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The day's only--sort of--overseas story was an Exclusive by David Martin, CBS' Pentagon correspondent…sort of, because he actually filed it from Florida. Hurlburt Field is the USAF training range for the AC-130, the so-called flying tank that provides air cover for commando raids in Iraq and Afghanistan. Martin called the gunship "a prop plane in a jet age and an ungainly one at that." The workhorse planes are being deployed so heavily during nighttime raids by special forces in those two wars that premature cracks are appearing in the fleet's wings, requiring replacement five years ahead of schedule. For every hour of flying the propeller planes require 14 hours of maintenance. Martin took a flight to show off the AC-130's firepower: first the 40mm cannon jammed…then the 105mm automatic howitzer failed to fire…but finally the "fearsome" 25mm Gatling gun blew away its target, firing flawlessly at 1,800 rounds per minute.
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