Though most attacks were conducted by small teams, large attacks of one thousand or more had occurred whereas SF camps were overrun and defenders killed. These small SF camps protected hamlets and villages came under constant attack by communist Viet Cong guerrillas. Army Special Forces camps were situated in South Vietnam to protect the citizens of South Vietnam from attack by North Vietnamese insurgents. ground forces steadily increased in Vietnam. (USAF Photo) Prefaceīeginning in the early 1960s, the number of U.S. L–R, Technical Sergeant Bob Davis, Major Jim Krause, Major Jim Wolverton, Major Ron Terry, Major Harris, Master Sergeant Farris Heins, Technical Sergeant Paul Bunch. Original members of the ASD Gunship II development team at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, 1967, in front of the prototype aircraft. Now, over fifty years after the first AC-130 Gunship began flying combat missions over Vietnam, the declassified, factual and comprehensive story of Spectre can be told. By the end of the war, the AC-130 had become the most revered attack aircraft of the Vietnam war, but the classification of their deeds prevented public release. Nevertheless, gunship crews developed tactics, techniques, and procedures for close air support, interdiction, command and control, and even search and rescue. Overall, the accomplishments of the combined team of engineers, maintainers, and aircrews were especially commendable since they inherited some of the oldest, broken-down aircraft in the USAF inventory. Furthermore, program success was a direct result of the heroic and unsung efforts of Spectre aircrews who flew thousands of dangerous missions over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Without a doubt, the side-firing fixed-wing gunship program would have failed if not for the leadership and savvy of the USAF Gunship Program Office, Air Force Systems Command (AFSC), and Aeronautical Systems Division (ASD) engineers. Instead, the Air Force Gunship Program Office and Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) took matters into their own hands to rapidly develop and field a desperately needed combat capability. Contrary to typical aircraft development, the gunship program was not devised, controlled, or marketed by the commercial aviation industry. He United States Air Force (USAF) fixed-wing, side-firing gunship program began in the early 1960s during the Vietnam War with the development, fielding, and operational use of the AC-47D Spooky gunship. GHOSTRIDERS MORS DE CAELIS EPILOGUE, 1968–1975 VIETNAM, LAOS, AND CAMBODIA OPERATIONS, 1970–1973 VIETNAM, LAOS, CAMBODIA COMBAT OPERATIONS, 1968–1969 Situation Report: Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, 1968–1973 It is currently on display under the name Azrael, Angel of Death. Upon retirement in 1995, 54-1630 was inducted into the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The first production AC-130A Gunship to arrive for combat duty in Southeast Asia was tail number 54-1630, named Mors De Caelis (Latin translation Death From Heaven). This book is dedicated to the unsung professionals who operated, maintained, and supported the AC-130 gunship mission from 1968 through 1975. Published in the United States of America No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher. Above all, this is the story of Spectre-accurate, detailed, compelling, and unique. The level of detail and context figuratively puts the reader in the aircraft as an observer, flying alongside a Spectre crew in combat. Written in third-person omniscient point of view by an experienced combat veteran and Spectre Historian, all aspects of the story are derived from official declassified records and personal interviews. Fifty-two Spectre crewmen and six AC-130s were lost during combat operations in Laos and Vietnam. Though the AC-130 was credited with 10,000 trucks destroyed, this phenomenal achievement came with a hefty price. It tells the life and death stories of Spectre crews, who faced extreme danger while hunting trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and providing fire support for US and allied ground forces. The story begins with the first AC-130 in 1968, and ends in 1975 at the end of the war in Vietnam. Ghostriders: Mors De Caelis is a comprehensive history of AC-130 gunship combat operations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. If necessity is the mother of invention, the AC-130 gunship was definitely her offspring.
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