SEFEGeorge Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 To answer a question in another AF site, did we ever deploy AC-130s over North Vietnam? Just trying to get a general idea of the ACs activities, loses, etc. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The answer is No. By the time the AC-130s were deployed to Ubon, LBJ had ceased offensive actions against North Vietnam and they did not resume until 1972. We operated over North Vietnam in LAMPLIGHTER missions in C-130A flareships but that ceased in late 1966 or early 1967 due to the proliferation of antiaircraft in the Route Package One and Two areas where we had been flying. C-130s can't survive in a high threat environment. Get a copy of my new C-130 book. It has a list of all C-130s lost in Southeast Asia, including gunships and rescue (there were two lost on the ground at Tuy Hoa). As it was, the gunships took heavy losses over Laos.Six gunships were lost - which is 50% casualties considering there are 12 airplanes in a squadron. FYI, 62 C-130s were lost in Southeast Asia. 52 of those were airlift, six were gunships, two were rescue and two were USMC. Two of the airlift airplanes were C-130E-(1)s, one on the ground and one flew into a mountain on the Lao/North Vietnam border. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The answer is No. By the time the AC-130s were deployed to Ubon, LBJ had ceased offensive actions against North Vietnam and they did not resume until 1972. We operated over North Vietnam in LAMPLIGHTER missions in C-130A flareships but that ceased in late 1966 or early 1967 due to the proliferation of antiaircraft in the Route Package One and Two areas where we had been flying. C-130s can't survive in a high threat environment. Get a copy of my new C-130 book. It has a list of all C-130s lost in Southeast Asia, including gunships and rescue (there were two lost on the ground at Tuy Hoa). As it was, the gunships took heavy losses over Laos.Six gunships were lost - which is 50% casualties considering there are 12 airplanes in a squadron. FYI, 62 C-130s were lost in Southeast Asia. 52 of those were airlift, six were gunships, two were rescue and two were USMC. Two of the airlift airplanes were C-130E-(1)s, one on the ground and one flew into a mountain on the Lao/North Vietnam border. One of the airlift airplanes was an E-model from Sewart lost on a special operation over North Vietnam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob130ab Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 The answer is No. By the time the AC-130s were deployed to Ubon, LBJ had ceased offensive actions against North Vietnam and they did not resume until 1972. We operated over North Vietnam in LAMPLIGHTER missions in C-130A flareships but that ceased in late 1966 or early 1967 due to the proliferation of antiaircraft in the Route Package One and Two areas where we had been flying. C-130s can't survive in a high threat environment. Get a copy of my new C-130 book. It has a list of all C-130s lost in Southeast Asia, including gunships and rescue (there were two lost on the ground at Tuy Hoa). As it was, the gunships took heavy losses over Laos.Six gunships were lost - which is 50% casualties considering there are 12 airplanes in a squadron. FYI, 62 C-130s were lost in Southeast Asia. 52 of those were airlift, six were gunships, two were rescue and two were USMC. Two of the airlift airplanes were C-130E-(1)s, one on the ground and one flew into a mountain on the Lao/North Vietnam border. Hi Sam, I have a copy of your book "C-130 Hercules Tactical Airlift Missions 1956-1975" copy wright 1988. Do you have a newer book out? How is it different from this book? Bob Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spec13fe Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Geroge, As far as I know there was not any missions in North Vietnam. Laos, SVN and Cambodia was the target areas. There was a total of 16 A's and 11 E/H's (The E's where upgraded with the -15 engines and a few other things and called H's). converted to AC's. I think there were 3 of each at the school at Hurlbert which got swapped out with depot imputs. Loses where 6 A's and 1 E . Mike Thompson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEFEGeorge Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 It was just curious question. I was on another site, Air Force Blues, and they were sort of down-playing the gunships as not that relevant in the middle east, high-threat areas, etc., and basically I was tried to tell them that the gunships are effective, in the middle east and in SEA. Of course it seems to me that most of the people of that site are all youngsters, or young know-it-all officers, that don't think us old guys know a damn thing, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 What is the URL for this Air Force Blues site? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEFEGeorge Posted December 30, 2011 Author Share Posted December 30, 2011 What is the URL for this Air Force Blues site? TIA http://www.afbluesforums.com/phpBB3/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EClark Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 I went to that site it didn't look that great to me. Our's is 100 times better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herkman Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 To respect the AC130 Batch of troops were being hasled by the Viet Cong and called for air support. The AC130 Commander called them up and said I can see you and I can see them too. Please pull your troops back 30 feet. They complied and the AC130 came along and did its job and well done too. They then did the body count but also marked where the fire had stopped. And it stopped 30 feet from where they pulled back to. The Australian Army had all the respect for the gunships. I just wonder how many lifes they saved. Thanks guys Col Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectre623 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Hello Col. Good to see you posting again. How you doing? Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamMcGowan Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 To respect the AC130 Batch of troops were being hasled by the Viet Cong and called for air support. The AC130 Commander called them up and said I can see you and I can see them too. Please pull your troops back 30 feet. They complied and the AC130 came along and did its job and well done too. They then did the body count but also marked where the fire had stopped. And it stopped 30 feet from where they pulled back to. The Australian Army had all the respect for the gunships. I just wonder how many lifes they saved. Thanks guys Col It most likely WASN'T an AC-130. After the initial trial, the prototype AC-130A moved to Ubon, Thailand for work on the Ho Chi Minh Trail as a truck-killer and the production models ere all assigned to Ubon. As it was, six were shot down and several were shot up but managed to get on the ground. Considering that there was only one squadron, that's a pretty high casualty rate. AC-130s worked over An Loc in 1972 but by that time the Aussies had left, as had most of the US ground troops, and they were supporting South Vietnamese, as were the airdrop crews. The AC-47s left the USAF in 1969 and AC-119s were used over South Vietnam after that. All transport aircraft are highly vulnerable in areas of medium to high intensity ground fire - and if there are fighters around, it's Katy-bar-the-door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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