By mid-1971, the Royal Laotian Air Force had thirteen AC-47 "Spooky" gunships on strength and were conducting approximately 50 missions per month in support of government ground units as well as the Hmong tribesmen in the highlands. Though superstitious, the Laotion gunship crews readily adopted the Spooky call sign but would not operate the AC-47s seven crew members as Buddhist tradition regarded the number seven as an unlucky number. As a result, RLAF AC-47s went into combat either with one man short (six crew) or one man extra (eight).

Source: Gunships: The Story of Spooky, Shadow, Stinger and Spectre by Wayne Mutza. Specialty Press, 2009, p183.

Once the AC-47D gunship proved itself in preliminary trials in action over South Vietnam, the USAF pressed ahead to convert more C-47s into gunships. However, the 7.62mm minigun used on the AC-47D was just starting production and were in short supply. As an interim measure, it was decided to use as an interim gun the Browning M2 .30 caliber gun which were in storage at a warehouse at McClellan AFB in Sacramento. The firing solenoids for the guns were in very short supply, so for the M2-armed prototype AC-47, the solenoids from the B-24 "Strawberry Bitch" on display at the USAF Museum were borrowed. It's been said that that B-24 is still missing those solenoids.

Source: Gunships: The History of Spooky, Shadow, Stinger, and Spectre by Wayne Mutza. Specialty Press, 2009, p30.