The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "Puff, the Magic Dragon") was the first in a series of fixed-wing gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called for close air support.

The AC-47 was a United States Air Force (USAF) C-47 (the military version of the DC-3) that had been modified by mounting three 7.62 mm General Electric miniguns to fire through two rear window openings and the side cargo door, all on the left (pilot's) side of the aircraft, to provide close air support for ground troops. Other armament configurations could also be found on similar C-47-based aircraft around the world. The guns were actuated by a control on the pilot's yoke. The guns to be active for firing would be selected by an aerial gunner on a control panel on the right side of the cargo bay. Normally, two aerial gunners would be part of a normal crew. They would load the guns, clear malfunctions, and do inflight repair as well as select which gun(s) were online for the pilot to fire. It could orbit the target for hours, providing suppressing fire over an elliptical area about 52 yd (47.5 m) in diameter, placing a round every 2.4 yd (2.2 m) during a three-second burst. The aircraft also carried MK-24 Mod 3 parachute flares it could drop to illuminate the battleground. AC-47

The AC-47 had no previous design to gauge how successful it would be, because it was the first of its kind. The USAF found itself in a precarious situation when requests for additional gunships began to come in because it simply lacked miniguns to fit additional aircraft after the first two conversions. The next four aircraft were equipped with ten .30 caliber AN/M2 machine guns. These weapons, using World War II and Korean War ammunition stocks, were quickly discovered to jam easily, produce large amounts of gases from firing, and, even in ten-gun groups, provide the density of fire of only a single minigun. All four of these aircraft were retrofitted to the standard armament configuration when additional miniguns arrived.

The AC-47 initially used SUU-11/A gun pods that were installed on locally fabricated mounts for the gunship application. General Electric eventually developed the MXU-470/A to replace the gun pods, which were also used on later gunships.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of an C-47 gunship known as "Spooky 71", that was attached to the 3rd Special Operations Squadron, 14th Special Operations Wing, then deployed to Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam. Pre-order! Ship Date: 2026.

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 15-3/4-inches
Length: 10-3/4-inches

Release Date: ?

Historical Account: "Spooky" - "In the dark night skies over Vietnam, a terrifying new weapon had been introduced by American forces trying to protect their troops on the ground, a combination of older aeroplanes and cutting edge technology that resulted in the creation of fire spewing dragons capable of laying down 6,000 rounds of suppressing fire every minute.

The venerable Douglas C-47 Skytrain had been modified to become one of the most feared weapons of the conflict, however, ‘Spooky’ crews wouldn’t always have it their own way.

On the night of 24th February 1969, the crew of gunship 43-49770 ‘Spooky 71’ had been called to provide fire support for troop under attack at Long Binh, but whilst doing so, their aircraft had taken a direct mortar round hit in the right wing, resulting in a gaping hole and the aircraft being peppered with 3,500 shrapnel holes.

The aircraft lurched violently and the fire crew were thrown off their feet, all suffering from multiple shrapnel wounds. Bleeding profusely, Airman First Class John Levitow could see one of his crewmates was in danger of falling out of the open cargo door, and fought through the pain of his wounds to drag him to a safer position.

Unfortunately, he also saw that the flare his colleague had been trying to throw out of the aircraft prior to the mortar hit had blown back into the cabin and was smoking, about to detonate. He threw his body on top of the flare and slowly ushered it towards the open door using his last reserves of strength, rolling it into the night sky seconds before it detonated.

For his heroic, selfless actions which saved both his aircraft and crewmates, John Levitow was rightfully awarded the Medal of Honor. Despite the drama and devastation in the night sky above the Long Binh US Army post, the aircraft did manage to make it back to its home base safely, where ground crews were able to assess the damage from the mortar strike, and count every one of the 3,500 shrapnel holes which peppered the wings and fuselage of the aircraft."