So with the AC-47T, what did you mean by guardian of many Colombian towns? In my reading about the Vietnam war, it was mostly used on larger formations or to protect units under attack (I read a lot of LRP autobiographies). How did the Colombians use it?
Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, the Colombian guerrillas, FARC specially, basically roamed the countryside and did what they pleased with the fields and crops and whoever was unfortunate enough to own them, but not content with that, they also wanted control over the towns that were surrounded by said fields, so they had a knack of launching massive assaults on the town, killing whatever policemen dared to oppose them, capturing the survivors, and proceeding to steal as much money as possible from the local bank, mayor’s office, church and any major store present in the town, while vandalizing houses with their communist slogans, and even forcefully recruiting young men AND women, many still underage and some not even teenagers.
They stuck around the town for as long as they could, until either the army showed up, or they ran out of things and people to steal.
Enter the AC-47T Fantasma, at their height being 8 planes total, always kept either ready to fly or already in the air around places known for constant guerrilla raids, where, as soon as a town was under attack, the police would radio in for help, and a single plane would show up, usually backed by either armed helicopters, OV-10 Broncos, or even fighter jets if they were in flyable condition (in those days the air force could barely keep its Kfir/Mirage fleet in the air due to lack of spares), and all hell broke loose.
You see, the thing about the Fantasma is that it comes equipped with a very powerful flir electro optical system, perfect for jungle warfare, since no amount of cover would hide any heat or infrared signature from the guerrillas assaulting the town, so it was easy for pilots to spot the intruders and rain .50 cal lead on them, the police on the ground tasked with repulsing any attempt at breaking into the town proper, as to avoid civilian casualties, while at the same time completely denying any effective cover from the air onslaught.
Couple that with the guerrilla tactic of launching raids at night, as to avoid detection by army units trying to hunt them down, which ultimately worked against them since the Fantasmas were even deadlier at night, as a cool characteristic of the DC-3 airframe from which the plane is based on, is that it can turn off it’s engines and glide for a good while, as to make detection by sound impossible, making any strafing run a complete and horrible surprise for any bastard guerrilla caught in the onslaught.
Hence the nickname, Fantasma, ghost, since it came out of nowhere to terrorize them.
This made the defense of many little towns possible for the at the time undersized and overworked Colombian armed forces, and while a lot of towns did fall, it was only 8 planes after all, attrition taking 2 over those years, and the other supporting craft never amounting more than 30 operational aircraft, they still proved highly effective when deployed.
I should know, one of them saved my town from a FARC assault on Halloween night 1998.
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