Why Are They Called Miniguns
This High Speed MINIGUN Scares the SH.T out of Players (they didn't want to play with me anymore) Silo Entertainment. Unsubscribe from Silo Entertainment? As with the call that 'miniguns' ends up meaning something completely different in C&C, 'commissar' is effectively a word that means something else completely from the actual historical phenomenon (the more-accurately-called politruk of the Red Army in the GPW, itself derived from a practice of the French Revolution that heavily inspired the October Revolution) which, in turn, was largely defined by very bad historiography and an extremely biased and often inaccurate definition of what. I mean, they're the farthest thing from mini. It's because a minigun is a type of gatling gun. It is 'mini' in comparison to the other gatling guns which use much large rounds.
Contents.Development history In 1972, began a company-funded research effort to design a single machine gun to fire the 's M50 20 mm round. By April 1973, the program had fired test rounds in more powerful 30 mm WECOM linked ammunition, from a prototype (A model). In January 1975 a model 'C' was added, a linkless version for the proposed YAH-64; the helicopter was later adopted as the, with the model C (receiving the designation ) as standard armament.In 1976, Hughes Helicopters successfully patented the chain gun and it has since been further developed into several other system of different caliber sizes.As of 2019, 'Chain gun' is a registered trademark of (formerly Orbital ATK, following several mergers and outright acquisitions after Hughes Helicopters) for 'externally-powered machine guns'. Description Reliability and controllability are the advantages of chain-driven weapons over their. Recoil-actuated firearms depend upon the sometimes unreliable firing of a cartridge to power the cycle of action, whereas a chain gun uses an to drive a chain which moves in a rectangular circuit via four that apply tension to it. One link of the chain is connected to the bolt assembly, moving it back and forth to load, fire, extract, and eject.A misfired round does not stop the functioning of the weapon, as it might with guns that use energy from a fired cartridge to load the next round; it is simply ejected.During each full cycle of four periods, two periods (passage along the 'long' sides of the rectangle) control the time that the bolt takes to drive forward and load a round into the chamber, and how quickly it extracts it. M242 mounted onA commonly used chain gun is the.
Versions of its 25 mm action are found on ships (the ) and (the and ) around the world. Others are the 30 mm cannon, which is standard equipment on the, as well as the 30 mm, and the 35/50 mm chain gun.A 7.62×51mm NATO caliber chain gun is used on some armored vehicles as a coaxial machine gun, because of the inherently small amount of fumes from spent propellant discharged inside of the vehicle. A developmental version of this gun was named EX-34. It is in use as the L94A1 chain gun with the.See also., a conceptually similar ancient derivative of theReferences.
Contents.Design and development The AC-47 was a, (the military version of the ) that had been modified by mounting three 7.62 mm General Electric to fire through two rear window openings and the side cargo door, all on the left (pilot's) side of the aircraft, to provide for ground troops. Other armament configurations could also be found on similar C-47-based aircraft around the world. The guns were actuated by a control on the pilot's yoke whereby he could control the guns either individually or together, although gunners were also among the crew to assist with gun failures and similar issues. It could orbit the target for hours, providing over an elliptical area approximately 52 yd (47.5 m) in diameter, placing a round every 2.4 yd (2.2 m) during a three-second burst.
Why Are They Called Miniguns Lyrics
The aircraft also carried flares it could drop to illuminate the battleground. AC-47The AC-47 had no previous design to gauge how successful it would be, because it was the first of its kind. The USAF found itself in a precarious situation when requests for additional gunships began to come in because it simply lacked miniguns to fit additional aircraft after the first two conversions. The next four aircraft were equipped with ten.30 caliber. These weapons, using and ammunition stocks, were quickly discovered to jam easily, produce large amounts of gases from firing, and, even in ten-gun groups, only provide the density of fire of a single minigun. All four of these aircraft were retrofitted to the standard armament configuration when additional miniguns arrived.The AC-47 initially used that were installed on locally fabricated mounts for the gunship application. Eventually developed the to replace the gun pods, which were also used on later gunships.Operational history United States Air Force.
