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AC-130 Gunship Flies Its First Missions

September 1, 1967 - September 30, 1967

1967-09_AC130
1967-09_AC130
An AC-130 parked at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in spring 1969. (National Museum of the U.S. Air Force)

A prototype Lockheed AC-130A Gunship II, which is a modified C-130 transport plane, flies its first test missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It officially begins flying combat missions in February 1968. The aircraft is equipped with 20mm cannons and 7.62mm miniguns along with night observation, infrared detection, and side-looking radar technologies. The Air Force regards the AC-130 as its most cost-effective close air support and interdiction weapon. It goes on to destroy more vehicles on the Ho Chi Minh Trail than any other aircraft.1

1John Schlight, The War in South Vietnam: The Years of the Offensive, 1965–1968, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1999), 239–240, 373; John Schlight, A War Too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia, 1961–1975 (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1996), 55, 79; Jacob Van Staaveren, Interdiction in Southern Laos, 1960–1968, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia (Washington D.C.: Center for Air Force History, 1993), 241; Walter S. Poole, Adapting to Flexible Response, 1960–1968, History of Acquisition in the Department of Defense Volume II (Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2013), 343.