyone here fly the C-47's with the Gatlin guns?... I can't remember how many guns and which side(I think port side) they were on..???
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Comments

  • CapnMidnightCapnMidnight Member Posts: 8,038 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Puff saved our butts on more than one occasion. Thank you to everyone who flew on a Puff crew.
    W.D.
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  • kimikimi Member Posts: 44,719 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Puff was bad, badder than Big Bad John and Leroy Brown. One round per square foot over the size of a football field, so it was said. 3 guns port side:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKOrpyO0z48
    What's next?
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  • pwilliepwillie Member Posts: 20,253 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I knew it was the Port side,but couldn't remember if two or four Gats!...I know they sounded like fog horns in the sky...So did the mini's on the little Bell Helo...
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  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by CapnMidnight
    Puff saved our butts on more than one occasion. Thank you to everyone who flew on a Puff crew.
    W.D.



    Amen Brother!. I am here today thanks in part to Puff.
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  • perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,105 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    the first time I ever knew of such a thing I heard it about 4or5 times before I saw 'it"sounded like a herd of elephants passing gas" when I did see it and the curtain Of red from the tracers I was awe struck knowing how many rounds a minute was spewing out I had fired thousands of rounds from both M60 and M2
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  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I THINK the original Puff and the original Spooky (AC-130) are at the Air Force Ordnance Museum just outside Eglin AFB Florida.
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  • Laredo LeftyLaredo Lefty Member Posts: 13,451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I remember well watching them shoot fire missions thru a starlite scope. It looked like they were shooting 100 watt light bulbs.
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  • Wild TurkeyWild Turkey Member Posts: 2,425 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    How large was the "beaten zone" of a Spooky strike?

    I remember laughing at the shot in "Green Berets" when they showed all the bullets in a straight line because I knew there would be more dispersion due to altitude.

    I've heard stories of leaves coming off trees, etc, but always wondered how intense it really was.

    (commissioned USAR Aug '72)
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  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Correction to my last- the AC-130 was Spectre- "Spooky" was the call sign for the AC-47s.

    Regarding the size of the beaten zone- depends on distance from target, and duration of fire. The guns for Spooky were 3 ea 7.62 mm miniguns, capable of 6,000 rounds per minute. While more than one gun could fire at once, they were usually cycled one at a time. Spooky used a WW 2 fighter gunsight, mounted looking out to the pilot's port side. Not precise, but when you have God's own shotgun to shoot with....

    The AC-130 raised the stakes- 40mm cannon, a 105 howitzer, upgraded gatlings, etc.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKOrpyO0z48
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  • Jim RauJim Rau Member Posts: 3,550
    edited November -1
    They would 'wag' their wings and spray the area back a forth. The weak link with he mini-guns was the 'feeder-delinker'. Most would not try to fire more than about 3k per minute to keep the feeder-delinker from going *!!!
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