Boeing ACH-47A, the 'Guns A Go-Go'!

Suggestions - Devs Passed
1
Would you like to see the ACH-47A ingame?
  • Yes.
  • No.
0 voters
How would you like to see the ACH-47A ingame?
  • As a researchable techtree vehicle.
  • As a premium vehicle.
  • As a squadron vehicle.
  • As an event vehicle.
  • I said “No” in the first question.
0 voters

Hello everyone!

Today I want to suggest the gunship version of the world famous CH-47 Chinook.

This is the ACH-47A!

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History:

Spoiler

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Two ACH-47A’s flying in formation

The ACH-47A was an armed gunship model of the famous CH-47A Chinook. Originally they were known as the Armed / Armored Chinook - A/ACH-47A. But this designation was changed to the ACH-47A when the Army standardized its model designations.

The first letter “A” is meant for the special mission symbol, and it stood for ‘Attack’.
The “C”, meant for mission symbol, stood for ‘Cargo’.
The “H-47”, meant for basic mission and type symbol, stood for Helicopter model 47.
At last the “A” at the end just stands for the variant of the helicopter. This being based on the CH-47A.

So ACH-47A stands for Attack Cargo Helicopter -47 A model.

A total of four of these armed/armored ACH-47A Chinooks were built for the U.S. Army by Boeing in 1965. Three of these have been fielded in Vietnam. They were there for a six month temporary duty test period, they were assigned to the newly formed 53rd Aviation Detachment.

The four helicopters were:

  • 64-13145 - nicknamed “Co$t of Living”
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  • 64-13149 - nicknamed “Easy Money”
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  • 64-13151 - nicknamed “Stump Jumper”
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  • 64-13154 - nicknamed “Birth Control”
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“Co$t of Living” was the first ACH-47A produced, and it was the single one that did not go to Vietnam. It instead remained in the states for further weapons systems testing at Edwards Air Force Base.
After the test period was over, “Co$t of Living” was attached to the 1st Cavalry Division’s 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion.

Over the course of their careers, three of the four gunships were lost.

  • “Stump Jumper” was lost in a taxiing accident in August 1966.

  • “Co$t of Living” was lost when its 20mm autocannon mounting pins came lose, which lead to the autocannon firing into the forward rotor blades. This lead to the helicopter crashing, and sadly none of the the 8 crew members survived the accident.

  • “Birth Control” was lost to enemy fire, and the crew was rescued by “Easy Money”.

  • “Easy Money” was the only surviving ACH-47A. It had survived the Vietnam war, and was taken out of action in 1968. It has now been restored, and is currently on display at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

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The restored “Easy Money”

Weaponry:

Spoiler

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Overall weapon layout

The ACH-47A lived up to the gunship name. Being armed with two 20mm cannons, a 40mm automatic grenade launcher, five machine guns, and two weapon pods that could carry either 70mm rocket launchers or 7.62mm miniguns, the ACH-47A would make sure that whatever you were targetting wouldn’t be there for much longer.

Here is a more detailed list of the weapon systems:
1 x 1 M75 40mm grenade launcher in the XM5/M5 armament subsystem.
2 x 1 20mm M24A1 autocannons in a fixed forward position.
5 x 1 M60D 7.62mm machineguns or M2HB 12.7mm machineguns, two on each side, and one in the back.
2 x 1 XM159 19-Tube 2.75-inch (70 mm) rocket launchers or 2x M18 (7.62mm GAU-2 minigun) gun pods.

Some extra info about the M75 40mm grenade launcher:

Spoiler

The M75 grenade launcher is the older brother of the M129 grenade launcher (wich we now have ingame on the AH-1G)

The M75 is almost identical to the M129 when it comes to the stats:

M75 | M129

Caliber: 40 mm | Caliber: 40mm

Action: Automatic, motor driven | Action: Automatic, motor driven

Rate of fire: 225 rpm | Rate of fire: 400 rpm

Muzzle velocity: 240 m/s (790 feet per second) | Muzzle velocity: 260 m/s (850 feet per second)

Effective firing range: 1,870 m (2,045 yards) | Effective firing range: 1,870 m (2,045 yards)

Feed system: belt | Feed system: belt

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Weaponry firing arcs

Ingame:

Spoiler

In my opinion this can be a perfect low BR helicopter for the US. With it’s large size and lack of ATGM’s this can fit ingame around the 6.0 to 8.0 area, but give me your opinion in the poll above!

