Mission: 700327 Surprise Package
Weather: Broken Cloud 6000 VIS 20Nm
TOT: 18:30 Hrs
Aircraft: (1) AC-130E Spectre Gunship (16th SOS)
Flight Time: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes.
The air war over Vietnam was not quite like anything before or since. Yankee Air Pirate is the same, presiding over the transformation of this most authentic and unique medium. This is a tough and challenging flight, I have always found that the rewards are proportional to what you put in. Let’s hope you read the primer... 
After Action Report:Ubon RTAFB is a busy place these days, even at night, especially at night. The tropical murk descends so swiftly, like a shroud, across the largely unlit countryside. Along the length of the network of roads and tracks that comprise the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the trucks, bicycles and carts are rolling south.
Like an evolutionary arms race, the Viet Cong have adapted to the darkness and the shelter it offers. In response the US Air Force has evolved to keep pace and the night-time airbase is brightly lit and throbbing with activity.
As the crewman guides us from our hangar the apron in front of the Spectre bustles with motion as vans and trucks cross the tarmac. Under artificial lights we observe the preparation of F-4D Owls, also headed for the Trail. Phantoms are overhead too, some coming, some going, I taxi the big night-bird out with some caution, passing more parked Phantoms and a Jolly Green Giant.
Out on the main taxiway I test the reversers, drop the flaps and check the trim. The dark hulk of the Spectre swings around to line up with the active. We watch a flight of Phantoms land and then move into position. Cleared for takeoff we wind up to full power and climb out into the gloom.
Once airborne and cleaned up we extinguish all exterior lights, level out above the clouds and run through the system checks. I check the radar and starlight scope, looking for movement hotspots and traffic as we head in towards the area known as Delta-45.
Soon Phantoms of the 390th TFS join us, with three gunfighters riding alongside we make a formidable flight. Once on station Spectre will make the running, but the Gunfighters are on hand as escort and will quickly handle any AAA threats if requested.
Approaching Delta-45 I retard the throttles and hold her level as the speed gently bleeds off. At 150 Kts we can safely open the doors and circle the zone without throwing the crew around too much in the back. Here comes the IP, we descend through the scattered cloud layer and level off at 5,500 feet. Opening the Cargo-Bay doors and launching a couple a flares I begin a 35 degree banked turn.
The flak is onto us right away, the booming and crashing of an M1939 reverberates around the airplane. I get him on the scope and watch the gun come within range of the side-sight. I lob in a howitzer shell and hose it down with the 20MM. At the same moment a Phantom swoops in and steals our thunder. As the cluster bombs flatten everything I wonder if we had already killed that gun?
Never mind, with such a good flight watching out for us we can get on with the main job, traffic duty. With the village at the centre of our circuit we orbit the zone and drop more flares.
Numerous trucks, several large SA-2 transports with SAMs onboard, loaded bicycles and NVA troops are all revealed under the harsh light of the flares. From this altitude its like kicking over a termite mound.
Of course it isn’t easy, wieners need not apply! Flying on the side-sight and flicking back to scan the instruments, I manage to keep the nose on the horizon and the speed steady at 140-160Kts. However our circuits vary greatly, sometimes its too tight to get onto the traffic, other times we watch it drift away from us in the darkness as I fly too wide an arc.
Patience; I correct our course and bank smoothly around again, I watch the side-sight march inexorably across the landscape, directly towards a line of trucks on the road outside of the village. Leading a little I hose the traffic with the Miniguns and Vulcan Cannons. The lines of tracer and shells tear through the traffic, leaving behind a line of broken and blazing wreckage. Next the SAM transports come in for our attention, then more trucks, soon nothing with four wheels is rolling down there.
I hope you like the shots, it was hard to get them. Banked sideways, firing the guns, jumping to other views to catch the tracer stream and hitting the screenshot key. My fingers were flying and I also managed to pickle the damned scope again, I am always chucking that away in the heat of the action! 
Small arms fire is deadly to a slow ship low down, so we continue to orbit around 5,000 feet. I was just about ready to wrap things up and head back when the flak opened up again. Somebody down there got another gun working and suddenly we are in a very hazardous position again.
Desperately I try to fix the position while pushing the throttles forward and climbing for more altitude. Got it, off to our left, naturally! We are orbiting the village counter-clockwise and nothing now lives outside of that zone. I pop more flares and we can see the gun position, pouring smoke and tracer in our direction.
We let loose with the 105MM Howitzer and 40MM Bofors. The cockpit shakes and lights up with secondary flashes each time the great guns roar. Massive shells smash down across the village, large explosions set several fires and suddenly the flak is silenced, shack!
Let’s face it, there are no friendlies down there in the village. Our next circuit with the flares reveals troops and loaded bicycles moving through the small hamlet. With the flak dealt with I can nose the big airplane around and stabilise again at 5,000 feet.
We pour it on, hitting the troops and supplies, setting more fires. Occasionally some small-arms fire is directed at us, but the tracer gives them away, and our response is always swift and hideous overkill. After nearly an hour into this flight there is little left to shoot at and we have run out of the large shells and flares.
Time to RTB, the 390th Phantoms head back to DaNang while we haul the big bird around for the lengthy egress to Udorn. Enroute we do a damage check and discover that the Spectre is entirely un-harmed, despite a few close shaves. I stick the wing-leveller on and pour out a cup of coffee, there are definite built-in advantages with these large aircraft!
Finally the cheerful voice of the Udorn Tower controller welcomes us home. He’s doing a night-shift like us, but it hasn’t spoiled his mood. Meanwhile, throughout the night, for both sides in this war, the work goes on…
Bonus! You also get to fly this mission as one of the Phantom pilots, watching the awesome Spectre in action and having a go at the AAA with your cluster-bombs.
