Spooky & Puff the Magic Dragon; your friend above

PUFF the Magic Dragon

Call sign; SPOOKY

(also sometimes called Snoopy)

. . . with 200,000 candle power flares to light up the night and 3 mini-guns each able to spit out 6,000 rounds per minute (every 4th one a red tracer) is it any wonder that captured Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) documents referred to the "Dragon's" reputation, containing orders specifically to "not attack the Dragon because it would only infuriate the monster."

Douglas AC-47/DC-3

Spooky Squadron Gun Ship, nick-named "Puff The Magic Dragon,"

At Fire Support Base Coral when 1 RAR were in deep trouble and fighting for their lives Puff was one of the supports that helped them turn near defeat into victory.

The jungle-camouflaged AC-47, whose ancestors include the venerable Douglas DC-3 airliner — considered to be the world's first, successful, commercial airliner; an aircraft famed aerospace historian Douglas Ingalls referred to as "The Plane That Changed The World" — and the Douglas C-47A Skytrain, the aircraft Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight David Eisenhower, once credited as being one of the five weapons that helped us win World War II; is in fact, itself, a D-Day veteran, one of hundreds of Skytrains that delivered paratroopers, gliders and supplies, behind enemy lines in Normandy, on June 6, 1944, some 58 years ago.

The very first DC-3, American Airlines "Flagship Texas," took its maiden flight on December 17, 1935, over Santa Monica, California. The type (DC-3/C-47) will celebrate its 70th year in the air in 2005.

The famed AC-47 gunship, which features three Gatling guns on the port side, is the forerunner of the larger Lockheed AC-130 Spectre Gunships, which were used previously in Vietnam and Panama, and are being utilized today in Afghanistan.

The United States Air Force flew its AC-47 gun ships in Vietnam while utilizing the call sign "Spooky."

<< Inside Puff. Each of the three Gatling guns (aka "mini-guns") installed in "Puff" were capable of firing 100 rounds per second.

That's 6,000 rounds per minute PER GUN and there were 3 guns.

Apparently, to both friends and the enemy, the fire from the eighteen barrels and the tracer rounds reaching to the ground looked like a "dragon's breath." That fiery breath and the loud roar of the guns led to the name, "Puff The Magic Dragon," taken from a folk song by Peter, Paul and Mary, which was recorded and made famous in the early 1960s.

A Mini-gun in action, at night. Captured Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) documents also referred to the "Dragon's" reputation, containing orders specifically to "not attack the Dragon because it would only infuriate the monster."

"Puff's" primary mission involved protecting villages, hamlets and personnel from NVA regulars and VC guerrillas. Combat reports indicate that no village or hamlet under Spooky Squadron protection were ever lost, and there are a plethora of reports from civilians and military personnel about AC-47s coming to the rescue and saving their very lives.