Now for the 5 machineguns that are spread around the helicopter, I think these should be AI controlled gunners. Here is why: As the pilot you already control a 40mm, 2x 20mm and the additional pods you carry. So being able to control five more machineguns on top of that is just a little to much. So if the extra machine gunner are modeled as AI gunners you see on Aircraft, then that will make your life a whole lot easier. Another helicoper attacking you? The AI gunners will fire at it. Hell, maybe they can even target drones!

Maybe as a cool feature these AI gunners could also be programmed to fire at ground targets. You can just fly over the battlefield and the gunners will just light it up!

And on to the last thing, this helicopter could carry either five .30 cal machineguns, or five .50 cal machineguns. This could be added ingame as a upgradable modification in my opinion. So when stock it has the five .30 cals, and then you can get a modifications that swaps all guns to .50 cals.

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More images:

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Sources:

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Main source:

Secondairy sources:

Extra:

5 Likes
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For more information.

1 Like
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This helicopter will be nice around 7.7BR. It has access to a 40mm Grenade Launcher, 20mm autocannons and 38mm FFAR missiles all in 1 single loadout. It is large and an easy target, so it won’t break games, but will also wreck havok if left unatended.

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This site is the main source used for this suggestion o7

5

This could be the first helicopter with AI gunners! I hope that would be a function, like on bombers and attackers. Not only that, but they could even attack ground targets. +1 for certain!

4 Likes
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I am still disappointed on Gaijin that we don’t have door gunners, yet. Especially for UH-1 series helicopters!
(Vietnam vibe intensifies on Fortunate Son music background…)

4 Likes
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There are so many weapon options for that position across nations. It’d be really fun!

8

This would be a great idea but I would rather have the version without the tail gunner, so that it fits nicely in the tech tree as a twin to the Mi-8’s that Germany and Russia have. But still look asthetically nice without it’s rear ramp down.
A test with those side gunner positions being turret gunners like on bombers is an interesting idea and would give it a unique place in the tech tree for helicopters ingame until others with that function get added.

An idea would be to make it a suggestion that enabled ai gunners on the model, or disabled them with the doors closed. Just like the skirt modification options on some tanks like the VFW.

+1 from me.

9

The rear door could be added in as a modification you can toggle on or off. Like how the German VFW can lower and raise it’s side skirts by toggling a modification

2 Likes
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door gunners would be interesting, as they wouldnt do much but you could fly past enemy heli’s and have the gunners shoot at them, but the hueys would be interesting as they mounted m1919’s m60’s and miniguns so what would they get?

11

There’s more than 7.62mm guns that can be equipped, even starting with the trusty, old UH-1 series. The US Army experimented with various calibers and depending on the helicopter, there’s a range from the most common 7.62mm guns up to 12.7mm machine guns, 20mm autocannons and even 40 mm grenade launchers.
You can find a list of many weapon systems (where door guns are also mentioned) on this wiki link, although it seems incomplete as it does not detail the systems available and in use by current helicopters like UH-60 or Sikorsky Sea King, just a few mentions: U.S. helicopter armament subsystems - Wikipedia .
Here’s another good example of field modifications with 40mm grenade launchers used on UH-1s Series: Mk19's and helicopters - Helicopter Modeling - ARC Discussion Forums

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France also loved to equip their helicopters with various armaments available, even with 20mm autocannons (based on the German MG151), starting with H-34 and going on with Alouette III and S.A.330 Puma series. You can find some photos with the 20mm turrets on Alouette III here (also called K-Car in the Rhodesian War): 150 - SNCASE Alouette III - Le blog de Avions de la Guerre d'Algérie

I don’t know if USSR had autocannons or grenade launchers mounted on doors, but they certainly went with their 12.7 and 14.5 mm guns when 7.62 PKs were not enough.

Going back to Chinook, there’s also plenty of variation we can do for gun mounts. But if we limit ourselves to what CH-47A had, even some extra 12.7mm guns will help against passing aircraft or soft targets on the ground.
The standard CH-47s for troop transport could also equip the 40mm grenade launchers in various weapon stations.

12

If they did that for many Helicopters, like the door mounted guns on the ACH-47A, MH-60L DAP and others it would be an absolute yes. You can toggle a “clean” frame loadout with the best aerodynamic performance but with external weapons or nose mounted. Or toggle a gunner modification that made you have abit more drag on the body itself from doors open and ram down, but with gunners like bomber players that are ai controlled.

1 Like
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Interesting video unless people have already posted it.

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Suggestion passed to the developers for consideration.

3 Likes
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