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Как понял такое оружие нужно только для борьбы со слаборазвитым и слабо оснащённым противником. А так нормальное ПВО на раз два эту бочку ещё на подлёте снесёт./
It was great flying with you Sam! I was the gunner on the 105mm. We really enjoyed having you ride along with us. Too bad you got to miss out on all of the fun pilot pro after we dropped you off.
Mr. Jt Wiard. What did Sam had to do to have a ride on the AC-130? How much paperwork he has to do? What did the Department of Defense need to do to allow someone to have a ride on a military aircraft, do we have to pay some amount of money???
The clarity of those images from the aircraft’s onboard camera system on that AC-130 is just unbelievable! Seriously high tech and utterly amazing! Respect to the all the crew that operate and maintain those gunships.
Not to mention the software that has to calculate where the gun actually needs to be aimed, as the high speed of the aircraft as well as elevation and drop, while factoring in distance is a lot for just placing a marker on a target and pulling the trigger.
I got to fly in a C130A model 2 7.65 mini guns 2 20 mm guns and a pair of 40mm Bofors guns that was in 1974 Hurlburt Field I was in civil air patrol and they let a couple cadets go on a mission and we where told at time we the first cadets and first time they had ever allow civilians on mission even a practice one but back to the Camera wow how much they have improved for the low light TV set up and early type FLIR
If you haven't noticed, i think we don't look through the actual optics here. At one point the projectile comes in from the left side. So it's probably a drone that's capturing the images. I guess you can't show actual optics from an operating weapon system 😅
Fun Fact for tech nerds like me. I've had to replace the custom graphics card on a AC130 a little over a decade ago. The displays in the cockpit that the pilots use actually use two graphics cards at 99% and 1%, to drive the displays in the cockpit. Each graphics card can cost between $120,000-$260,000 (this was the cost 10 years ago). The graphics cards that you can buy online for your everyday/gaming PC are built for performance. The graphics cards that go inside airplanes, in terms of PERFORMANCE would be only as fast as a $190 card today. However, graphics cards designed for military airplanes are built for endurance, efficiency and redundancy. Every single component on the card is designed in duplicate for redundancy. So if any part of the card malfunctions, it automatically switches to the backup. And in the worst case that the entire card fails, the plane computer switches to a duplicate backup card. Each card is also coated in a waterproof chemical that makes the entire card and all of its components feel like rubber.
I watched an interview with a gunship crewman and he said it was absolutely awful and that pretty much everyone he flew with came down with severe respiratory diseases from all of the toxic chemicals floating around inside the plane. Like living in an enclosed shooting range with minimal ventilation.
All jobs come with a measure of risk. I'm assuming that people joining the armed forces are aware of the fact that "this job" might come with more hazards than your typical office job.
Loved it! I had the privilege of having an AC-130 do a close support mission for me one time. Short story was that there was a concrete tower in a village harboring a sizable enemy force. We were in the attack right at dusk and I reported to our company commander that I had taken a sniper round from the tower. What to do? He said don't worry, we have Spooky enroute. Turned out to be an AC130 and after a couple of passes the tower was a pile of concrete rubble on the ground. What a show!
This aircraft saved not just me but it also saved my whole Marine infantry squad in Afghanistan. We was just about over run on our FOB. The Taliban mortared all day. We called troops in contact but didn’t get anything as far as air assets for over an hour. We got two F15Es but they dropped two 1000 lb bombs but had to go get gas. Then we got two Apaches but they also had to go for more gas after 20 mins. But when we got the 130 it was killing them left and right. After the battle we went on BDA patrol to see what was what. It was total devastation. The 105 hit a mortar team and cooked off there ammo killing the team. There was dead Taliban all over. We counted 34 dead Taliban.
Thank you for your services towards our country. Sadly some people just don’t see the impact that our soldiers make on an hourly basis. I hope you get the well-earned respect deserved
@@PasonNugget Because it is bullshit. Afghanistan is in the same state as it was before 2001. The information to invade Iraq was also fabricated, and this isn't even a conspiracy anymore. The USA went there, killed half a million civilians and made some extremists more extreme, resulting in ISIS
My unit was supported by an AC-130 back in 2011 in Kunar Province. It was a pretty intense experience, I was an Army Artillery Officer so seeing a 105mm Howitzer fire over my head was nuts.
