While the Spectre gunships were retired in 2015, subsequent AC-130 models such as the Spooky, Stinger II, and Ghostrider continue to apply the same lessons learned after Spirit 03 went down. That loss carried its own lessons-learned, and over the past 30 years not a single AC-130 has gone down in combat, even through thousands of combat hours during the Global War on Terror. Eight crew members died immediately, and a ninth died of his injuries years later. Three years later, in 1994, a Spectre with the 16th Special Operations Squadron crashed off the coast of Kenya when a high-explosive round detonated prematurely in the bore of the aircraft’s cannon. The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft.It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, navigation, and fire-control systems.

Unfortunately, Spirit 03 was not the last AC-130 crash. (Air Force photo / Senior Airman Meagan Schutter) The AC-130H Spectre will be displayed at the north end of the Air Park. More than 40 personnel with eight base organizations were on site during the tow process. Airmen with the 1st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron move a tree to avoid contact with the tail of an AC-130H Spectre on Hurlburt Field, Fla., Aug.

Gunship 200 full force