Under Project Talechaser, the Air Force fitted a C-47D with three M134 7.62-millimeter mini-guns - multi-barrel, Gatling-style weapons that could fire up to 6,000 rounds a minute. Unlike bombs, which were very difficult to drop accurately and had a wide blast radius, machine guns or automatic cannons could safely hit targets close to friendly troops. military began to escalate its involvement in Vietnam in 1964, the Air Force used the C-47 to test out a new, unprecedented tactical concept - fixing side-mounted machine guns to the sides of slow-moving transports. Many wound up in the air forces of less developed countries.Īs the U.S. Air Force moved on to newer designs that could carry more tonnage over greater distances at higher speeds, thousands of C-47s remained in service with both civilian and military operators around the globe. More than 10,000 C-47s were built by the time production ceased in 1945. Officially named “Skytrain” but more commonly referred to as “Dakota” or even “Gooney Bird,” the C-47 was the plane that dropped paratroopers over Normandy, hauled vital supplies from India to China over the deadly hump of the Himalayas and later put food on kitchen tables during the Berlin Airlift. The C-47, a military version of the iconic DC-3 airliner, served as America’s workhorse cargo plane in the 1940s. Up until a recent peace agreement, these gunships scoured Colombia’s remotest regions for guerillas - tracking their movements with infrared cameras then showering them in lead.
The AC-47T Fantasma is equipped with infrared sensors to scan the jungles below - and also packs three side-mounted .50-caliber Gatling guns. Seventy years after their heyday, World War II cargo planes are patrolling the skies over Colombia’s vast jungles. Fly-by-Owen photo Ancient, side-firing gunships are active … and effective
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