As a former CSO, much respect to these crews and their coord in real ops! They’re doing so much more than he goes into, and hats off to all of these airmen for the lives they save every day!
I remember working on the weapons systems of the H and U model of the AC130 gunship when stationed at Hurlburt Field. These aircraft have changed so much from the old days of 20mm, 25mm and 40mm guns
Back in '06, I spent a couple weeks TDY at Hurlburt. Myself and the other two guys from our squadron that were down there with me were sitting at the DFAC one morning when a major wearing a bag walked over to us. Completely random as far as I know. We knew what he drove because of the Spooky patch he was wearing. He chatted us up for a minute, asking where we were from and what we were doing at Hurlburt. Then he told us he had room for one more on his aircraft that night for a mission over the Eglin range, and asked would one of us want to take a ride. All three of us said "hell yes" at once, and he told us "looks like you're going to have to draw straws or something." We did exactly that and I ended up being the lucky one. He took note of my name, told me when and where to show up, and turned around and walked out. That night I went up in an AC-130U and got to do just exactly what Sam did; it's one of the single most fun memories of my time in (and I had a lot of fun during my enlistment). I was a bit surprised they let him film as much as he did. I wanted to snap some pictures back with the sensor controls and was told it was an absolutely solid negative.
Didn't the older models have dual GE gatling cannons as well? Why did they replace those? One would think the rain provided by them would be superior to the firepower of the 30mm.
I know they're all very well trained, but seeing the unit cohesion aboard that plane is really impressive to see. Good job to Sam for filming as well as he did. Honestly it'd hard to grasp all the teamwork and communication going on up there if we didn't literally just see it firsthand.
I love how everyone just admiring the aircraft and telling their stories with it. Truly love seeing brothers share each other stories! Thank you for your services
I was a navigator on the AC-130U and the upgrades in capabilities to the J model defy belief. Always good to see our SOF getting the best possible support necessary to complete the most dangerous missions in our mission set. Anything with the AC-130, history, present, and future, will always hit home with me hard. I can't believe I got to do what I did.
Love the AC-130 gunship. The version we would live fire with was a little different when I was active duty in the 90s. I "think" it had 105mm howitzer, twin 20mm Vulcans, 7.62mm mini gun, and 40mm Bofors gun. It make one hell of a mess and an absolutely beautiful sound when all guns were firing.
@@iseensumshit69420 He/she/it was just criticizing the Military for being warmongers, killing people for no reason, don't need them, and a waste of money.
I didn't realise the modern variants had a different weapons loadout, I was under the impression that all AC-130's had the classic twin 20mm, 40 and 105
The originals had 7.62 miniguns as well. Kinda sad that the 40's are gone, but it is likely a lot less labor intensive to keep fed and easier supply with A-10 ammo commonality.
@@ChevTecGroup IIRC, they got rid of the 40mm Bofors because they were having a hard time looking for spare parts all over the world and they were reloading shell casings made during the 40s. As sad as it is to see a workhorse like the Bofors finally retire, it’s probably for the best. The 30mm cannon I hear is a good compromise and is really accurate.
@@edm240b9 i know they were reloading cases and such for a while. But it shouldn't be that hard to source components. But yes it will be missed. 30mm avenger would have been a cool upgrade. Or the new 50mm chain gun that the Army is looking at for IFVs
@@ChevTecGroup it was hard because the US was the only country still using the 40mm Bofors and every other country had scrapped them or they weren’t salvageable.
I love your videos! My father was a C-130 pilot, among other aircraft; C-119, C-123. He flew the C-130 in Vietnam and was awarded the Distinguish Flying Cross for providing support to Khe Sanh during the siege of that outpost in 1968. He would have loved to see your videos! Keep up the good work!
