Doorgunner

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Afghan door gunner with M240- LMG in a Mil Mi-17 W-5, 2012
American Bell UH1 D with two M60 machine guns each during the Vietnam War (Chu Chi, 1966)

A door gunner is a gunner who operates a weapon permanently mounted in the door or tailgate of a helicopter , usually a medium or heavy machine gun , but also larger weapons such as Gatling machine guns or cannons.

This tactic was first used during the Vietnam War . The US troops were often flown directly into the combat zone in Bell UH-1 “Huey” helicopters, where they were immediately under fire and were unable to form. In order to give the infantry fire protection and to hold down the enemy on approach and departure and not to be shot at themselves, the helicopters were equipped with two M60 machine guns. The machine guns were attached to the side of the doors and were each operated by a rifleman. Fired from a flying helicopter, a medium machine gun is not very accurate, but with tracer ammunition , which makes aiming easier for the shooter, it is suitable for keeping the enemy down.

The airborne wind cools the weapon better.

Heavy weapons, such as the General Electric minigun- gatling cannon , were used in larger helicopters. In the CH-47 Chinook , for example, they were installed in the rear door.

On most helicopters, the door or tailgate had to be dismantled to accommodate the gun mount . Newer models like the Blackhawk UH60 or the NH90 have a fixed place for the door gunner behind the cockpit , where firing is made from a kind of loopholes and no longer from the door itself. This leads to fewer obstacles when loading and unloading the machine, especially under combat conditions and to an increase in combat value at low temperatures. The soldiers do not arrive at the scene completely frozen. In addition, the crew is better protected from enemy fire with the doors closed.

In the Bundeswehr , the door gunner is officially called an on-board security soldier and is used on the CH-53 , among other things .

The door gunner experienced artistic implementation, for example, on the cover of the chart-ranked long player Agent Orange by the German thrash metal band Sodom .

Web links

Commons : Door Gunners  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Bötel: Video: The Doorgunner - Accurate in low flight. Bundeswehr.de, February 1, 2017, accessed on February 2, 2017 .
  2. ^ Entry in the Encyclopaedia Metallum