According to the U.S. Air Force Central Command, the one below has been their viewer’s favorite in 2013.
It shows the last days of the AC-130H Spectre gunship in its last combat deployment with the 16th Expeditionary Special Operations Squadron, after more than forty year career dating back to the Vietnam war.
In the words of the personnel of the 16th SOS from Cannon Air Force Base, the unit is retiring the H model in this year and ready to move on to the next more advanced “tool” (the AC-130J) that will bring more technology and capability with less personnel.
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
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