(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)īy 1963, the Viet Cong (VC) were ramping up their guerrilla night activity, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that a better night air effort was necessary for the Americans. C-47 cargo plane, the predecessor to the AC-47 spooky. FC-47s would drop parachute flares over enemy positions during night attacks, and by November 1963, FC-47s had thrown more than seven thousand flares over enemy positions. Many C-47s were eventually outfitted as “flare ships” and were thereby designated as FC-47s (F standing for flare in this case). The C-47 was first brought to Vietnam in November 1961 but was primarily used as a transport and cargo ship for the Americans.

The predecessor for the AC-47 Spooky was the two-engined cargo plane, the C-47 “Gooney Bird,” which was used extensively by the Allies during the Second World War.

(Photo Credit: National Museum of the United States Air Force) Development AC-47 Spooky flying out of Nha Trang Air Base, South Vietnam circa 1968-1969.

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