Allow me to correct a few people here... The gun itself is a General Electric M61A1. The pod shown here is the SUU-16A (Suspended Utility Unit) which used a RAM Air Turbine (RAT) to power the gun (you can see sticking out the side while firing). The later SUU-23A removed the RAT and used an electric Inertia Starter (electric motor with a heavy flywheel) to run the gun. I worked on SUU-23A's at Holloman AFB NM from 1976 to 1978.

@louigi5688

9 жыл бұрын

Same place, 73-77, weapons release, F4D's had to fly the SUU's cause they had no nose gun. Could carry 3 Suu's, 2 outboard and 1 centerline. Could also hang a minigun on each inboard pylon. Rumor was that if all fired at the same time it would bring the aircraft to a halt mid air. At least that's what we told the FNG's,

@louigi5688

9 жыл бұрын

Louigi In the configuration I just mentioned probably wouldn't fly far with no external fuel tanks.

@deanjohnson1330

9 жыл бұрын

The 3-gun combination was tried as a "what if" experiment by the AF. It was tried, and was successful, but as Louigi guessed (correctly) fuel would be a problem as the underwing attach points (stations 3 & 7) are also where external fuel tanks would go. The centerline gun (station 5) provided plenty of firepower with 1200 rounds of 20mm.

@louigi5688

9 жыл бұрын

Actually, the outboard full tanks were mounted on stations 1 & 9. Stations 3 & 7 would be the aft AIM 7's.

@louigi5688

9 жыл бұрын

Woop's, outboard fuel tanks.

I was stationed at Phu Cat AB VN, as a Combat Photographer, the flight line revetments were about a block from our shop. One afternoon, we heard a loud buzzing sound, we heard sirens going off, we received a call to send a photographer to the F-4 revetments. Upon arriving I observed medical personnel and high brass on scene. I had to document a horrible tragedy, the weapons maintenance crew was sitting in the seat trying to get a reading on the gun pod. It was showing a malfunction, he called for one to check the front nose gear. The man pushed on a plate showing the gear was up, the gunner pressed the trigger, letting off rounds, with the man at the nose gear. It was something, I’ll never forget.

@BungSpoot

2 жыл бұрын

Don't look down the barrel of a weapon that will obliterate you in one small foul push

the phantom could carry 5 , i repeat 5 of these pods!!! imagine tht firepower!!

@MarsFKA

5 жыл бұрын

And if they did, how far could they fly on internal fuel only?

@nightshadedawn

4 жыл бұрын

I believe they only had like a maximum flight time of like 30 minutes on internal fuel only. don't quote me though cause this is a very basic estimate.

@daveybernard1056

4 жыл бұрын

They should have had 10 under each B52 wing!

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

For ground strafing maybe? Because in dogfights the sidewinder was a vastly more successful air to air weapon and continues to be along with better radar missiles. Unlikely any pilot would ditch a super effective gaggle of missiles or bombs to load up on gun pods. Certainly no commander or mission planner would ever do so, although I realize your comment is just a fantasy.

@HHSTT

3 жыл бұрын

Doomsday Settings 😏

My uncle flew the F-4E Phantom in Vietnam, she had an internal Vulcan chin gun . Beautiful aircraft, He flew many missions over route pack 5 and 6

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Yup, and the huge nose limited maneuverability and speed while providing less capability than the highly successful sidewinder missiles. Most pilots much preferred flying a sporty C model phantom with a brace of missiles if they could get one. The E models added to ground attack capability for the most part, the data doesn’t show a ton of air to air gun kills.

Hell, I was a kid when all this happened, but I'm very interested in history and military aviation. Great to see so many replies from guys who were actually there, or who worked on similar aircraft + weapons systems. Thank you for serving!

I remember my uncle telling me that if he had a cannon in his F4 while in Vietnam, he'd had like 20 more kills because when they were 1st deployed, F4s only heat seeking missiles as their weapon system and it wasn't till later in the war did they get cannons

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

I’m guessing you’re regurgitating the myth rather than a story from an uncle, but either way it’s immensely wrong. The records show that on a per aircraft basis, missiles achieved a far greater success rate than gun kills even after aircraft got internal cannon. There were hardly ANY gun kills from cannon equipped birds compared to missile birds overall as well. The Vietnam fighter guns myth continues to be perpetuated to this day against all known data - it’s a dick swinging story from pilots who wanted to throw lead rather than fire a missile.

