34 FLYPAST March 2018

ANGEL

heard calling out on the intercom:

“Oh shoot, I’m not playing this

game - keep on going.” He turned

on the ALQ-87 jammer and the

signal went away because the device

always blanked out the APR-36

receiver.

Meanwhile, the rear scanner and

the crew up front were not calling

out any missiles in the air, so Batie

turned the jammer to standby.

The display remained blank, and

at last the crisis was averted. Filing

away the threat’s location for

future reference Batie went back to

focusing on his primary mission:

hunting North Vietnamese trucks

on the ground below.

Eleven AC-130Es were supplied

under the PAVE SPECTRE

programme as a follow-on effort to

the successful AC-130A that was

already flying in Southeast Asia.

Based on the C-130E airframe, the

variant allowed for a greater gross

weight than the earlier A-model.

Known as Gunship II, the

AC-130A followed upon the success

of the AC-47 ‘Spooky’, based on the

venerable Douglas C-47 Skytrain.

The four-turboprop C-130 could

supply greater firepower enabling

it to interdict the Viet Cong supply

lines.

To support this role, the AC-130E

carried night vision sensors along

VIETNAM AC-130

Above
A Spectre is silhouetted
against the moon during a
nocturnal mission. KEY

“W

hat is that?” Sitting

up in his seat, he

took a closer look

at the APR-36 warning display.

The scope depicted a ‘Fan Song’

radar - the very kind associated

with an SA-2 surface-to air-missile

(SAM) – and it was tracking

him. He was 1st Lt Gary Batie,

positioned deep inside an AC-130E

Spectre gunship, a heavily modified

version of the ubiquitous Lockheed

Hercules transport.

Batie got on the intercom and

ordered his pilot to roll away from

the SAM battery. As the electronic

warfare officer (EWO) Batie was

there to discover threats and keep

the big aircraft safe. After banking

right, he looked again at the APR-

36. The Fan Song was now on the
    right side. Batie thought: “Oh my
    god, I made the wrong call.”
    He then had the pilot go the
    other way – only to see the signal
    flop back to the left. Batie could be

F DEATH