The idea of having a frickin' howitzer on a plane is just wild.

My father was one of the first Air Force pilots to fly the the first prototype of the C-130..in Armore Oklahoma. Lockheed in Murietta sent the planes to Ardmore..My Dad flew that plane his whole career..Air Rescue. Got the Distinguished Flying Cross...2 tours in Vietnam

My son is a gunship pilot. Doesn’t really tell me a lot about specifics, but being the son of a COMBAT ARMS MAINTENANCE AND TRAINING red hat, I get an idea of whats going on. I can only know he is following his fathers footsteps in a huge manner. Perhaps a small protective prayer 🙏 🙏 in in order for our brave who protect the air and the ground would be in order. Be safe my son wherever you fly, you are your Dad’s everything.

Amazing service life. Like the A-10, these old birds just keep going.

I am a brit and love watching the US troops. This aircraft used more ammo to train than the whole UK armed services combined in a year perhaps 2.

Actually the E models had upgraded engines and other and were changed to the H designation! Served as a weapons mechanic on H models from 81 to 85! Great memories!!!

I joined the Air Force in '73. The first one of these I saw had two mini guns on the side like "Puff" and they had strapped a 105 on the back deck. They have came a long way since then. I still miss the flying on 130s

My dad was one of the first Spectre pilots, serving from 1968 - 1970. Some of the stories he told, including once shooting down a vietcong helicopter (which greatly pissed the f4 pilots which were his over cap guards).

I was told that in Laos, along the Ho Chi Minh trail, once North Vietnamese truck drivers became aware that an AC-130 gunship was in the area they would simply stop their truck, get out, walk to the side of the road, and wait for the AC-130 to DESTROY their vehicle. They were so confident that they, personally, were not in danger, they would just stand there and watch. Later, the North Vietnamese military CHAINED them to the steering wheel to end THAT "nonsense".

“At the end of the day the ac-130 is there for one reason and one reason only” And that reason is to “bring the rain”

Neat plane. So much exposed ammo! Salute to the personnel in these planes.

I cannot even begin to imagine the relief our ground troops probably feel whenever they're pinned down and they hear that 105 howitzer banging away overhead raining down on the enemy.... probably the only thing that trumps that feeling of relief is the sight of an A-10 Thunderbolt incoming when you find yourself in a jam..... 😀

It was great to get info from someone who has actually fought from these gunships.

During Operation Phantom Fury ( Fallujah, Iraq ), we were very fortunate to have several "spookys" fly air cover for us Marines at night as we'd try to find a secure place for the night. Hearing the 20mm and 40 BOFORS opening up was somewhat comforting knowing that the bad guys had better think twice about moving around.....

Never knew they carried and fired missiles and bombs too 😳 makes this plane even more SWOLE 💪

As young private in the 82ND, back in December 1976, Puff the Magic Dragon was the first show of force I saw. Were close enough to the impact area they were targeting, the concussions from the 40s and especially 105s had us forgetting we were freezing. It was quite an experience. After the show was over, the order was given; back to the 80 packs, but one man from 3rd platoon didn’t move off the cold ground. He had lit a food heat tab under his poncho to fight off the cold and wind, and was over come by carbon monoxide after falling asleep. His body was taken back to the barracks in the 80 packs, and placed in the day room on a pool table. Two men from 3rd stood guard at the doors. No one was allowed to enter until the body was removed in the morning.

Fortunate enough to have been on board one of these,at the last RAF Alconbury airshow.the shell used in the howitzer is huge!

Man between the ac130 and the warthog the Apaches and the snakes on the vipers might call them now. We can can definitely mess up a whole bunch of stuff in a short period of time. And I love every one of them. 😁👍

I got to play 130 target every night driving home from Duke Field north of Eglin....our hangar had some of these parked outside, and they'd fly along 85 (123?) with me every night...I knew damn well what they were doing, trying out their night-sight targeting on my car ! I've loved these beasts since first time I saw one.... ...almost as much as my one true love, the A-10. I was living on and off Eglin in the days when they were still working out the bugs in the GAU gun....we could hear that unique "B R A T" sound from miles away as they test-fired. Those 2 will be my first Lottery purchases ! 🥳🤣

We not only incorporate the best quality in what we build but guard the system as well

BUT...The AC-130 needs a more reliable anti-missile defense, over and above, dispensing flares.

what's the killstreak to unlock it ?. "enemy AC 130 on the air!" . God , I love MW2.