AC-47 at in South VietnamIn August 1964, years of fixed-wing gunship experimentation reached a new peak with Project Tailchaser under the direction of Capt. This test involved the conversion of a single to be capable of firing a single at a downward angle out of the left side of the aircraft. Even crude were quickly discovered to enable a pilot flying in a to hit a stationary area target with relative accuracy and ease. The Armament Development and Test Center tested the craft at, but lack of funding soon suspended the tests. In 1964, Capt.
Terry returned from temporary duty in Vietnam as part of an team reviewing all aspects of air operations in counter-insurgency warfare, where he had noted the usefulness of C-47s and C-123s orbiting as flare ships during night attacks on fortified hamlets. He received permission to conduct a live-fire test using the C-131 and revived the side-firing gunship program.By October, Capt. Terry's team under Project Gunship provided a C-47D, which was converted to a similar standard as the Project Tailchaser aircraft and armed with three, which were initially mounted on locally fabricated mounts—essentially strapped intended for fixed-wing aircraft (SUU-11/A) onto a mount allowing them to be fired remotely out the port side. Captain Terry and a testing team arrived at, South Vietnam, on 2 December 1964, with equipment needed to modify two C-47s. The first test aircraft (43-48579, a C-47B-5-DK mail courier converted to C-47D standard by removal of its ) was ready by 11 December, the second by 15 December, and both were allocated to the for combat testing.
The newly dubbed 'FC-47' often operated under the radio call sign 'Puff'. Its primary mission involved protecting villages, hamlets, and personnel from mass attacks by VC guerrilla units.Puff's first significant success occurred on the night of 23–24 December 1964.
An FC-47 arrived over the outpost at Tranh Yend in the just 37 minutes after an air support request, fired 4,500 rounds of ammunition, and broke the Viet Cong attack. The FC-47 was then called to support a second outpost at Trung Hung, about 20 miles (32 km) away. The aircraft again blunted the VC attack and forced a retreat. Between 15 and 26 December, all the FC-47's 16 combat sorties were successful. On 8 February 1965, an FC-47 flying over the Bong Son area of Vietnam's Central Highlands demonstrated its capabilities in the process of blunting a Viet Cong offensive. For over four hours, it fired 20,500 rounds into a Viet Cong hilltop position, killing an estimated 300 Viet Cong troops.The early gunship trials were so successful, the second aircraft was returned to the United States early in 1965 to provide crew training.
In July 1965, Headquarters USAF ordered TAC to establish an AC-47 squadron. By November 1965, a total of five aircraft were operating with the, activated in August as the first operational unit, and by the end of 1965, a total of 26 had been converted. Training Detachment 8, 1st Air Commando Wing, was subsequently established at,. In Operation Big Shoot, the 4th ACS in Vietnam grew to 20 AC-47s (16 aircraft plus four reserves for attrition).The 4th ACS deployed to, Vietnam, on 14 November 1965. Now using the call sign 'Spooky', each of its three 7.62 mm miniguns could selectively fire either 50 or 100 rounds per second. Cruising in an overhead left-hand orbit at 120 knots air speed at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 m), the gunship could put a bullet or glowing red tracer (every fifth round) bullet into every square yard of a football field-sized target in potentially less than 10 seconds. And, as long as its 45-flare and 24,000-round basic load of ammunition held out, it could do this intermittently while loitering over the target for hours.In May 1966, the squadron moved north to to join the newly activated 14th Air Commando Wing.
The 3rd Air Commando Squadron was activated at Nha Trang on 5 April 1968 as a second AC-47 squadron, with both squadrons redesignated as Special Operations Squadrons on 1 August 1968. Flights of both squadrons were stationed at bases throughout South Vietnam, and one flight of the 4th SOS served at with the. The superb work of the two AC-47 squadrons, each with 16 AC-47s flown by aircrews younger than the aircraft they flew, was undoubtedly a key contributor to the award of the to the 14th Air Commando Wing in June 1968.
