zoom44
03-26-2003, 05:38 PM
ok so i wasn't completely loosing it in my post the other day. the original plane named in the above title did in fact use the 7.62mm vulcan mini-gun. it was not the ac130 that i said in that post, it was it's predecessor the ac47 which flew combat missions in Korea and Vietnam.
" From THE MACHINE GUN, PART XII: POWER DRIVEN CANNONS AND MACHINE GUNS,
by George M. Chinn, Colonel, USMC (Retired) [a rather fascinating 5
volume book set, really neat reading if you have a few spare months
of reading time, and don't REALLY NEED those new tires this year...]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In brief response to the original question of what was Puff the Magic
Dragon:
The AC-47, dubbed "Puff, the Magic Dragon" because of the noise
and rate of fire of the Miniguns, normally flies at an altitude of
2,500-3,000 ft., well above the range of most small arms fire from
the ground.
The 7.62mm Minigun, based upon the principles of GE's M61 20mm
Vulcan gun, has a basic weight of 35 lbs., with a design life of
100,000 rounds. Overall length is 31.5 in. Rate of fire can be
varied from 200 to 6,000 rounds/minute.
Puff is a pre-World War II C-47 that someone with imagination
outfitted with three gatling-type Miniguns capable of delivering
broadsides at 18,000 rounds per minute of 7.62mm bullets, tracer or
standard.
The guns all point at 90 degrees from the line of flight, and
deliver the kind of broadsides John Paul Jones would have understood
much better than a Korean jet or ace or veteran of jet strikes in
North Vietnam.
Primarily an anti-personnel weapon, Puff circled a beleagured
outpost while the pilot lined up the target in a gunsight pointed
out of the left window. Flying at 122 knots, he fired while keeping
the left wing low and the piper (illuminated sighting image) on the
target. The AC-47 flies at about 3,000 feet, works mostly at night
and did not come up against anti-aircraft gunners willing to face
her murderous fire.
Capable of circling long hours over a beleagured fort or out-
post, Puff can start the deadly circle quickly and in three seconds
cover an area the size of a football field with at least one bullet
to every square foot. [Yow!!]
In all, five puffs went through the original test. Later, twenty
sisters, in immaculate brown and green camoflage paint, arrived to
strengthen the force.
The name traces back to one of the first AC-47 missions, when
the guns were loaded with all [!!!] tracer ammunition. Government
troops were panic-stricken by the tongues of fire that they saw
licking over the ground after Viet Cong.
Calling the plane a dragon, the troops were virtually on the
point of breaking and running. Their United States advisers calmed
them with assurances that the dragon was friendly, if magic.
" From THE MACHINE GUN, PART XII: POWER DRIVEN CANNONS AND MACHINE GUNS,
by George M. Chinn, Colonel, USMC (Retired) [a rather fascinating 5
volume book set, really neat reading if you have a few spare months
of reading time, and don't REALLY NEED those new tires this year...]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In brief response to the original question of what was Puff the Magic
Dragon:
The AC-47, dubbed "Puff, the Magic Dragon" because of the noise
and rate of fire of the Miniguns, normally flies at an altitude of
2,500-3,000 ft., well above the range of most small arms fire from
the ground.
The 7.62mm Minigun, based upon the principles of GE's M61 20mm
Vulcan gun, has a basic weight of 35 lbs., with a design life of
100,000 rounds. Overall length is 31.5 in. Rate of fire can be
varied from 200 to 6,000 rounds/minute.
Puff is a pre-World War II C-47 that someone with imagination
outfitted with three gatling-type Miniguns capable of delivering
broadsides at 18,000 rounds per minute of 7.62mm bullets, tracer or
standard.
The guns all point at 90 degrees from the line of flight, and
deliver the kind of broadsides John Paul Jones would have understood
much better than a Korean jet or ace or veteran of jet strikes in
North Vietnam.
Primarily an anti-personnel weapon, Puff circled a beleagured
outpost while the pilot lined up the target in a gunsight pointed
out of the left window. Flying at 122 knots, he fired while keeping
the left wing low and the piper (illuminated sighting image) on the
target. The AC-47 flies at about 3,000 feet, works mostly at night
and did not come up against anti-aircraft gunners willing to face
her murderous fire.
Capable of circling long hours over a beleagured fort or out-
post, Puff can start the deadly circle quickly and in three seconds
cover an area the size of a football field with at least one bullet
to every square foot. [Yow!!]
In all, five puffs went through the original test. Later, twenty
sisters, in immaculate brown and green camoflage paint, arrived to
strengthen the force.
The name traces back to one of the first AC-47 missions, when
the guns were loaded with all [!!!] tracer ammunition. Government
troops were panic-stricken by the tongues of fire that they saw
licking over the ground after Viet Cong.
Calling the plane a dragon, the troops were virtually on the
point of breaking and running. Their United States advisers calmed
them with assurances that the dragon was friendly, if magic.