Talk about under the radar!

[BILLY D.]

Originally posted by Rocky Raab
Billy, did you ever talk to somebody who has been at the receiving end of a gunship? (I mean the good guys, of course.)

It's absolutely eerie. There is NO sound until the bullets suddenly start ripping into the earth, and then it's either like a hellish hailstorm (7.62 minis) or a roar like a looooong bull bellow (20mm). The tracer stream looks like a never-ending bolt of red lightning. Long seconds after the last bullet hits, there's an equally long deep moan from the sky - and THAT sounds for all the world like devils on their way to hell.

And then in the weird silence, inevitably, somebody says in absolute awe, "Holy sheet."

It is. It is just exactly that.

Rocky

Been on both ends of that and to me it sounded like a blast from a tuba. Of course with my excellent hearing. ahem, ahem, I don't hear anything high pitched anymore. Bells, whistles and sirens are beyond me. Can't remember the last time I heard a bird sing.

We always tried to limit our bursts, especialy with the 20, they were limited to 140 round bursts. Our illustrious Squadron Commander, who shall go un-named, once emptied a drum of 20mm and the Gun was torn from the Kevlar floor mounts. I was re-loading the rear drum and didn't get to the master switch box in time to shut it off. But this dumbie knew the rules on burst time. My AC had to hold me back during the de-briefing. It's not considered nice for a TSGT to whip a Lt. Col's ass in public.

We had HOT rounds going off in the Cargo Compartment and there were 3 really pissed off Gunners, an Illuminator Operator and a Night Observation Sight Operator in the back of the Aircraft. We didn't mind getting killed by the enemy but friendly? fire sucks.

The firing cone is beatiful to see from both ends.

Bill