On 19 July 1966, the Wolfhounds of A Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, were fighting for their lives near Trang Bang, Vietnam. They had air-assaulted into a smoking hot LZ in the Tay Ninh Province and immediately realized they had dropped checks they couldn’t cash. The VC pummeled their positions with B40 rockets along with suffocating AK and SKS rifle fire. The medics were overwhelmed, and they were down to their last few magazines. Fear spread like a contagion.
Amidst the chaos and the panic, the survivors could just make out the distinctive sound of CH47 cargo helicopters. With a little experience, it’s not hard to identify a military helicopter in seconds at a great distance. Apparently some rocket surgeon had foolishly sent a couple of big, fat Chinooks into the middle of a full-bore gunfight. Then the entire world exploded.
Two enormous experimental twin-rotor gunships roared in at treetop level. They opened up with fast-firing 20mm autocannon, screaming 2.75-inch rockets, explosive 40mm automatic grenade launcher rounds, and a veritable hurricane of .50-caliber pain. The attacking VC had just received their rude introduction to Guns-A-Go-Go.
The two A/ACH-47A (later designated ACH-47A) Chinook gunships that broke the back of that VC assault in 1966 were modified versions of the standard CH-47 Chinook. A/ACH-47A stood for Armored/Attack Cargo Helicopter. There’s never been anything like them before or since.
Origin Story
This curious live fire experiment saw four standard A-model CH-47 heavy lift Chinooks converted into gunships. They always worked in pairs and were based at Vung Tau and An Khe. The Army referred to this merry mob as the 53d Aviation Detachment. The earth pigs knew them as Guns-A-Go-Go.
Three aircraft operated in country while a fourth remained behind in the States for further testing at Edwards Air Force Base. The first three were titled “Easy Money,” “Stump Jumper,” and “Birth Control.” The fourth was christened “Co$t of Living.” These massive warplanes absolutely bristled with weapons.
Details
Each ACH-47A carried 3,000 pounds of expendable ordnance along with extra applique armor protecting the crew and vital mechanical components. This spare boron carbide allowed these hulking aircraft to take a beating while operating in close proximity to supported ground troops. Each aircraft carried five fast-firing AN/M3 .50-caliber machineguns, the aircraft version of John Moses Browning’s legendary Ma Deuce.
The AN/M3 was the same weapon used on WW2 fighter planes like the Mustang, Lightning, Thunderbolt, and Corsair. They each cycled at around 1,100 rounds per minute. There were two per side of the A/ACH-47 firing through the windows and a fifth gun fitted in a stinger mount on the aft ramp.
A fixed XM34 M24A1 20mm automatic cannon rode on each side of the aircraft. An evolutionary development of the HS.404 Hispano-Suiza 20mm cannon, each of these recoil-operated guns fired 20x100mm high explosive rounds at 700 rounds per minute. Similar weapons served in deck mounts for antiaircraft defense on Navy warships.
Sponsons built into each side of the aircraft included mounting points for either 19-shot XM159 2.75-inch rocket launchers or M18 7.62x51mm Minigun pods. 2.75-inch FFAR (Folding Fin Aerial Rockets) typically carried either ten or seventeen-pound high explosive warheads. White phosphorus or flechette loads were also on the menu.
The M5 40mm automatic grenade launcher rode in a bulbous chin mount and fired high-velocity 40x53mm HE grenades. These rounds were not interchangeable with the 40x46mm grenades fired by the M79 and M203 launchers. The M5 was an air-cooled, electrically-driven gun system that featured a 225rpm rate of fire and a maximum effective range of 1,870 meters. The gun gimbled and could therefore be fired off-axis from the aircraft. Everyone knew it as the “Chunker.”
Practical Tactical
In August of 1966, “Stump Jumper” was involved in a ground taxi accident with another Chinook and burned. As a result, the Army fetched “Co$t of Living” from California and deployed it to Vietnam as a replacement. The following Spring, one of the M24A1 20mm guns on “Co$t of Living” vibrated loose on its mount during a fire support mission. The big cannon pivoted upward and discharged into the rotor system. High explosive rounds struck the forward rotors and blew them to pieces. All eight crewmembers perished.
A year later, “Birth Control” was badly shot up during a gun run and autorotated into a dry rice paddy near Hue. The crew of “Easy Money” immediately positioned themselves between the disabled gunship and attacking enemy, providing ample cover fire so that the crew of “Birth Control” could extricate themselves.
NVA mortars ultimately found the range and destroyed “Birth Control” before it could be salvaged. With only the single airframe remaining intact, the Guns-A-Go-Go project was no more. AH-1G Cobras rightfully stepped in to fill that role.
Epilogue
After the Vietnam War, “Easy Money” relocated to Fort Eustis in Virginia to be used as a sheet metal trainer. In the late 1990s, “Easy Money” was restored to her wartime configuration. In 2000 she went on permanent display at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
The idea of a massive gun truck that could slather hellfire across the countryside for literally hours on end had merit back in 1966. Given the proliferation of shoulder-fired MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) missiles, these enormous testosterone-charged monsters would be easy meat nowadays.
Regardless, “Easy Money” stands in Huntsville, Alabama, today in mute tribute to the era when Army innovators took a cargo helicopter, strapped on as much ordnance as the thing could carry, and then unleashed it on the VC and NVA. As a former Chinook pilot myself, I think Guns-A-Go-Go might just be the sexiest aircraft ever made.
