Weapons That Changed the World

T02:C03 - S02:E03 - The Gatling Gun

Designed to be a defensive game changer on the battlefields of the 19th Century, today’s Gatling Guns make their biggest impact from the skies as offensive super-speed metal shredders. With a 150 year reputation of causing mayhem, this legendary weapon has blown away a path to be the fiercest gun of all time. The modern Aerial Gatling Gun has a highest rate of fire of any military machine gun in the world. Host Wil Willis traces the development of the Gatling from the original design of 1862 that was created in the hopes of ending large- scale combat. Wil travels to Pennsylvania to test fire an actual Gatling used at the Battle of San Juan Hill (1898) during the Spanish-American War. Then, Wil fires three thousand rounds of big 50 caliber ammunition from the latest three barreled GAU-19 Gatling against a Sports Utility Vehicle with explosive results. Next, we examine the world’s largest Gatling, the four thousand pound Avenger. Fitted to the A10 Warthog attack plane, this is the gun that destroyed over 900 Russian made tanks in the first Iraqi war. But it is when Wil takes to the sky that the action gets even bigger. First, he rides along in an F-16 fighter jet to witness the 6,000 round a minute Vulcan rip apart an armored vehicle. Then, Wil grabs a Minigun and lays waste to four cars and explosive packed oil drums from a Vietnam War era Huey helicopter flying at 100 miles per hour. It’s the most explosive episode yet!