Friday, December 8, 2017

Puff

Via Quan Nguyen Thanh
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"Puff the Magic Dragon (or Spooky) was a sight to behold. Our compound was on the river, and the first time I heard Puff I thought it was a fog horn. The AC-47 plane had three miniguns on the pilot's side of the plane, and as he banked into a circle, he had a special sight to be able to acquire targets (the guns were in a fixed position). I think every fifth round was a tracer, but it was a solid red line. I came across these adapted lyrics but the origin is unknown. --In-Country

It came to be during one of these night missions to protect a hamlet on the Mekong Delta in early 1965, another witness to its power, a Stars and Stripes reporter watched in awe and wrote how the stream of tracers reminded him of a dragon’s breath. After reading the story, the commanding officer of the wing said, “Well I’ll be damned, Puff the Magic Dragon”, referencing a children’s song made popular by the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary.

That was all it took, forever more, the solitary AC-47 and those that joined it later, carried the call sign ‘Puff’. Even the Vietcong got in on the action, believing that the monster was real, and that shooting at it would only make it angry. It did."

10 comments:

  1. My dad got to see one in action when he was over there. He said it looked like phasers on Star trek

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    1. I saw one in action in the hills behind USARV headquarters at night and it was actually beautiful.

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  2. When I was assigned to the 101st Airborne, we were told that, "PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON", was the call sign for a flare ship, and that the call sign for the AC-47 was, "SPOOKY".

    http://www.historynet.com/spooky-gunship-operations-in-the-vietnam-war.htm

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    1. I agree. We always used 'Spooky'. Never did call up a flare ship so not really sure there.

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    2. I agree. We always used 'Spooky'. Never did call up a flare ship so not really sure there.

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    3. https://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2017/12/spooky-gunship-operations-in-vietnam-war.html

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    4. I agree. We always used 'Spooky'. Never did call up a flare ship so not really sure there.

      Got enough light with the tracers.:)

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  3. The closer you were to that tracer line the more the hair stood up on the back of your neck and the more you hoped they could really aim that thing.

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    1. I bet! Would be a miracle for anyone to not get hit if on the receiving end.

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