Mr. Gatlin would be proud his new and improved invention is still being used.

Dude you served in an AC-130!? That is cool! Thanks for the video and your service!

As young Infantry Marine who fought in Iraq we had a multitude of close air support. 1. Super Cobra's. 2. F18s 3. A-10s 4. AC130 Puff the Magic Dragon 5. Drones 6. Other Air Assets from the Navy/Air Force. Here is the fact, we Marines (who have seen combat) have ONE - just ONE preference . That's the AC130 Gunship... Puff the Magic Dragon we called it. The 2nd choice for us Marines is the A-10 and the 3rd was our Marine Cobras. Our 4th was an F18 flown by a Marine. USAF for the win every fucking time... every time.

Finaly, someone that got the majority of the facts right. Your only errors are minor errors of omission. Well done.

That’s an amazing weapons system!! You got an Abrams, Warthog, fighter jet weapons, with the size of a bomber rolled in to one!

As a Vet, I’m the first to recommend the military for some misguided youth. There are jobs in some branches that are a once in a lifetime opportunity. Working on 130 ship is one of them. There are some fantastic opportunities.

The "problem" with AC-130 is that it is purely a counter-insurgency platform. It's large and slow, so it's easily destroyed by any type of dedicated air defense. It's highly effective in its role, but it's a very narrow role.

Great for the war against enemy with no anti-air defence at all.

"You can run, but you will only DIE tired."

🇬🇧Spooky & Specter, we called in "Basher 75" (think that was the correct callsign of one of the guys) to great effect in Al Amarah 2004. We got a nice letter from the crew after our return. 😊 One particular engagement was 'danger close' as they smashed a ton of terrorists on the opposite bank of the River Tigris just before we stormed over the bridge. Plenty guys took up fire positions kneeling in the bits and pieces.

1:09 Hey that's a scene from Michael Bay's transformers! I bet he actually completely approves of everything AC-130 related 👍

Effectiveness is undeniable. When you need superior firepower sooner than later. I'll support the AC-130 and the A-10 any day.

In 1969 I was in Vietnam Northern I Corps, DMZ. Camp JJ Carroll with the 2nd Btn 94th Arty featuring Self Propelled 175mm Howitzer with 8” swap tubes. Nasty for them. The Gun Ship was nick named Puff The Magic Dragon. At night in the mountains this Bad Ass was a light show supreme.

While in Vietnam I got to see these weapons at work. We called them Puff, the Magic Dragons'. I was as at Camp Holloway, Pleiku and Puff was from Camp Schmidt, Air Force Base across town.

No one: The inventor of these things: “You know an artillery barrage? Yeah lets make it fly.”

This is only effective against ground targets that can't shot back - any units with SAM's or aircraft will dominate this aircraft.

My Grandfather used to talk about Puff the magic Dragon when he would talk about the Vietnam war. He told me there was one time that he and his crew finished a building and it instantly came under vietcong mortar fire and was destroyed. He was also assigned to tank retrieval units and he constantly talked about how he never found anyone alive. that and how much it stank. Not only that but he remembers calling "Puff" and it would "Remove" a forested area for ground troops to operate more effectively. AKA it laid down heavy fire with miniguns lining it to completely remove forested areas for ground forces.

An absolutely amazing weapons platform for its role. And the operators inside the beasts belly work like well oiled cogs. As an insurgent on the ground, if you hear this overhead, don't bother running, it's already too late.

Being such a big target I'm not surprised they release flares with a minigun too.

You seemed to have left out mention of the AC-119s. There were 2 versions flying out of mostly Uta-Pao Thailand and Da Nang, So View Nam.

"Cap... Do you see that company? I don't want to see it anymore" "Roger, sir".

Video games: 5 shots before reloading Real life: Hold my beer.

Like the Skyraider, the A-10 and AC-130 continue a legacy of CAS, a role that cannot at present be performed by jet aircraft.

Very impressive aircraft, Thanks Sam and the production crew of this video. 👍 🇺🇸

Aircrew doing artillerymen duties in the sky.

