As the battle damaged Spectre touched down, the right undercarriage collapsed and the Gunship veered off the runway into an obstacle, catching fire. LTC Schwehm had ordered his crewmen to bail out as they approached the airfield, while he attempted an emergency landing at his Ubon Air Base. H Schwehm, was hit by 57 mm AAA while orbiting at over 6,000 feet. The aircraft, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel W. The first AC-130A loss of the war, 54-1629, named The Arbitrator, occurred on while on armed reconnaissance (a.k.a. In the summer of 1971, Surprise Package was converted to the Pave Pronto configuration, and assumed its new nickname, Thor.
Surprise Package served as a test bed for the avionic systems and armament for the AC-130E. Surprise Package was refitted with upgraded similar equipment in the summer of 1970, and then redeployed to Ubon RTAFB. Surprise Package was equipped with the latest 20 mm Gatling guns and 40 mm Bofors cannon, but no 7.62 mm close support armament.
#Spectre gunship code
In late 1969, under the code name of "Surprise Package", 56-0490 arrived with solid state laser illuminated low light level TV with a companion YAG laser designator, an improved forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, video recording for TV and FLIR, inertial navigation, and a prototype digital fire control computer. The aircraft now sits on display in the final Air Force Reserve configuration with grey paint, black markings, the four-bladed Hamilton Standard props at the USAF Armament Museumīy December 1968 most AC-130s were flown under F-4 escort from the 479th TFS (Tactical Fighter Squadron), normally three Phantoms per Gunship. The retirement also marked an end to the Air Force Reserve flying the AC-130A. In 1980 the aircraft was upgraded from the original three-bladed propellers to the quieter four-bladed propellers and was eventually retired in late 1995. In 1975, after the conclusion of US involvement in the hostilities in Indochina, it was transferred to the Air Force Reserve, where it served with the 711th Special Operations Squadron of the 19th Special Operations Wing. On 25 March 1971, it took an anti-aircraft artillery hit in the nose over the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in Laos, when a 37 mm shell destroyed everything below the crew deck. This aircraft had the distinction of also being the first production C-130 built. One of the first seven AC-130A aircraft deployed was 53-3129, named First Lady by November 1970. The 16th Special Operations Squadron (SOS), of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) were activated on the above date at Ubon AB, Thailand. By 30 October 1968, enough AC-130 Gunship IIs arrived to form a squadron. The AC-130 Gunship first arrived in South Vietnam on 21 September 1967 under the Gunship II program, and began combat operations over Laos and South Vietnam that year. WARBIRDS RESOURCE GROUP > VIETNAM > AC-130 SPECTRE > PREVIOUS PAGE
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