Model Forum / General / Models / September 2005

Several other aircraft types were considered, including the C-54,
C-97,C-118,C-121 and the Navy P-2. Some of the reasons all of these
were eliminated from Air Force consideration were lack of a high wing,
which allowed much better visibility in the banking turn needed to bring
the guns and sight to bear on the target, or in the case of the C-97,
poor maneuverability at low altitude and airspeeds.

A C-131 was used early in the gunship program to determine the
feasibility of the whole idea of flying around in a circle and firing
guns out the side of the A/C.  It was never intended to use the C-131 as
an operational gunship, it was a test platform only.  At the time of
these early tests the whole concept was considered a wild idea and
suffered from lack of official support and funding.

Two other A/C actually reached the hardware stage as mini gunships, and
actually did go so far as to be evaluated in Viet Nam.  These were the
AU-23 Fairchild Peacemaker and AU-24 Helio Stallion.  They were intended
       for South Viet Nam use and those programs were delayed due to
problems with both funding and airframes.  They died with the end of the
war and the aircraft went to the bone yard.

All of the above is from "The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia,
Development and Employment of Fixed-Wing Gunships 1962-1972"  Office of
Air Force History.

 As with many of these non conventional ideas, if it hadn't been for a
small group of junior officers who could see the potential and kept the
concept alive despite all the official obstacles, it is doubtful if the
gunship program would have ever happened.

Norm

The book mentioned (dev. and employment... etc) is the ultimate
source for all things gunship in Vietnam.  There is also men-
tioned the suggestion that they could mount an M-60 SAW/LMG into
an O-2.  I have seen a picture in a book "Vietnam Warbirds" and
which I do not have in front of me as it's in my household goods
enroute to me in Guam!  The caption for the photo is that there
is no information as to whether this worked.  The book mentioned
previously (dev. and employment... etc.) implies that this was
never tried.

This could easily be done in 1/72 scale with the Airfix O-2 kit
and one of the M-60's from the Italeri UH-60 Desert Hawk or the
AMT/Italeri M-60 "Blazer" tank kit.  I've always wanted to give
it a shot, never bothered to get aorund to doing it.

As far as I know the DoD publication is not yet available on-
line, but is normally easily available at any good college or
university which has a government documents depository in its
library.  The Vietnam Warbirds book is not available to the
best of my knowledge.  That doesn't mean that it's NOT avail-
able, just that I don't know.

Hope this helps!

Many moons back there was a whimsical set of posts covering the evolution of
the YB-49.  I think that someone suggested a gunship variant.

In the BUFF community, we joked about a B-52 with a belly full of Miniguns.

Kind of off the topic, but I suppose that we will all survive.

Jim

I've been toying with the idea of getting a Dynavector A2D Skyshark and
putting that in VNAF colors with a minigun in the fuselage, or better yet
pivoting gun pods on the wings....

kww