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BASLER TURB-PROP DAK BY MANDRED JAHN

Hi SSI01,

Yep, we had about 12 USAF EC-47's on the ramp at Danang in '71. Their nickname was, "lekric goones"......SEA camo and antenni all over 'em.......Quite a "traffic mix" there....Everything from O-1E's to F-4's and Civil AAL, Braniff, Pan Am 707's......24 hour traffic count would average about 2,000 landings and take-offs......sbp.......:salute:.........
 
I see where we just got 6 airmen back from an AC-47D crash site in Laos, I think near Tchepone. That was a real hot spot on or near the Trail. This might be one of the earliest if not the earliest gunship loss over the Trail; they should never have been sent there, they flew too low and slow and were too undergunned to be a real threat to Trail traffic. I believe they were withdrawn from Trail recon/attack and worked in-country in SVN, the Trail was taken over by AC-119s and then the AC-130s.
 
AC-119's

Ah yes, the AC-119E & F's....... One's call sign was, "Shadow" The other call sign was, "Stinger". They flew almost all missions during darkness..... 'Member one "Shadow" took a wing hit while killing trucks up on the "trail" one night and had to shut down engine on the damaged wing side as streaming avgas from damaged wing fuel tank was too close to engine......We all sweated their return as pilot and crew limped back to base.....Took'em awhile but they returned OK......sbp........:salute:
 
My First Sergeant at Luke AFB had been the chief gunner (I guess that's what they were called) on a dollar-nineteen Shadow that took hits over the Trail once - he said they got a 37mm squarely in the cargo compartment that blew out a sizeable piece of the flooring - he said you could put a VW through the hole it made; their parachutes were soaked with hydraulic fluid, they put them on anyway. Bird got back OK. I forget the difference between them - Shadow/Stinger - I think Stinger had only 7.62MGs, Shadow had 20mm cannon plus an advanced sensor outfit.
 
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