@terrydouglas5008

3 жыл бұрын

All F4's could carry 4 heat seeking missiles AIM4 or AIM9 and 4 Sparrow radar guided missiles. Missiles did not affect bomb loads.

@terrydouglas5008

3 жыл бұрын

@@DoctorShocktor 46 gun kills, 121 missile kills. Plus a few where weapon not listed.

@taylorc2542

2 жыл бұрын

@@terrydouglas5008 If the Vietnam guys had proper gun sights, at least as good as the Korean War, and had maintained their gunnery proficiency, the war would have been very different. DoctorShocktors point doesn't ring true because because the pod guns were not mounted rigidly enough for good sights, and they couldn't train with the pod. The USAF had lost most of it's institutional gunnery knowledge, and despite guns never getting much of a chance, they still rang up a third of kills.

@mcsmash4905

2 жыл бұрын

@@taylorc2542 most pilots from vietnam agree that if they had more guns on their planes they would have racked up more kills , one even pointed out how they were expected to fight russian bombers not manouverable migs

Thank you thank you for this. I love automatic cannons of all sizes and this one was fascinating to see serviced and mounted.

Damn! I almost wanted to breakout into dancing with that music!

That was my job as Airman 3rd Class in the USAF!!!! Weapons Mechanic. F4C Habu Jet, Load 'em up, train the pilots, clean 'em and store 'em. Looooong time ago indeed.

@debjulmar

5 жыл бұрын

Worked mids. Will never forget the sound they made doing a wet boresight. Wild!

@polycarphunter2257

Жыл бұрын

what's an airman 3rd class?

0:15 my man is absolutly SPINNIN that thing

1972 Kunsan AFB. I was the #4 man which was sitting in the cockpit pushing buttons while the other guys were in the weather. Good times.

cool. i lived in gunfighter village when i was in danang from 70-71. they had F-4Es which had the nose mounted cannon. when i went stateside after my tour i went to Holloman AFB which had F-4Ds which used the belly mounted cannon.

Great video and for once a decent soubdtrack 👌

Yep, before the F-4E came about, nose cannon, which I was a crew chief on during from 83-86 George AFB, long since closed.

There was an unconfirmed report in the 70s that an F-4D with a centerline gun had a premature firing while still in the blocks. The few rounds shot off the nose landing gear and damaged a line truck parked in front of the aircraft. At least one airman was severely injured. Shortly afterward, a reg was issued that prohibited parking vehicles in front of aircraft with FFO (forward firing ordnance).

@8aleph

6 жыл бұрын

Not unconfirmed happened at Kunsan korea the line super died on the C-9 shortly after takeoff. It was caused by a load crew totally fluxing the gun functional check by not following the Checklist.

@thomasnikkola5600

Жыл бұрын

@@8aleph that's why all PMS cards have step by step check lists. Even for turning a screw x amount of times. They say all maintenance and arming procedures are written in blood. Very true. If you are caught doing maintenance in the Navy without the proper PMS cards you will be written up and taken to Captains Mast for gundecking maintenance. Very serious.

Cool tunes good video

I was a 16 R/S in the army during the latter part of the 80's. Any time that I can hear a Vulcan rip, it brings a smile to my face

Don’t blame Iran still using them, it’s a beast

Great vídeo. Thanks

Airplane: Either F-4C or D; Pod: SUU-23 (containing M-61 20mm Gatling gun with 1200 rounds); Weight: 1600 lbs; Load Truck: MJ-1; Unit of assignment: 366th Tactical Fighter Wing (The Gunfighters); Location: Da Nang AB, Republic of Vietnam ca 1966

@johngillespie7670

3 жыл бұрын

The F-4s taking off in the video are from the 555 TFS/8 TFW at Ubon RTAFB Thailand. (Tail marked = FY).

Great music

This was such a large aircraft it's unbelievable it can fly so fast.

@ShitboxFlyer

4 жыл бұрын

fabio sunspot with enough thrust, even a brick can fly

@paulelliott6673

4 жыл бұрын

Interestingly I saw another video about fitting F15 engines into the F4 the gist of it was the faster it flew the better it was!

