What It's Like to Fire the AC-130 Gunship
- Thread starter Habu34
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The plane moves to one side when the howitzer’s fired…
Does the video mention that?
It’s a big, fat, juicy target for any peer - level adversary and can only be used to bully lesser - equipped opponents.
They stopped flying them over Vietnam even before the B-52s started getting blown out of the sky, if I recall.
Not even peer - level, I guess.
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And we’re supposed to feel bad about that? Lesser equipped enemies killed a lot of Americans in the last, say, 60 years. Killing them back should be about as fair as clubbing baby seals. Screw Marquese de Queensbury Rules.
Sirhr
PS the plane flies a banked circle… also called a fire cone. Or, in modern parlance… “The Afghan Tornado.”
It could get popped in a 4th world conflict by a MPAD ....re-tire the old bird already ,MLRS using cluster munitions are cheaper is one of many options imho.
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Does magical thangs to a hilux pickemup
If you have MLRS units in range! They require large launch vehicles. And range is, what... 15 miles or so?
Drones, Sadarms or smart 155 rounds (with smart submunitions)... all are more up-to-date options. But the military gets all antsy in their pantsy about anything resembling a cluster munition. Because whiney protesters and Greenpeace. "Wah... Rockeyes and Napalm are cruel."
Well, since '23 or so, there have been calls for a drone-dropped CBU... so at least someone is thinking ahead!
Heck, back at GD in the early 2000's we proposed a turbine powered 2.75" rocket... (company in CT was making mini jet engines, just to use in the Hydra rockets). These could have been launched from aircraft at standoff range, from simple ground tubes or even wire racks like big bottle rockets. Had long loiter time and then could 'called in' with pinpoint accuracy within seconds by ground forces... They were cheap, accurate, had a off-the-shelf set of launchers and warheads. Drone friendly. It never went anywhere, but the concept was good.
Until we get something better... Spooky-on!
Sirhr
Fk that...it's the burrrfect border patrol/cartel hammer.
It's a Howitzer from the sky.....#merica...
There was a ac130 in theater way back in the day that bent the frame avoiding manpads but it still made it back.
And yeah, they do kick sideways when the big gun fires and you can feel it.
And yeah, they do kick sideways when the big gun fires and you can feel it.
I just automatically assumed bullying the beheaders and drug dealers was cool. Not something that bothers me anyway.
That concept isn’t dead. Just a solution waiting for the right problem.
It was never intended for missions in theaters where the enemy had any kind of surface to air capability or even a hit of air superiority. Thats why we lost one (technically two) in GW I. Fast mover jocks planning missions as if a 130 had the same capabilities as a Eagle. Central America , Grenada and similar theaters is where it shines.
If I recall the pilot banked almost to the point the wing was pointed directly at the ground and went into a drive. Recovered at about 500 feet and limped home. Over torqued all four engines and popped countless rivets. They worked on it for a while and managed to get it to Germany.
Lolol, not trying to call you out, but yeah that didn’t happen. I mean, the crew might of thought it was happening, but if it was a manpad, the engagement was over before anyone knew it had happened and any “maneuvers” the crew made didn’t make the difference. Any idiot with a Red Ryder can hit a 130 or a helicopter for that matter.
Lost many over Vietnam - wasn’t one also shot down during one of the Gulf Wars?
EDIT: Missed one of the earlier comments…
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Weren’t you stationed at Hurlburt? Before they moved them out west?
Whistling Dixie yt channel would like a word
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Hell, didn’t one almost kill itself stateside? Slipped over too far and almost didn’t recover, but warped the airframe or something? I think it was one of the updated models during testing in Florida?
I think there were but i do not know for sure and yes they suffered loses in vietnam as did just about anything flying there by lil guys with guns in sandals
Missing flight data contributed to accident that made AC-130J unusable
Lockheed-Martin's flight test data could have helped pilots better understand the aircraft’s handling.
www.airforcetimes.com
You’re right.
Had to look that one up.
Thought “bent frames” only occured in Ford F150 Raptors
I always laugh whenever somebody calls an AC130 a "state of the art" superior weapon when you have aircraft like the A-10 which has also proved itself in battle being called obsolete. And now I see they have a prop "Air Tractor" that's been heavily modified to do CAS and replace the A-10. The A-10 was and still is a great and more importantly, survivable airframe.
That’s SO “Air America.”
Not an AC-130, but same idea
Big, soft, fat, slow, juicy target with “kick me” painted all over it
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WW2 brand new submarine being tested went out of control past its crush depth but recovered lost 12 inches of overall length.......spent the rest of its life dockside as a training boat . Many fighter pilots bent their planes too .Missing flight data contributed to accident that made AC-130J unusable
Lockheed-Martin's flight test data could have helped pilots better understand the aircraft’s handling.
You’re right.
Had to look that one up.
Thought “bent frames” only occured in Ford F150 Raptors
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That’s SO “Air America.”
Not an AC-130, but same idea
Lesser equiped opponents were the main threat and what won the VN War.
On the same premise of being slow, making an easy target, why didn't A-10s get shot down?
Translation, “it’s great when nobody is shooting anything actually dangerous back at you…”
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The A10 laughs and says, “ hold one of my engines” as it slaps the little AT-802U on the ass.
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Fairly common in high stress aircraft from my limited knowledge and understanding.Missing flight data contributed to accident that made AC-130J unusable
Lockheed-Martin's flight test data could have helped pilots better understand the aircraft’s handling.
You’re right.
Had to look that one up.
Thought “bent frames” only occured in Ford F150 Raptors
At least they could recover. Not like the C17 in Alaska that was too low to correct
Big, soft, fat, slow, juicy target with “kick me” painted all over it
Probably something about NOT being big, soft, fat and THAT slow.
Coupled with that thing about us attacking only far less equipped adversaries, that’s probably a plus, too.
But missiles always trump tanks, tracked or winged.
Looky!
Another decicated ground attack aircraft sporting heavily armored sections and its own “titanium bathtub!”
Tough as it is - if the A-10 flew into equivalent skies NOT devoid of missiles and air superiority aircraft - odds are, it’ll sustain similar losses; we just haven’t put it through a similar wringer yet.
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I can tell you from first hand experience that there is NO better platform for close air support. The A10 is as close to having marvel superheroes rescue you as we will ever get.
it was developed to slow the tank columns headed to the english channel eg speedbump until the tactical nukes were released
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That’s SO “Air America.”
Not an AC-130, but same idea
Big, soft, fat, slow, juicy target with “kick me” painted all over it
Thought that was from Flight of the Intruder…. Probably both. But, yeah…. Sooner or later, even a blind cat can catch a mouse…
And as for slow…. They may be slow compared to an F16 or F-35…. But when you are on the ground and they are coming in low to engage a target, they are in and out before you know it. And they arrive with damn little warning. They may not be supersonic, but they are fast enough that you don’t hear them from 10 miles off like a cobra or a chinook.
And as for high intensity conflict… when did we last fight one of those? Baghdad thunder run?
All we fight are asymmetric conflicts and So/LiC!
As I have said… give them to the marines. These days, the border patrol! 80 foot strip from El Paso to San Diego… Perfect!!! Till the soil.
A10 should NOT be retired… but what do I know…
Sirhr
Well then that is in conflict with the assertion it is obsolete for peer to peer combat.
I totally agree that it can still be pretty effective on a variety of targets, so as long as people are willing to fly them to execute the mission, the better.
An amazing platform that has a proven pedigree. I find it hard to believe that it is obsolete.
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