Yes it took me a few days' practice as well. There's an interesting article on flying the real AC-47 here:
http://www.ac-119gunships.com/ac47/gunshipac47.htmAn excerpt:
"The AC-47 was an extraordinarily simple aircraft to operate. In all other aspects save the armament, she was just an overloaded DC-3/C-47, with very similar flight characteristics. But when you were "on station" and sighted the target, a pilot had his hands full. Remember, this is an unsophisticated Gooney Bird - no fire control computers or infra-red devices. Not even a Night Observation Sight. The only fire control devices on board were:
(a) A good pair of eyes.
(b) A quick mind to calculate the correct amount of 'Kentucky Windage'.
(c) A steady pair of sweaty palms.
The aircraft would orbit near a suspected trouble spot and wait for a call for help. Once received, the AC-47 would rush to the scene like a police patrol car. After locating the target the pilot would fly parallel to the target until it appeared 100' aft of his position, or roughly when the target passed between the left prop hub and the top of the engine cowl. At this stage the pilot must mentally compute the 'slant range' - the distance between the gun muzzle and the target. This 'slant range' is what determines the amount of bank the aircraft needs to bring the guns 'on target'. Generally the shorter the slant range, the greater the amount of bank needed. Other variables to consider in this version of 'Kentucky Windage' include the following:
Airspeed - each knot of wind will displace the projectile 1.69 feet per second of bullet travel.
Gun Recoil - As the guns are fired it causes the aft fuselage to swing to the right, which cause the bullets to fall short and to the rear of the target.
Saturation Factor - how many bullets in a prescribed target area.
Example - a four second burst from one minigun, at a slant range of 4500 feet, will put 400 bullets in a circle 31.5 feet in diameter.
Once the target has been acquired, and the aircraft moved until the target is at the appropriate 100 degree position in relation to the gunsight, and all the 'Kentucky Windage' variables have been figured out, then the pilot can roll the aircraft into the proper amount of left bank and begin a firing pass. It is incorrect to perceive that a firing run is a perfect circle as each time the guns are fired the pilot must reacquire the target position due to the recoil action. So the actual firing pass will be an arc, then straight, an arc, then straight, and so on. "
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Topic: AC-47 "Spooky" Gunship v 1.1 (Read 56308 times)