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

?!? What does size have to do with II, lol. The phantom isn’t actually that large, only fits tiny pilots and things like Concorde, B1, etc are much larger and supersonic as well.

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

js2800 dumb phantom slogan by armchair commenters

@sEngineer-il8im

Ай бұрын

You should see the xb70 fly Mach 3!

After a 19 month tour on F-102s in Okinawa I went to Eglin AFB in 1968 on F4-Es, the first F-4s with the built in Gun. But all the weapons mechanics from my time 1966 to 1970 had to train on the gun pod . For all those who remember "Malfunction Junction" at Lowry AFB.

Jimmy Hendrix and Lonnie Youngblood "Good Feelings"

I worked autopilot systems on F-4's during 1970 with the 366 TFW, 366 AMS. I'm 70 years old now but I still remember those days like yesterday. I was 20 years old at DaNang. Yeah I know....who gives a fuck.

@zackersquackers

3 ай бұрын

Would your group work on the electronic countermeasures as well? My father was at Da Nang 66-70 as a Marine, and I know he did ECM on F-4 and I think also radio electrical work. I have no idea what his group was, like MAG or Radio Battalion.

This is our crew loading the gun in summer of 1967, 480th tfs and we were the first to load a gun and have a mig shot down. We also had another shot down later

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Pure luck on that one, there ver very few aerial gun kills in Vietnam. Sidewinders and improved radar missiles killed a ton more MiGs, and that’s on a per bird basis including aircraft with internal cannon.

@zackersquackers

3 ай бұрын

Would you have worked with any Marines? My dad was an electrical engineer and worked on electronic countermeasures for F-4s and radio work, but I have no idea what group he would have been in or others he would have had daily work with.

2:49 Holy shit that's gunfire tracers at the top left

Nice vid.

Wow, Simple Great love that footage what a powerful Gun Cannon thx for sharing BTW; If I may say so I think you overlooked the misspelling in the title should be! CANNON instead of CANNOM The song is called! Jimi Hendrix and the Lonnie Youngblood band. The title "Good feelings"

@YoungJim409 They still managed to get a few fighters tho....Amazing video, and perfect music :P

I always enjoyed night fire, just watchin a line on these fireball then the impact of hell fire, yea, brbrrbrrbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.Vulcan fire

The checklist was not followed by the load crew. This was a "perfect storm". I was an F4D Weapons Teamchief, and we were drilled about this incident during training. Nosegear squat switch was actuated by a crewmember,the gun motor lead was still connected, as was the firing lead.The man in the cockpit was holding down the trigger and as soon as aircraft power was applied; the gun operated as normal. Scratch one line truck+driver, one airman operating the squat switch, one F4D nose gear strut.

@MrPepper312

6 ай бұрын

I was a #4 man which was the guy in the cockpit with headphones on listening to the guys under the F4 loading and checking for power. We always went by the checklist. Sometimes I had to sit in a live set so had to care around the ejection handles

Some 462's at work ! Great memories !

@8aleph

6 жыл бұрын

yep, brings back my misspent youth working when I should have been partying, oh I did both like a good 462 should work all day party all night and reverse that if you worked night shift

@davehaycook5516

6 жыл бұрын

Worked mostly swing and mid shifts. Started in Release, then to Gun Shop, then to Load Crew.

I really feel for the guys that had to work on those. All of that effort to line it up and then to see it rock and roll. What a hair puller. And I thought pulling engines was a chore..

Bac during a mid70's "Team Spirit" Exercise My line supervisor got a radio call and hollered for me said they wanted me to post load what was on the centerline of a F-4d mod. we went I looked the gun adapter was there the gun pod wasn't, the lugs that held the gun pod to the adapter had failed. what was odd is those lugs had just been NDI checked shortly before we left for Korea

I was WCS flight-line and worked on this setup - what a PIG! To align: 1- place alignment panel 1000in. infront of a/c. 2- put fixture in wheel well (torque to specs) to align panel to plane. Markings on back of nose gear door were now supposed to be correct if a/c was straight. 3- align c/p gunsite/radar scope mount to panel. (actual gunsite was aligned to test mount fixture in the shop). 4) Align GUN to gear door. All that BS just to watch gun bounce around like mad on video!

