Have read that both armed drones and AC-130H’s were already within Libya. We helped the Libyan rebels with air power before.
Now, I do not have proof, but the fact that the target was painted by Woods is a good indicator the assets were in place.
I read that the AC-130s were removed in July.
(New) AC-130U Gunship was On-Scene in Benghazi, Obama Admin Refused to Let It Fire"There were two AC-130Us deployed to Libya in March as part of Operation Unified Protector." (The operation officially ended on 31 October 2011, after the rebel leaders, formalized in the National Transitional Council, had declared Libya liberated on 23 October.)
That is the origin of the rumor that AC-130s might have been in Libya. It was never more than a speculation.
There is another article that fed the early speculation that something armed was in the sky over Benghazi based on the report that Woods was 'lazing' a target. Later articles proved that there could be a number of reasons he might have been 'lazing' a target without any air support above. There are different kinds of targeting scopes and it was proven that they had them at the 'annex.' Some will store the targeting info digitally to upload at any later time.
Bigger than Watergate: Proof that the President is Lying about Benghazi?"Update 3: Jeff Emanuel thinks that we might be jumping to conclusions and that Jennifer Griffin at FoxNews might have misreported a statement about active laser on a target. I highly respect Jeff and Jennifer. And either could be correct right now. Hopefully, we'll get some clarification."
It took me a while to sift through my bookmarks but that is probably the best thread on the subject of possible air assets being overhead during the attack. Many of the posts are worth reading too.