A good friend of mine I used to work with was a machine gunner at Khe Sanh he was there in 68' he said if Nixon hadn't stepped up the bombing in Laos there would have been a lot more dead Marines...he said Khe Sanh was remote and they hit it all the time, small world ....hats off to your dad...
@@LauRoot892 I'm originally from Ft Wayne Indiana but I'm living in Tucson Az right now...with the work I've done I've traveled all over this country extensively...overseas as well just to get a break
@@LauRoot892 I'm on telegram... Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Twitter or anything owned by Google, I'm pretty much banned from those platforms or to put it bluntly anything owned by nazis, communists and fascists ...
@@LauRoot892 RU-vid and Lyrics Translate are also owned by Google,...I used to post English translations of Russian songs on Lyrics Translate and they kicked me off there, blatant violent communists control that platform and depending on the subject RU-vid will shadow ban or outright block comments I post
Damn, Sam! You have no idea just how many of us old duffers would love to have the same experience you just shared! What a tremendous weapons platform! I have a nephew who was an avionics tech on these a while back and he also loved working on them. What do I like about this aircraft? Everything!
What's it like? Probably hell I imagine for the gunnery crew. Imagine the amount of toxic crap being put in the air for hours on end being in that thing. Now imagine having cancer afterwards with little VA benefits to boot.
Enjoyed this very much. A lot of changes since I worked on the AC130 Spectre Gunships we used in Thailand in 1969-1970. Fire power and electronics greatly improved. Ubon, Thailand 1969-1970. USAF
Brava, to you and your filming crew! Another very good video put into the channel. The genuine delight you take in your work is so nice to see. You managed to make a stunning video that is as action packed as it is informative, all with a touch of humor. Mike Rowe make way for the next generation!
I was an Air Force weapons troop at Cannon AFB who just got out 5 months ago, I JUST missed you! haha! I'm glad you had fun my friend!! My job was loading the aircraft with bombs/munitions, as well as upkeep of the 30mm and 105mm guns!
Study as much as you can. Im currently obtaining my PPL and there's a lot of information thrown at you. The Air Force will take care of you but it's always good to go in with Prior knowledge
@@Atony94 Wdm, The USAF is already planing to retire it’s C17’s by 2035! The c130J is already going to be the primary replacement of the C17, also the c17 has already ended production since 2015 so there already going soon!.
Imagine the soldier's there walking around doing task and not once thought to themselves as they see skulls plastered everywhere (including a tattoo) that they're definitely not the baddies.
Recently just went to an Airshow and managed to tour inside and even sit in the pilots seat of a Canadian C-130 Hercules, and that was amazing in itself. However I simply cannot imagine how magnificent it would be to see one of these things in person. Truly amazing to think about.
Probably supported by/in cooperarion with the military. Could actually be that they edit and upload the videos, and that Sam is just the ”main character”.
That's pretty awesome. I was stationed at an RAF base, and we would see an AC-130 come in now and then and a few times, you could see obvious bullet holes. Truly epic Aircraft.
Thing is, you need total air superiority with these things. But there is hardly anything better for CAS. The big plane circling makes an excellent target too.
Modern war in Ukraine shown that AC-130 is good only to rain fire over enemy which doesn't have any medium or long range AA systems. So basically this is weapon to fight terrorists in mountains. I kind of like those 'specialized weapons'. They show what are real goals of each army.
My grandpa was stationed at Phù Cát airbase in Vietnam up until 1969, a year before it was overrun by VC. While he was stationed there, he loaded ammunition onto F-100s and AC-130s.
I just recently started watching some of the videos on your channel, & its very good quality content. The videos are succint but very interesting & never fail to make me smile 😊 so keep it up! Best wishes
in the Navy, on a ship, it was taught to us that when transferring a shell from one person to another, we always cradled the round in our arms. The arms would be bent upward at the elbows with the hands pointed to the ceiling, pivot and pass to the next person who also has their arms bent upward with the hands pointed to the ceiling. In this video, the two men passed the round to each other holding the round in the hands....Hand to hand transfer. I have been out of the military for 30 years this month, has the safety procedure changed since then ?