0:10 for the love of god give him some cordless drill to crank that thing, it gonna take forever. My arms got tired watching him

@speeddemon0117

3 жыл бұрын

They didn't have cordless drills na k then

Not back then. They were using mostly HE rounds. Depleted Uranium came later in wars where tanks were the targets.

@Dean Johnson - But did you get fire it ????

amazing is the fact that a variation of the vulcan gatling gun is still being used on the F22 raptor!

@8aleph

6 жыл бұрын

Not really the gun is simple reliable and east to maintain. and can saw things apart even operating at lower rates of fire

Per what I read from another source, these gun pods accuracy is not very desirable and that is the reason for the F-4E being put into service.

That very last pass - how did the impacts end up so far off to the right? I know the pod mount wasn't as rigid as it needed to be but gee whiz.

@FakeYou347 he means the suu-23 gunpod which the m61 vulcan was in,

That’s the same gun used on the F-22 Raptors

what is the name of the original video?

Great video, thanks for sharing! What song/artist is playing?

I need that for my work commute....🤬💥💥💥

The music is nice! What is it?

true love

My God, it would almost be enough dakka!

Although I'm 27, me and this jet got the same nickname, And that is "Double Ugly"

Vietnam war is a great war like the others... Love it

They miscalculated the need for a gun thinking that missiles were the future of aerial combat. The Crusaders were called the last of the gunfighters. But the Migs could get in close to where missiles were useless. The later variants had the Vulcan installed.

@majungasaurusaaaa

Жыл бұрын

The Crusader's guns were very unreliable as well.

20x102mm？

Sorry Ray, but you've got some bad info. This film clip was created the end of November 1967 at the north end of the base in front of the 366MMS "gun shop". They (public relations) came in wanting to make a "training" film illustrating the M61 capability. The "load" crew was made up of three of us in the gun shop and the crew chief was the shop NCOIC. We weren't even certified as a load crew but each of us trained in each crew position. I am the #2 man - tall, skinny and blonde on the nose of the pod. The rest of the film was made up of several "clips" and I think they did a pretty good job. I ended up leaving the gun shop in January 1968, did a stent on the Wing Load Crew Certification team and then moved on to Load Crew Chief with the 389th TFS. God Bless us all ... Thanks for your service Ray!

@raybigos5608

7 жыл бұрын

Jim you are lost That is me at the front of the gun pod, Tom from Illinois at the rear, Mike from California driving the jammer and Carl from Fresno, California the crew chief and they had us do the demonstration because we were the best load crew in the entire wing and had loaded two aircraft that shot down Mig-17s with the gun

I didn't know a gun like that can be mounted on like that.

What if you mounted a couple of those gun pods unto the wings of an a-10? Think of the possibilities

@samanli-tw3id

4 жыл бұрын

Obvioustroller triple brrrrrrrrrt!

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Would slow it down even further, limit range and on station time and supply virtually no additional effectiveness above the internal 30 mm cannon. Basic maths is why they don’t let KZread commenters do mission planning.

This was a stopgap measure to deal with some incredible short-sightedness on the part of the U.S. military. (I can't lay the blame at McDonnell-Douglas' doorstep because they were only following Navy and Air Force specs.) The powers-that-be decided that this aircraft only needed missles. Unfortunately, the AIM 7 and AIM 9 were notoriously unreliable at this time, and missle failure left the Phantom driver with no weapon. The 20mm Vulcan was later added to the F-4E.

@8aleph

6 жыл бұрын

Navy spec, the AF had the 105 with an internal gun and didn't want or need the F-4 as it did nothing the Air Force was already doing F-106 as the Interceptor and the 105 as the strike Fighter

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

usafvet100 utter bullshit. Pilots loved the sidewinder and even radar missiles as they improved. Phantoms without guns were faster and turned better, and missiles were immensely more successful then and now. Try looking at the actual data.

Any one know what song this is ?

What is the name of the music in this video?

Jesus own gun pod.

Im guessing they didn't have the A-10 back then....

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

The phantom was a high performance interceptor also with some good ground attack capability, absolutely no comparison to an A-10. Might as well mention Apache helicopters with cannon and hellfires or some armor system.

"the SUU-34 pod" because what's better than a single Vulcan ? 4 Vulcans

@8aleph

6 жыл бұрын

You could actually put 5 gun pods on an F-4 never did it and never saw it but it could be done

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Math. Study it. Additional pods would add loads of weight that would be better used for bombs and missiles.

