Sixty-two years after being assembled by Douglas Aircraft, a twin-engine C-47 “Gooney Bird” transport aircraft is still putting in a good day’s work at Hurlburt Field, Fla. At Hurlburt, the 6th Special Operations Squadron uses it to train air commandos for deployments as advisers to air forces in developing countries—many of which still fly the World War II-era C-47. It was produced in scores of variants, one of which was the AC-97 gunship, known in the Vietnam War as “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Lt. Col. Al Phillips, a Hurlburt pilot, told the Associated Press, “It’s a very challenging airplane.” But, he addes, “I love flying it.”
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.