Use Enough Gun

An infantryman goes into combat with all of his equipment on his back and a 'basic load' of ammunition in his pouches. A basic load in the United States consists of 240 rounds of rifle ammunition. Soldiers usually carry one or two extra basic loads because you can never have enough ammunition.

No matter how much you carry, though, you simply can't pack enough ammunition on your back to see you through safely through any real battle. Every soldier wants more ammunition and bigger guns than he can carry. Since he can't carry them, he depends on those who can.

Artillery provides indirect fire, shooting at an enemy that they can't see. Artillery is an area support weapon.

Close air support provides the biggest 'big guns' available to the soldier. Bombs are traditionally an area weapon, with some just now coming into their own as accurate 'smart bombs'. Gunships, on the other hand, provide direct fire against enemy targets. The pilot, or gunner, is able to lay his eyes on the enemy and direct his fire against them.

Fighter aircraft have been providing air to ground gunfire almost as long as they have been flying. Their guns have been pretty much limited to .30 and .50 caliber cartridges, though, which are no larger than the ground mounted weapons the infantry uses.

Gunships, aircraft that mounted large numbers of heavy machine guns and/or cannon intended to attack ground targets, first appeared in the South Pacific theatre during world II. These eventually were designated as 'attack' aircraft, but the first one was a medium bomber, the B-25.

Crews in General Kenney's Seventh Air Force initially converted B-25s into attack aircraft by adding forward firing .50 caliber machine guns in a variety of configurations, with some aircraft having as many as fourteen guns firing to the front, plus its normal complement of defensive guns. Other models included a 75mm pack howitzer that was installed in the left side, below the pilot, firing forward. These aircraft were mostly used for attacking enemy airfields rather than providing support for ground troops. Eventually, attack versions of the B-25 were shipped direct from the factory and models such as the A-20 were purpose designed as attack aircraft.

Gunships that used side firing weapons didn't enter service until the early 1960s, though the first test on such a concept was apparently successfully carried out in 1927 with a .30 caliber machine gun firing from a DH-4 biplane. No one was interested. Similar initiatives in the decades that followed were similarly unsuccessful. Finally, in 1963, a small testing program was funded; which led to the first combat tests in 1965. 'Puff' was going to war.

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