Douglas AC-47 Spooky

what is it?

The Douglas AC-47 Spooky (also nicknamed "Puff, the Magic Dragon") was the first in a series of fixed-wing gunships developed by the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. It was designed to provide more firepower than light and medium ground-attack aircraft in certain situations when ground forces called for close air support.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 29 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 370 km/htop speed
• size 15 tmax take-off weight
• built 53made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 62 years ago, in 1964.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 29 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1964-10

introduced

1965

status

still flying

number built

53

role

ground-attack aircraft and close air support gunship

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Douglas

engines

2× Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp / R-1830 Twin Wasp

crew

7

length

19.6 m

wingspan

29 m

height

5.2 m

max take-off weight

15 t

top speed

370 km/h

cruise speed

282 km/h

range

—

ceiling

7,452 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family