The AC-130U Spooky is still a bit cooler for me. 105mm + 40mm + 25mm rotary is a hell of a combination. I know that the 40mm was a bit old at that point. (pre-WW2 gun)
@@randomgoogleaccount4868 It's an AC-130 Spooky II I don't know exact variant, as a lot of them are just manufacturing batches and avionics updates, that we don't know about form the game. But yes a Spooky.
Thank you, really. Was so interesting for people who build scale model kits because the inner space details (panels, screens, boxes, etc ..) and colors.
It was always a sense of safety when we had the AC-130 on station in Iraq along with any other air assets. It's like cracks of lightning when fired while you're on the ground when it engages a target. The first time our GFC utilized the gunship on station, he didn't know he was supposed to tell the gunship to stop firing. Hit a baddy over 9 times before he asked the RTO if they had killed the target, RTO advised that they would fire until told to stop. The first round killed him, and the other 8 just kept pounding him. War is hell, but good stuff lol
I was in the Army in the early 90's as a Tank Turret Mechanic, we did all the electronic and hydraulic repairs on tank turrets for the ITV, FISTV, Bradley, and the M1 Abrams. Part of our job on the M1, was to insect the Main Gun Tube, as it was called back then. If it needed to be replaced, we condemned the tank, meaning that it was out of service, until the gun tube was replaced. Part of this procedure meant that we had to test fire it after replacement. This meant that we had to learn to drive, load, and fire the M1, without a crew. When I asked why, I was told, "Because it's easier, and cheaper, for the Army to replace you, then it is for them to replace an entire tank crew if you eff up the replacement" 😳 Needless to say, I always quadruple checked myself before going to the range, then rechecked again before firing. Let me tell you, firing the M1 was amazing! The power of it and the feeling you get, even just hitting "dummy" targets was exhilarating, but I can't even IMAGINE what it would have been like to fire rounds from the AC-130. You are one lucky civilian!!!!!
Amazing video! One small fun fact, the AC-130 was first used bombing people trying to defend their country against the US-Military in Vietnam! Man the AC-130 really showed those casualties who's boss. What do you think, how many people were killed by this epic murder machine? Give me your estimates in the replies!
@@zipfail2112 Salute the troops 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Especially the brave pilots of the AC-130 who risked their live everyday to fight those damn children terrorists 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Politicians: "You can't shoot recreationally on your private property, it's harmful to the environment!" Military: *fires explosive cannons into public land*
Thank you Sam for covering this awesome aircraft. Really nice footage you got there! For next aircraft, could you do an extension of the C-130 variants by covering the Marines KC-130J Harvest Hawk? Would be great if you could. That would more or less complete the C-130’s family of aircraft. Got another request though - attack helicopter, i.e. either Army Apache AH-64E or Marines AH-1Z Viper? I guess it would be tough since these aircraft are 2 seaters and chances are you won’t get to sit in the Co-pilot/Gunner seat, unless Army or Marines made some special exemption for you.
What I really like of your production is that makes everything clear and well described. Music tracks are well selected making your uploads very appealing. Thanks for the time you take to prepare everything.
What most people don't know: the C-130 gunship is excellent for hunting. No matter what. You don't just hunt a single deer in the Forrest. You hunt all of them at once. And everything else down the. And also everything in between.
Sir Sam, I learned a ton from your vlog. Am a military enthusiasts ans and you literally opened my eyes and my mind to to the myriad of info about our military. Thank you, Sir Sam for your excellent articulations,you speak very clearly and your grasp of the details are likewise excellent. Kudos!
Have you considered making a video with a PJ unit? It would be cool to see inside some of their capabilities and specifically the aircraft they use and how they work with those aircrews as a team.
@@W4rM4chine82 Most country's around the world don't have this kind niche planes. this multi million euro plane can easily shoot down from everything and planes from 50 era. He cant escape from nothing to slow. You need a COMPLETE air superiority for multiple hours and complete zero aa ground defense to survive.
I have the brass from the 105 and a 40mm bofors brass as I was the Army air/ground liaison on the AC 130. This was a day before you heard about Operation Just Cause, by the time you heard about it, the Morgue at Gorgas hospital was already full.
