Spirit in the Sky but you're an AC-130H Spectre gunner during Operation Desert Storm

The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation, and fire-control systems. During an attack, the gunship performs a pylon turn, flying in a large circle around the target, therefore being able to fire at it for far longer than in a conventional strafing attack. The AC-130H Spectre was armed with two 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannons, one L60 Bofors 40 mm cannon, and M137 105 mm cannon and M37 recoil mechanism. During the Gulf War of 1990–91 Regular Air Force and Air Force Reserve AC-130s provided close air support and force protection for ground forces, and battlefield interdiction.

Many, many thanks to my kind Patrons!

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[Bluis]

I was in Afghanistan in 2013 when my platoon Sergeant started playing this in the Humvee. Good times. Just a bunch of guys living in the moment.

[soviet_salsa]

the sound of the 40mm firing is an underrated sound

[AngPur]

Someone looked at Bofors 40mm AA guns and thought "if they can shoot from ground to planes, why not from a plane to the ground" and his wisdom was rewarded.

[ZSmith-yylv]

AC-130: “Let’s see how many guns we can get on that plane”
A10 Warthog: “Let’s see how small a plane we can put around that gun”

[jakubrzepkowski]

AAM: misses*
crew: that's a miss, whoa... FU*K THAT DUDE
gunner: fires 3 105mm HE shells

[kommit-]

Love the fact that you added the flashes of the gun firing and the RPG missing, keep up the good work man

[StickTheGlue]

It takes an American to see a transport aircraft and think 'you know what this thing needs? More guns'. They've done it with the Huey, DC-3 and the C-130 just to name a few but then theres the stories of the up-gunned B-17s as well

[jesusisherelookbusy]

“Nail those guys by the building.”
“Yeah good kill, good kill. I see lots of little pieces down there.”
“Recalibrate azimuth sweep angle. Adjust elevation scan.”
“SHOT! GUN READY!”

[frostyboi]

AC-130H is probably the most american plane ever built

[brosefmalkovitch]

The sound mixing gets better every time, amazing choice of sound clips, would've loved it if the 105mm muted all other audio when it fires though.

[MarcoAdventures]

I love the consistent and comprehensible storyline in this event.

0:38 They found the bad guys and have been cleared to engage them.
0:47 The order to open fire has been given, and they're opening fire on the enemy.
1:00 The AC-130 gunners ask the ground units if they hit them, ground units tell them that it was a direct hit and to keep firing.
1:13 The ground units again confirm a direct hit on the targets, and tells them to keep firing again.
1:21 (I think) The AC-130 is switching positions and arms a second gun for a second target, from what I hear the new target is _"The guy in that bush, we need ya to hit 'em."_ The gunners open fire.
1:44 What I assume to be the other ground units who ordered the secondary targets to be targeted calls in another target, telling the gunners to adjust their position and/or aim.
1:46 A ground unit reports to the AC-130 that there is an RPG _"in the wire hiding in the bush, they've been there for about five minutes."_ The AC-130 confirms the message receive and says they're going to reposition, but will continue to engage.
1:58 The aforementioned RPG opens fire on the AC-130, the pilots chaff flares and evade, you can hear the pilots say _"Turn right! Turn right!"_ followed by presumably the main pilot saying _"Fuck! Hang on!"_ As the RPG misses the pilots say with relief _"Miss! It missed. Woah.. Fuck that dude!"_
2:15 Another ground unit requests assistance from the AC-130, and the AC-130 receives the go to engage the targets.
2:38 The gunners ask for target status, the ground units confirm it's a direct hit.
2:43 The pilots see an enemy counterattack incoming, and inform the ground units ahead of time.
2:58 The gunners and pilots make the self-decided choice to assist in defeating the enemy reinforcement, since it was implied by the pilots dialogue _"There's a lot of them, get ready."_ that there is a lot of enemy units.
3:16 Ground units report more locations of enemy units unseen by the gunners, the gunners open fire.
3:26 The ground units tell the gunners the equivalent of "You did a good job"
3:39 (I think) a ground unit reported another enemies' location, the gunners opened fire and said to the ground units that they'll handle it.
3:50 What I assume is the leader of the ground force below thanks the AC-130 for the assistance.

Absolutely sick use of mixed audio, keep up the good work man.

[yaboibruce_]

"WE NEED MORE AIR OVER" and the words " you are clear to engage 105 airburst" always give me chills

[marza]

The AC-130 truly is he who shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness.

[graemeforbes]

This is so splendidly edited but I find myself wanting to complain about the 105 mm not moving along the recoil mechanism - but that's a small detail and everything was really well done.

[CobraDBlade]

I can easily imagine this being a scene in a movie, with that opening guitar coming with a view of the nose or tail art as clouds waft by, then zooming out to show the whole plane as it starts it's engagement and the lyrics kick in.

[tomcatbombcat]

"It missed..."

"Ah, Fuck that dude!" Yeah, that's about all you can say in that moment.

Edit: at about 3:15 you can hear a guy say "Yeah we knocked down a tree and there was a guy underneath" I don't know for sure, but that Gunner could possibly be the guy from a "Syrmor" VRChat interview with an AC-130 gunner who describes a very similar event being the first time he had ever tried to kill somebody. Just to shed some light on how glorified and dangerous a job like that really is,

[alexandergreer]

God no longer sends his angels, so we started making our own out of steel, brass, and gunpowder.

[The_Corporal]

AC-130H is definitely on my favorite aircraft list.

[carsoncasmirri]

It’s the mobile version of having arty sitting in an elevated position and just itching to fuck up somebody’s day

[lexquodius]

"Hey you know what would be cool? If we added a Howitzer to a plane."
"Bro."