660309 A Shau Vly Spooky70
YANKEE AIR PIRATE - AAR
Flying the AC-47C Gunship in Yankee Air Pirate:
“Yeah, you gotta practice, it’s difficult, slow, dangerous, frustrating, it’s a real challenge and that’s why I love it! Fly the Spooky missions well and you really are doing something absolutely unique to this or any other flight-sim.”
Nicknamed ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ and ‘Spooky’, the AC-47 was a modified Dakota, sporting three 7.62mm miniguns firing through two window openings and the side cargo door on the port side of the aircraft. The guns were fired by the pilot, although a gunner was on the crew to assist with maintenance.
YAP players should learn how to snap to and from the gunsight view, to front, to padlock, while turning smoothly in a counter clockwise circuit, and practice instrument flight to avoid disorientation in darkness.
The YAP team have excelled themselves here, the aircraft model is astonishing, the details are crisp and sharply focussed, the cockpit design is uniquely theirs. These missions continue to illustrate new facets of the Vietnam War….
Our hero, (a new pilot at the start of this YAP odyssey) has completed twelve Yankee Air Pirate missions and is now a Captain.
660309 A Shau Vly Spooky70
Weather: - Overcast 600 Ft VIS 5Nm
TOT: - 1130
Aircraft: - (1) AC-47C
Flight Time: - 50 Minutes
After Action Report:
March 1966: I have spent some time on the range with this thing and put in some hours on the standard C-47 (also by YAP) doing ‘ass and trash’ runs between airfields in the south in order to familiarize myself with the airplane. Tonight I am the duty pilot.
So it’s 11:05, that’s a.m., when we get the call to buster northwest to the Special Forces Camp at A Shau Valley! Close to the border with Laos, A Shau Valley is a strategic choke point and the camp is in a vulnerable position. The NVA have made their move, in broad daylight! They were probably counting on the low overcast today to rule out air support. They didn’t allow for us. Fifteen minutes later we taxi onto the active.
Crossing the hilly countryside at 165Kts, it takes around twelve minutes before we see the valley and can make out details from the camp. We fly a fast circuit as high I can put Spooky without entering the clouds. It isn’t that high and deadly hills border most of the camp. We spot 2 AAA positions, lethal fingers of tracer probe for our vulnerable hull, only our speed saves us.
Right, those guys have to be dealt with first. If we ignore AAA at this low level they will eat us alive! I bank her around for the second circuit and we run in fast and high as possible, blasting the 51 Cal emplacement and turning again, nice and wide, fast as we can, looking for the other one. The DshK12 is only just visible against the scenery as puffs of gunsmoke, the tracer flashes towards us, I hose it down.
(It may be worth mentioning the technique I found helpful with this unusual aircraft: Flying on ‘padlock’ view it is possible to ‘walk’ the sight across the target while flying past at speed. At other times, with less deadly targets, you can afford to fly banked looking out of the ‘gunsight’ view. One other thing: don’t try precise ammo-saving economy shots like you would in a fighter. Lead and lag, keep the trigger down, hose the target!)
After another circuit the AAA is dealt and we can afford to get stuck in and take out the NVA troops. Some pings against the airframe warn us that small arms fire is being directed against Spooky. It must take a lot of courage to stand your ground in the face of this firepower!
This is no time to reflect, get in and kill the enemy! We can see the firefight on the ground and make use of landmarks, buildings and events like smoke and explosions to pinpoint our fire. Round and around we fly and pour it on ‘em!
Finally, beaten and exhausted, the enemy fall back, leaving their dead and wounded, melting into the jungle from whence they came…
I take a look at the clock, its almost midday, I can see the Special Forces troops moving about freely now. The battle is over, time to get on home.
(It is very satisfying to get in and out of here intact and with a good account. I cannot emphasize enough the discipline required to fly smoothly without hitting the scenery and to take out the AAA and small arms efficiently. You have to keep switching targets as you circuit. If you become fixated on one position, another will get you.)
Next up: We return to Spooky much later, for a night attack. Right now though, A Shau Valley has not finished with us! We will be back shortly!
