【Military Subplane】Author: Lu Zhi
When it comes to gunboat machines, friends who have watched movies or played games should know that the most famous is naturally the AC105 series with 130mm guns. However, in addition to the AC130 series, there is also an even older century-old aircraft in the world. This is the cousin of the AC47 that was once used in the United States, and surprisingly, the old AC47 is still in service today.
▲ Image source: Internet
During the Vietnam War, the United States developed many new weapons, including helicopter gunships and gunboats. The first choice of the gunboat airborne aircraft of the United States was not the AC130, but the C47 transport aircraft of the US Air Force. Friends who have watched World War II movies should be familiar with this propeller transport plane from Douglas, which made its first successful flight in 1941. The prototype of the C47 is Douglas's DC3 aircraft, which first flew in 1935, nearly 90 years ago.
▲ Image source: Internet
Although they are all called AC47 series gunboat aircraft, the AC47 used in Colombia is not directly related to the AC47 in the United States. In the mid-80s, Colombia considered using aerial firepower against guerrillas. Inspired by the United States, Colombia took a fancy to the very old C47 transport aircraft, on the one hand, because the United States has a history of using the same type of aircraft, and on the other hand, although these old transport aircraft have limited performance, they can take off and land on the ground in a simple way, which is very suitable for the counterinsurgency mission pursued by Colombia. So in 1987, Colombia began to modify the C47 transport aircraft, and received support from the United States. The C47's modest take-off weight does not allow it to boast the luxurious weapons systems of the AC130, which are equipped with three 50-caliber machine guns, along with other navigation and communications equipment, to transform them into authentic military aircraft.
▲ Image source: Internet
Because the new aircraft used the old Pratt & Whitney piston engine in the early stage, and there were frequent failures, so it was later replaced with the PT6A-67R turboprop engine also from Pratt & Whitney with the help of the United States, so the biggest identifying feature is that its propeller has become 5 blades. According to foreign information, Colombia has modified a total of 9 AC47 gunboat aircraft, and changed the model to AC47T, the overall strength is undoubtedly more advanced than the AC47 used by the United States during the Vietnam War, and it is also used to fight drug traffickers and smuggling syndicates. In terms of weapon system, the original simple three large-caliber machine guns have been replaced by three-barreled 12.7mm Gatling machine guns, which have a faster rate of fire and do not have to worry about overheating. One AC47T is also rumored to use a 20mm cannon from France, which is more powerful and can hit armor or bunkers.
▲ Image source: Internet
In fact, whether it is the AC47T in Colombia or the AC47 used by the United States and the AC130 in active service, their biggest task is actually counterinsurgency operations, but the definition of insurgency varies from country to country. Because of the problem of carrier aircraft, the gunboat plane flies slowly and the target is too obvious, as long as the opponent has slightly decent anti-aircraft firepower, then the gunboat plane will not be able to escape the blow at all. But for a given purpose, the fighters of these guerrillas do not have any decent anti-aircraft firepower, so these gunboats equipped with simple weapons can run amok.
Nowadays, there are also many new concepts of gunboats, which are generally based on the armed version of the light transport aircraft, which can carry weapons under the wing or install a turret, and the performance is better than the old AC47 series, and the cost is higher. Simple weapons systems can be used to combat smuggling and all sorts of militants, and the combined cost of use is much lower than that of the Air Force's jet fighters. It's just that in recent years, the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has given countries large and small new choices, so it is possible that these old gunboats that look very tasteful may really be gradually retired in the near future.
▲ Image source: Internet