door gunner
Airborne mounted rifleman
A door gunner is a crew member who operates a mounted machine gun from the open doorway of a military helicopter.
The position became iconic during the Vietnam War, where door gunners provided suppressive fire during troop insertions and extractions: The door gunner laid down covering fire as soldiers jumped from the Huey.
The role requires manning an exposed position while the aircraft hovers or makes low passes over hostile territory.
- helicopterRotary-wing aircraft
- gunshipArmed support aircraft
- minigunMulti-barrel rapid-fire weapon
- VietnamSoutheast Asian coastal nation
- jungle warfareArmed conflict in dense forest
free fire zone · kill zone · Huey · chopper · suppressive fire · get some · LZ · hot zone · Blackhawk · mounted · belt-fed · tracer · extraction · air assault · combat · infantry · rotor · skids
- Air Force Rolesairman, colonel, general, major, lieutenant
- Gunnersartilleryman, cannoneer
- aviation jobspilot, airline pilot, copilot, co-pilot, captain
- shootersshooter, sniper, rifle, pistol, shotgun
- aircrew rolespilot, copilot, captain, first officer, flight engineer
door gunnerpilot
One who steers aircraft
helicopter pilot · copilot · ground crew · passenger · flight engineer
door, gun, gunner, doors, doored, doorway, doorways, doorman, doormen