AC-47 "Spooky" Gunship (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The AC-47 "Spooky" is a 1930s airliner which became one of the most feared weapons of the Vietnam war, thanks to the work ofChristian missionaries.

It was a missionary working in the South American jungle who discovered that it was possible to lower a container of medicine, food and other goods at the end of a rope from a light plane circling around a village to people waiting on the ground, and then to haul the container back up afterwards.   The US Air Force realized that they could do the same thing, only instead of lowering beneficial items down to grateful recipients on the ground, they used the concept to create a gunship which was able to rain down huge quantities of firepower onto enemy forces assaulting American positions at night.