Ole Spooky, glad ur on our side.🥰

I only got to work on the C-130 Flight Simulator located at McChord AFB from 1984 ~ 1988. However this was still a fun time as we had to test the sim after maintanence and upgrades/updates etc... I always thought that the C-130 Aircraft in all it's iterations was built like a flying tank. Too bad that you could only use the JATO bottles for take off but hey, that was what they were designed and built for ;)

PS. Plus! - the AC-130 "basic platform" is already a piece of excellent engineering & manufacturing by itself - even without the guns... It's a little bit like a modern version of the 2nd World War C47 "Dakota" 's. It may be a "reductive" paragon, but in the end it is what it is - a plane that can be used for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING... Sturdy - simple - stable and ABSOLUTELY RELIABLE. Big thanks for the video, man!

Bring the gatling guns back! Nothing cooler then the gatling gun opening up.

The "U" model did NOT replace the "A" model, it replaced the "H" model. I was a member of the 20th A.M.U., 834th A.G.S., 1st S.O.W. at Hurlburt Field AFB as of 9/01/82. We were the maintenance arm of the 20th S.O.S., the helicopter operations unit which flew both the UH-1N Huey, and the MH-53H Pavelow III. As of that point in American Military History, the 16th S.O.S. Spectre operated the AC-130H which was armed with twin 20mm rotating cannon, a 40mm Bofors, a 105mm Howitzer, low-light TV, with both wide and narrow angle views, FLIR, and 2Kw & 40Kw flood lights, which were so powerful that they couldn't be turned on except in flight. The aircraft were also fitted with 4 "bathtubs", heavily insulated mechanical fairings, bolted to the underside of the wings, overlapping the engine exhausts, which combined the much colder air of high altitude with the hot exhaust gases, minimizing the aircraft's thermal signature. The overhead door for the ramp had a "fish bowl" installed in it. This was an approximately 4ft dia, polycarbonate bowl used by the I.O. (Incoming Officer), who laid on his stomach, watching for weapons threats approaching from the rear and underneath. Like the venerable A-10, the AC-130H's 20mm guns let out a "brrrrrt" sound when fired. The 40mm was more of a rhythmic "pop pop pop pop", as they tended to fire 4 rounds at a time. The 105mm sounded like a dull "poom". I spent a total of 4 yrs as part of the 1st S.O.W., not all of it happy. We lost several aircraft (both helicopters and fixed wing), in both training and test flights. My 1st assigned aircraft, #72-1651, was lost in an in-flight aerial refueling training exercise, when a rookie pilot in another helicopter panicked as the refuel hose suddenly whipped upwards due to turbulence. His unfortunate maneuvering caused the pilot of 1651 to veer to one side in an extreme roll maneuver which, sadly caused the crash which took the lives of all crew members.

Beautiful Airplane 👍

Cool airplane, but in modern warfare against a well equipped military this would be a death trap.

Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

It's so good to see Bofors from WW2 is still on action.

Some of the facts of our planes should not be said in public on yt.

I’ve personally heard an ex military tell that the crew in this gunship usually end up suffering from lung cancer due to exposure to a shit load of chemical fumes from the ammo

This machine is hopelessly inadequate to be put against any enemy with air defence.

"With so many weapons systems on board, it can be tough to choose a favorite." every COD MW2 Player 🤣😁

The best thing about AC 130, it can take off and land on a short rough runway.

AC-130... because if you haven't instilled a deeply rooted fear on your enemies using the Warthog A-10, then there's always a meanest way to do it

Really interesting video, amazing the length of service of this aircraft

In low flight counterinsurgency operation this aircraft seems to play superb.

It’s amazing the plane isn’t falling apart while firing. The forces on the air frame must be massive.

I imagnine this as the most reasonable solution to the air to air vulnerability, that still fits within the logic behind the AC-130. Air Force Command: Were concerned it may be vulnerable to other aircraft. Boeing's mad scientists: So we slaped an anti-air gun emplacment on the roof, what do you think? Air Force command: We love it.

I was stationed in a air navel gunfire liaison unit in the early 80s USMC. Still using the old school Vietnam pric 25 radios.

Love your videos! You should do a video about the RC-135 family. RC-235V/W/S/U and WC-135

AC-130 is immune to all missiles ? Radar is not detachable ? What a ingenious design👍

Only valid with absolute air superiority, otherwise is dead meat.

