Sakoman .308
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nova Scotia
That's some pile of bombing runs!
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Of course!! I was just trying to inject a little humour into the thread.
S for Sugar is one of - if not THE - most famous Lancasters ever built. She was a strong bird flown by some good crews and in that particular instance one hell of a skilled pilot.
However, P 0 S is a phrase that was well used, even then, for some military equipments.......
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
Humour gratefully accepted, mate. 
Back a few posts ago, we were talking about the Lysander. The German functional equivalent was the Henschel HS126:
http://1.bp.########.com/-Ax6qnmsqAGQ/VS09TOleTkI/AAAAAAAARrs/G43ncgQxvJc/s1600/10580953_903326559731697_3909493055841106884_o.jpg
Not nearly so popular or widely employed as the Storch, but still a high-winged liaison kite with sporting pretensions and a serious weakness in any airspace not dominated by friendlies...
Back a few posts ago, we were talking about the Lysander. The German functional equivalent was the Henschel HS126:
http://1.bp.########.com/-Ax6qnmsqAGQ/VS09TOleTkI/AAAAAAAARrs/G43ncgQxvJc/s1600/10580953_903326559731697_3909493055841106884_o.jpg
Not nearly so popular or widely employed as the Storch, but still a high-winged liaison kite with sporting pretensions and a serious weakness in any airspace not dominated by friendlies...
Gentlemen - a little respect, please for S-Sugar. She's been there and done that. This is quite the read:
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/collections/74-A-12-Avro-Lancaster-R5868.pdf
By my count, she did 117 bombing trips, wow!!
So... Vietnam was winding down, but there was still a need for a flying machine gun, and the venerable AC-47 "Spooky" airframes (converted from WWII Dakotas) were getting long in the tooth and harder to maintain and keep airborne...
So a few bright minds got together, looked at their inventory of cargo craft, and decided "You know, bet you could fit a mess of guns in the side of a C-119..."
A so was born the AC-119 Shadow/Stinger... Not much to look at, but a sight for sore eyes when she arrived where needed.
View attachment 125975
View attachment 125976
So a few bright minds got together, looked at their inventory of cargo craft, and decided "You know, bet you could fit a mess of guns in the side of a C-119..."
A so was born the AC-119 Shadow/Stinger... Not much to look at, but a sight for sore eyes when she arrived where needed.
View attachment 125975
View attachment 125976
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
The sort of thing the good folks at Fairchild likely never expected to happen to their aircraft. "They did WHAT?"
Very cool. What an ominous looking bit of kit that is. I know they flew at night and the black paint served a practical purpose, but man, it really couldn't have been any other colour and still do that job.
Very cool. What an ominous looking bit of kit that is. I know they flew at night and the black paint served a practical purpose, but man, it really couldn't have been any other colour and still do that job.
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You can really see the evolution toward the AC-130 in the AC-119... More guns (same number of minis, plus a pair of 20mm cannons), more ammo in storage (plus enough floor space for a mess hall), extra sensor bubbles, a proper gunners seat, and he can actually aim the weapons package (unlike the Puff Dragons, which had fixed guns and were aimed via the pilot looking through a reticle in the side window and tilting the aircraft through a slow, and rather predictable, turn).
You really have to wonder what all the lateral stress from the guns firing did to the airframe. I do remember reading about how the AC-130's in Afghanistan/Iraq needing to be rotated out/replaced on a regular basis from getting rattled apart from all the fire missions.
You really have to wonder what all the lateral stress from the guns firing did to the airframe. I do remember reading about how the AC-130's in Afghanistan/Iraq needing to be rotated out/replaced on a regular basis from getting rattled apart from all the fire missions.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Interesting wavy patterns in some of the panels on that C119.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
"Be vewy, vewy quiet...."
Humour gratefully accepted, mate.
Back a few posts ago, we were talking about the Lysander. The German functional equivalent was the Henschel HS126:
http://1.bp.########.com/-Ax6qnmsqAGQ/VS09TOleTkI/AAAAAAAARrs/G43ncgQxvJc/s1600/10580953_903326559731697_3909493055841106884_o.jpg
Not nearly so popular or widely employed as the Storch, but still a high-winged liaison kite with sporting pretensions and a serious weakness in any airspace not dominated by friendlies...
It was the Henschel 126 that were the glider tugs used to pull the dozen DFS 230 Gliders on the Gran Sasso Raid, the German plan to rescue the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from his Italian jailers, these aircraft were successful in undertaking this task, but struggled to gain altitude over the mountains
Makes you wonder just how many bomber air gunners actually did what the film describes. From the WWII film footage, it appears that it was anything but. Call it the "spray & pray" technique of aerial gunnery - I see an aircraft, I shoot!
It would be like doing a round of skeet shooting off the back of a moving golf cart. It couldn’t have been easy.
Same here... I was thinking, well, lead your shots like in skeet and trap. But that only works if the target is moving and you aren't, or if you're shooting directly ahead of the aircraft. When you're shooting out the side of a fast moving object, it's a different set of calculations entirely.
