Topics: Gunships : AC-47

Built on the airframe of the C-47 "Dakota" transport, the AC-47 was the first-ever fixed-wing gunship to employ fixed-mount, rapid-fire, side-firing weapons to attack ground targets while orbiting them. Originally given the designation FC-47, but the fighter pilot community strongly objected to a two-engine transport being called a fighter aircraft, so the attack designation that had been last used in WW-II was resurrected and the aircraft became the AC-47.Just as the official name was cause for some confusion, the AC-47 had a number of nicknames. Officially it was Spooky, but unofficially it was "puff the magic dragon" or just "puff". Among ground forces in Vietnam, all gunships came to be called "puff".