"Truck Killer."
"Death from Above."
"Night Stalker"
"Thor"
Jaws of Death"
"They were ominous names that fit ominous forms coming over to kill you," Senior Master Sgt. William Estes said grimly. The superintendent of aircraft general flights {aircraft generation flight chief} for the 94th Logistics Group, 94th Maintenance Squadron, at Dobbins Air reserve Base in Marietta was standing in the shadow of the massive AC-130A, now resting silent more than 40 years after it rolled off the assembly line at Lockheed Martin in Marietta.
"Ghostrider," as this plane was named by its crew chief in 1967, was the 10th C-130A built by Lockheed in 1954, and the first converted to a gunship {first converted after prototype 626}. It has found its way home to Dobbins after a long and storied career that began in 1957 when it was first accepted into Air Force service.
It's seen a lot of changes in those years and the biggest change -- a modification from a cargo plane into a gunship -- caused its pilots to dub it and 17 more like it "fantastic four-engine fighters."
"Those gunships were the troop's last hope. If they knew a Spectre [the name for all AC-130A model gunships] was on the way, they were going to be OK."
These "flying battleships" as Estes called the C-130As or {delete reference to C-130As} AC-130As (the classification the planes received in 1961 {1967}), had an attack pattern different from fighters who "made one quick pass and never even saw their target."
"It's attack pattern was like a funnel. The shooting plane flew around the rim of the funnel, shooting towards the small end," Estes explained. "once you were in its sights, you were deadmeat."
"They would rescue friendly troops pinned down in battle and surgically remove the bad guys," Ested said, adding that planes modified like "Ghostrider" could "open up [a tank] like a can of sardines."
That surgical precision is what made the gunships perfect for stopping the flow of traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam war, according to Estes.
The traffic moved at night, which meant that "Ghostrider" and its crew of 14 would fly missions under the cover of darkness, using engine heat or low-light TV monitors to detect targets on the ground.
"They were relatively quiet when they were up high," Estet said, adding the planes usually flew between 6,000 and 10,000 feet. "when they came on target, all the enemy could hear was a rumble and then they knew they were being 'acquired.'"
If they could have discerned the cause of the rumble, the enemy would have seen a 100-foot-long aircraft with a wingspan of more than 138 feet and a 38-foot high tail, painted black on the underbelly and camouflage on the top. The would have seen the names such as "Ghostrider," "Nightstalker" and "Midnight Express" emblazoned below the cockpits where -- thanks to a crew chief's artistic talent -- a devilishly smiling skeleton shooting a machine gun streaked across an eerie half-moon.
They would have also noticed the guns.
Four 20 millimeter cannons and four miniguns enables the ship to fire bullets at the rate of more than 18,000 rounds per minute with all guns operating. But that never happened, according to Estes, because the gunners [men who loaded the guns] would never have been able to keep up." Later in the war, the ships would again be reconfigured, this time to remove two of the miniguns {20 milimeter Vulcans} and add two 40 millimeter cannons, making them "the most heavily armed planes I the Air Force."
For every bullet you saw, there were five in front of it and five behind it coming at you that you didn't see," Estes said, adding that the gunners literally shoved bullets from 55 gallon drums into the guns during battle {literally shoveled empty shells into drums after battle}.
The Spectres were a success for the Air Force, with more than 2,000 built to date {2,000 C-130 Hercules}, Estes said. Back then, "Ghostrider" and its companions logged 7,000 confirmed truck kills in their combined careers. "Ghostrider" alone flew more than 4,300 hours of combat time. Only four of the original 18 planes were lost in battle.
"Some were lost to antiaircraft guns or heat-seeking missiles," Estes said. Soon "Scanners" joined the crew to combat this problem.
Scanners, or illuminator operators as they were also known, were the two crewmen whose job was to lie on their stomachs with their heads hanging out of the plane and over the edge In the back to look for ground fire.
Although secured by a "monkey strap" to hold them in place, Estes said that during evasive maneuvers, scanners would sometimes be thrown from the plane.
Although "Ghostrider" survived the war, Estes likes to point out the more than 70 patches visible on the plane, marking hits by enemy fire.
Estes, who once served as crew chief on the AC-130As {C-130A, B, E, H, P and N models} during his tour {12 years} of active duty, is still taking care of the old gunship, even if it is just to "make sure it stays presentable" by touching up the paint.
"It's been 'pickled,'" Estes said, explaining that the Air Force requires retired planes to be de-armed, de-militarized and preserved.
"Ghostrider" retired to Dobbins in 1995 after serving in Desert Storm and Uphold Democracy campaigns, having logged more combat hours than any of its sister planes.
Just five of the original AC-130As modified escaped a trip to the "boneyard," a sort of giant junkyard for old planes. Those are now displayed around the country, or used as training models. Estes hopes that "Ghostrider" can someday take what he thinks is its rightful place beside "Sweet Eloise," the B-29 that now sits beside the front gate at Dobbins.
Estes has already measured the plane and planned how it could be moved. The tail, wings and engines would need to be removed and then the entire plane reasembled in the new location. Estes isn't sure if the move will ever take place -- the Air force hasn't even been asked to approve such a plan. And, the move also involves lots of paperwork, time and money.
"It's been our dream since it landed here," Estes said. "It deserves the same respect [as the B-29]. It's appropriate that the airplane be put at the front gate to represent al the men and women who built them," Estes said. "With the B-29 we were fighting for our lives, but with the C-130s we were fighting for a way of life.
Editor's note: For more information on efforts to relocate "Ghostrider" contact Coy Short, president of the B-29 Superfortress Association at 404-223-2264, ext. 216.
The so-called American War Library and Phill Coleman are expressly prohibited from using, copying, downloading or otherwise making use of these photographs for any purpose. Claims of fair use by Phill Coleman, the American War Library or any agent representing this individual/organization are expressly rejected under the terms of the Berne Convention For The Protection of Literary And Artistic Works.
Last edited 09/11/2004.