A modified adaption of the Douglas C-47 Cargo plane by fitting it with 7.62 mm mini guns that could fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute. The convenience of cargo space allowed for the gunship to carry 54,000 rounds.

While other aircraft would eventually succeed the C-47, such as the C-119 and C-130 with their larger capacity and features, the C-47 pioneered the development of gunships with the first AC-47 during the Vietnam war. It's Call Sign was "Spooky".

The AC-47 was capable of putting a highly explosive bullet into every square yard of a football field size target in 3 seconds, and it could do this intermittently while loitering over it's same target for hours as long as it had the ammo on board.

It didn't take long for it to earn the nickname "Puff, the Magic Dragon", or "Dragonship". Impressive from a distance, it appeared to roar as never ending blazes of bright red tracer rounds from it's mini guns shot to the ground against a dark background of night.

In early February of 1965, one Spooky fired 20,500 rounds into a Vietcong position while flying over the Bong Son area, killing some 300 Vietcong troops during a four hour period.

From the ground at night, the sight resembled that of a fire breathing dragon, to which the enemy began to refer to as "dragonship",  and our US troops affectionately nicknamed "Puff the Magic Dragon" or just "Puff".

Through the years, the military has updated, modified, recreated, and devloped more efficient Gunships.  Modern technology will continue to change, replacing yesterday's "outdated" machines, but in my mind, "Puff" will never be forgotten and no other gunship will have the pulse racing, fear inducing, state of mind to an enemy that it did, nor the chest swelling pride from people like me. I had just started kindergarten when Puff was unleashed on the Vietcong, but I would love to have been safely watching from a distance as it cruised over the jungle ..just one time.