1:09 LOL nice use of the Scorponok killing scene from transformers

I worked on the FLIR for the AC-130 at TI in the '80s. I also worked on the S3a and A7 FLIR's

The Herky is just such a basic, flexible airframe - it’ll probably be used for another 50 - 100 years if only for utility missions.

Would the switchblade loitering munition (kamikaze drone) have a role in either defending/protecting the gunship, or providing the primary role of close air support? So the AC-130 would launch switchblades as it approaches the target, and the drones would seek out enemy anti-air units (mobile launchers and man-pads). when all such units are eliminated, they can target secondary objectives.

It looks so neat on the outside while the inside has so much everywhere. (Yeah we all know combat effectiveness beats comfort)

Depends on your theater of operations and ROE's. Sure lots of very expensive high maintenance firepower, like our AC 47 's in Nam - all of which were shot down before the end of their tour.

My grandad was a flight engineer on one of the first ac-130 gunships deployed to s.e.a. he remained in the f.e. seat for anouther 23 years accruing more than 50k flight time hours in the gunship.

Would a gunship like this be able to get close enough to attack a modern enemy defending its self with guided missiles ?

Nothing can beat being between a rock and a hard place and hearing never fear , Puff is here .

"Near-peer" I love it

It probably works well when fighting an enemy with no airforce or anti air capabilites.

Great, highly effective gunship, but only for primitive areas. They're sitting ducks for MANPADs, SAMs, AA guns, fighters, and even helicopters. They're also very expensive assets with large crews you don't want to put at risk.

I remember be on station as they did a gunshoot. fired on some killer tomatoes we launched and it sounds epic. Especially when you cant see it.

I was fortunate to work on the parts that built the C130 and C5B aircraft at Lockheed Marietta (Georgia) in the late eighties

I heard flight crew has it rough with all the gun smoke that come with firing these weapons in such a small plane. Lung cancer seems to be the norm

Airforce 1991🇺🇸. In my opinion with the success of the drones the days of the small fighter jet and dog fights are rapidly coming to an end. They're very expensive they cost a fortune to keep in the air. Things could be taken care of by unmanned vehicles for quite some time now especially the drones that I have mentioned. A large assortment of missiles as you could see the C-130 still has a place although it is very large and easy to shoot down unfortunately. All you have to do is look at the war in Ukraine and you will see what is successful and what is not. That will give you some idea of the future or the now.

Imagine that aircrafts cargo bay loaded to the brim with switchblade type MAVS, cruise missiles and recon drones with double the control panels for UAV operators.

AC-130 pilots, crews, and maintainers will always drink for free if I am around.

I heard that the 105mm may be removed in a future variant in favour of 40mm (edit: actually, should be a 120mm mortar) or maybe an AC-130 replacement. Really hope this does not happen as 105mm to me is the most important element of AC-130 family. My absolute wet dream is that the AC-130 could somehow fit a 155mm one day.

This video contradicts itself many times. It says the AC-130 was used in Vietnam, but construction began ing 1987? Also said the J model is the most recent, but later said the U version is the newest

The opening statement is just as amazing as this plane 🤣

This is one of the top 2 best things the military has created,besides the A-10 warthog

1 или 2 ракеты с300/с400 и этот самолет превратится в самый красивый фейрверк в мире))))

I love the AC-130 but I don't see much of a future for it unless we get into another insurgency war. It's utterly dependent on US air superiority to survive. And largely dependent on the enemy having no decent SAMs. I got to direct an AC130's 25mm fire in training. It had stupid precise night vision capabilities and accuracy. It could located something as small as an illuminate watch from 5,000 feet up. _And that was in the 1980s._ The new ones could probably do a DNA test. Unless you were there you'd never believe how loud it is firing at night in the desert. One took out a warehouse full of insurgents five miles from my FOB in Baghdad (and several thousand feet up) using its 40mm cannon. I literally thought insurgents were on the FOB _right outside my door._

call of duty modern warfare mission involving this aircraft was so memorable n badass

I see they have found a use for all the leftover Halloween candy corn.

Great weapon for CAS when fighting camel riders, but in modern warfare this is a just a big flying target.

Angel of death

In the Army we called it puff the magic dragon because at night when firing their guns it looks like a dragon shooting fire from it .

These things are terrifying 😂. So many weapon system variations ready to unleash big boom boom.