AC-47

(PD) Photo: USAF
AC-47 gunship - one gatling gun points out the cargo door, and one each points out of the two windows forward of the door.

The AC-47 is a cargo plane that had M61 Vulcan (machine gun), with an extremely high rate of fire, positioned to fire perpendicular to the plane's flight. The weapons were mounted in the C-47 Skytrain, a plane essentially identical to the commercial DC-3. The plane's pilot would fly the plane so that it circled an area where enemy ground forces were believed to be located; the actual flight path was called a pylon turn. Firing from such a turn would put a straight line of fire on the ground.

AC-47 aircraft, with their long endurance, also would patrol over an endangered area at night, principally dropping flares but firing on targets of opportunity. Troops called them "Puff, the Magic Dragon" after a contemporary folk song by Peter, Paul and Mary.

The planes first saw operational use in the Vietnam War, where they were assigned to units including the 4th Air Commando Squadron

Even there, the AC-130 eventually replaced it. Currently the United States Air Force fields much more advanced AC-130 models; the concept pioneered in the AC-47 proved sound. Today's Air Force Special Operations Command is the successor to the Air Commando units.