366 mms gun plumber 71/72

The F4 was big for a fighter

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Go see in in person, they’re not actually that large

needs moar barrels

If you're not ready for air cover from the M61, those shells scared the crap outta' when they came down on ya' ... first time it happened to us we thought WE were being fired on. So, take you out ... no. but scare the livin' shiite outta' you ... YUP!

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Yes the gun pods and even internal cannon were to supply ground support, they were not even close to the success of missiles in air to air. The “gunfighter” myth is just that.

I'd have 2 of these bad boys. 1 mounted under each wing. Will eat up ground target like a fly on a ground patty

ต้องให้ภรรยา

FOD generator!

No, it's hailing high explosive.

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

20mm rounds aren’t high explosive, you need to penetrate vulnerable systems which is why missiles were and are much more effective in air to air. Cannon are good for tearing up ground assets mainly.

Not enough.

Its not an m-61 its a su-23/A

@8aleph

6 жыл бұрын

As I recall the ID plate on the SUU-23;s gun said XM--173 but that was some time say 40 years back so I could be wrong {I was a 462}

I wonder why they painted them dark green. I would have thought they would want to paint them the same color as the bottom of the airplane.

คือเรื่องราชินีขาวปล่อยไม่ได้ จนกว่ารัฐบาลยูเครนกับรัสเซียจะหาข้อตกลงกันได้ก็ใช้มันเป็นเครื่องมือทางการทูตรัสเซียเปรียบมากเราจะเก็บมันไว้อย่างนี้

They can put that same gun on the 117 and the b1

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

?!! Would never happen even if possible, huge drawbacks

Anyone knows the name of the song playing?

@STRIKEEAGLEE

9 жыл бұрын

Stinger4186 Studio sessions of Jimi Hendrix with blues man Lonnie Youngblood, 1966

@daniel1982641

9 жыл бұрын

NICE! Thanks man 🤘 Rock On! 🤘 😎

@_aesth.62

2 жыл бұрын

@@STRIKEEAGLEE title of the music?

Awesome !!! Beautifull ... I just imagine one of the those bullets hiting one Gok ... One yellow guy ... Hermoso solo me imagino una d esas balas impactando a un Mico ...un amarillo comunista : )

ฉันจะบอกให้ญี่ปุ่นมีคลังแสงสำรองที่ใหญ่มากเขาจะนำมันออกมาปรับแต่ง

It's a wonder to me, that people still don't know the reasoning (bad judgement) behind the "missiles only" approach, for the Phantom's; before the addition of the gun pod. And eventual internal cannon. Some lazy asses, just can't take a few minutes to research.

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Apparently YOU’RE the lazy ass who can’t research. In reality (not gunfighter myths) ever AFTER the F-4E appeared with an internal cannon, the VAST majority of kills were with missiles, gun kills were insignificant in comparison. Even today guns are used exclusively for ground attack for the most part. It’s a guns myth, try looking up some actual data.

The F4 was easy pickings for VC SAMS in Nam. 70% kill rate. 🇻🇳

@LastAvailableAlias

5 жыл бұрын

Can you back that up with data?

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Lol utter bullshit. What a moron

Nice porn music

Now attach 4 of these to an a10 mwahahaha

@theBlankScroll

8 жыл бұрын

+Tyler Garrett not sure the 4 together would be a match for the Gau-8

@tylergarrett4498

8 жыл бұрын

Mike Gourdin Well, it wouldn't be an a10 without the GAU-8

@Daskellhounds

8 жыл бұрын

SO MAKE GAU-8 PODS ON THE DOUBLE. than attach as many of them as physically possible to a B-52

@tylergarrett4498

8 жыл бұрын

Arty Brutix MUTHER OF GAWWD

@jacobmagnuts9086

7 жыл бұрын

A B52 armed with 10 GAU8's effect area 2 football fields

Music sucks and doesn’t fit with airman but like the footage.

@sylvesterstewart868

2 жыл бұрын

Lonnie Youngblood who played with Hendrix, sucks? Fill your ears with cement.

get out of here f4 phantom a 10 deserves it not you

@DoctorShocktor

4 жыл бұрын

Yes time machine warfare. Dumb comment

name of the soundtrack pls!