MXU-470/A minigun modules in an AC-47One of the most publicized battles of the Vietnam War was the siege of Khe Sanh in early 1968, known as '. More than 24,000 tactical and 2,700 B-52 strikes dropped 110,000 tons of ordnance in attacks that averaged over 300 sorties per day. During the two and a half months of combat in that tiny area, fighters were in the air day and night. At night, AC-47 gunships kept up a constant chatter of fire against enemy troops. During darkness, AC-47 gunships provided illumination against enemy troops. The AC-47D gunship should not be confused with a small number of C-47s which were fitted with electronic equipment in the 1950s.
Prior to 1962, these aircraft were designated AC-47D. When a was adopted in 1962, these became Ds. The original gunships had been designated FC-47D by the United States Air Force, but with protests from fighter pilots, this designation was changed to AC-47D during 1965.
Of the 53 aircraft converted to AC-47 configuration, 41 served in Vietnam and 19 were lost to all causes, 12 in combat. Combat reports indicate that no village or hamlet under Spooky Squadron protection was ever lost, and a plethora of reports from civilians and military personnel were made about AC-47s coming to the rescue and saving their lives.As the United States began and, many of the remaining AC-47Ds were transferred to the, the, and to 's, after was deposed in a coup by General.A1C, an AC-47 loadmaster with the 3rd SOS, received the for saving his aircraft, Spooky 71, from destruction on 24 February 1969 during a fire support mission at. The aircraft was struck by an 82-mm mortar round that inflicted 3,500 shrapnel holes, wounding Levitow 40 times, but he used his body to jettison an armed flare, which ignited shortly after Levitow ejected it from the aircraft, allowing the AC-47 to return to base.Other air forces In 2006, started operating retrofitted AC-47s, where they are known by civilians as avion fantasma (ghost plane). They are successfully operated by the in operations in conjunction with AH-60 Arpia helicopters (an armed variant of the ) and against local illegally armed groups.
These are five purchased by Colombia with.50 cal (12.7 mm) GAU-19/A machine guns slaved to a (or FLIR) system. They also have the ability to carry bombs.
At least one has been seen fitted with one GAU-19/A and a 20 mm cannon, most likely a French made. The BT-67 is a variant of the C-47/DC-3 modified by the Basler Corporation of.In 1970, the converted a former civilian DC-3. The converted aircraft was armed with three.50 cal machine guns. During 1975, the Indonesian Air Force used its 'AC-47' in the to attack the city of. Later, the aircraft was used in Indonesian military close air support missions in.
A retirement date is unknown.North Vietnam captured several AC-47s in 1975 and is very likely that some of them may have seen actual combat in Cambodia.In December 1984 and January 1985, the United States supplied two AC-47D gunships to the and trained aircrews to operate the system. The AC-47 gunship carried three.50 cal machine guns and could loiter and provide heavy firepower for army operations. As the FAS had long operated C-47s, it was easy for the United States to train pilots and crew to operate the aircraft as a weapons platform. By all accounts, the AC-47 soon became probably the most effective weapon in the FAS arsenal.Variants of the AC-47 based on various iterations of the airframe including the BT-67, have been used by various airforces including those of,. A variety of weapons configurations include Gatling guns of numerous types, various medium and heavy machine guns and larger autocannon (South African 'Dragon Daks' were known to fit 20 mm cannons).
The (Taiwanese Air Force) also converted some of its C-47s to gunships. These machines were armed with M2 machine guns taken from retired F-86s.Operators Current operators. – Technically not a C-47 or AC-47, but a by Basler Turbo Conversions LLC.Former operators.
–. – Nha Trang Air Base, Vietnam (detachments at Danang, Pleiku, Bien Hoa and Binh Thuy). 3rd Air Commando Squadron 1968–69. 4th Air Commando Squadron 1964–69Aircraft on display There are aircraft painted to represent AC-47s on static display at the Air Commando Park at and the at. These airframes never were AC-47s and were actually regular unarmed C-47s.