The AC-5

[Panther Al]

Yep - the wingman series.


A not very good series of pulp mil-fiction that isn't very good, nor very plausible, but it does kill time when you can't do anything else.

Yes, I read them as I kid, but... yeah.

Very Very 70's mil fiction - lots of drugs and sex, that fuels everything.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

The CADS series was like that. I was ... 15? I think? when the books first came out; dad bought one at K-Mart (he'd head straight for the book wall and park himself there while mom shopped for clothes!) and brought it home. I blew through it in a single Friday night. Pretty terrible: lots of sex and violence.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

By the way there was a real AH-47; "Guns-A-Go-Go" I believe it was called. Buncha mini guns, rocket pods, .50 cals. Scary stuff.

[Raellus]

I find the idea of an AC-5 "Gun Galaxy" highly implausible. Compared to your RL AC-130, a C-5 is huge target, a real gas guzzler, and needs a relatively long, well-maintained conventional runway in order to operate. In a T2K setting these traits were become major weaknesses.

When I was a teenager living in Quito, Ecuador c.1988, American C-130s, C-141s, and C-5s would routinely land at the airport. My kid brother could identify any aircraft, civilian and/or military, coming in to land just by the sound of its engines. It was uncanny and quite impressive. The C-5 was by far the loudest of all them (even louder than the occasional 747 that would visit Quito) and could be heard well earlier too- even I could tell when it was coming. In a war zone, the red force could hear it coming from miles away, giving them time to ready their MANPADs and AAA. In such a hostile environment, a huge, loud, slow-moving AC-5 wouldn't last long.

[pmulcahy11b]

You know, one I've always thought would make a good gunship conversion: the G.222 (Alenia, IIRC).

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

You know, one I've always thought would make a good gunship conversion: the G.222 (Alenia, IIRC).

I think AFSOC briefly looked at that under the AC-27J designation.

- C.

[JHart]

My Wingman books are packed away at the moment, but I recall that there were two versions of the AC-5. Everything that follows is from memory and may not be correct.

They had the nicknames of "Nozo" and "Bozo". One was armed with 21 GAU-8s, the same gun mounted on A-10s. The other had a mix of guns, ranging from 20mm to 120mm M1 tank guns.

There is of course so many things wrong it is hard to know where to start.


In the computer game Command and Conquer Generals, there is an air support ability that has a jet powered gunship that appeared to be related to a C-17

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Raellus

I find the idea of an AC-5 "Gun Galaxy" highly implausible. Compared to your RL AC-130, a C-5 is huge target, a real gas guzzler, and needs a relatively long, well-maintained conventional runway in order to operate. In a T2K setting these traits were become major weaknesses.

Oh, I know the size and noise of the C-5. They're overhead all the time -- one tip that something is going on in the world is that the military transport comings and goings ramp up dramatically.

The first time a C-5 went over (at an illegally-low altitude, my guess would be), my then-puppy Shadow was in the backyard absolutely hugged the ground!