Helicopter Gunships
Before Vietnam, the helicopter was valued for its
ability to evacuate wounded soldiers from trouble, but virtually ignored
was its capabilities as an offensive weapon.
The long war in Southeast Asia would see that change dramatically.
1940 / 1945 :
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The helicopter during WWII was still in its initial steps of development so
it saw limited action.
Great Britain and Russia did use
autogiros
( based upon spaniard Cierva designs ) for observation duties but always
used in small numbers.
Germany had already flown the
Flettner FL 282 Kolibri
, the most advanced helicopter model of this period and
used in limited combat at the Mediterranean Sea.
In the US, the coast guard was dropping practice bombs from a
Sikorsky YH-4A
in early test as a weapon against submarines and the US army succesfully complete
a medevac (medical evacuation) mission in Burma at the
ends of WWII with an YR-4 ( Read Medevac Flight in WWII in our Stories Section ).
An early link in the history of the helicopter gunship, was the proposal by
Platt-LePage Aircraft to build a single seat dedicated gunship helicopter.
This 1940 project was proposed at a time when Igor Sikorsky's
VS-300
had yet to be perfected, and Platt-LePage Aircraft had not yet finished construction
of its
PL-3 (XR-1)
helicopter.
The Platt-LePage machine would have been a single seat 450 hp lateral tandem
helicopter along the lines of the XR-1, with machine guns mounted in the
nose, and eventually bomb mounts on the pylons. Also a Navy proposal would
have had folding pylons for ship board storage.
One interesting part of the proposal package, consisted of a series of
artist's renderings showing how an armed helicopter would be used
operationally.
These renderings show essentially the same type of use and tactic that are
used today. Unfortunately the idea was 20 years ahead of it's time, and
was not bought by the US military, due to no operational helicopter
existing in the USA at the time. ( Contribution Jay Hendrickson )
50s :
Helicopters were first used extensively during the Korea War but typically in medevac missions and cargo delivery roles.
The marines also found, with the helicopter, that vertical deployment avoided the most dangerous part of a landing assault (by surface landing craft), as the French and
British forces demonstrated with helicopters during the Suez campaign
(in spite of their landing on beaches full of vacationers).
US Army start testing Bell 47 OH-13, Sikorsky S-51 H-19 and Piasecki H-21 with machine-gun pods and rockets.
Early 60s :
French forces used
Piasecki H-21
twin rotor helicopters armed with rockets and machine guns in the
Algeria campaign.
But was the Vietnam War the breakthrough in this evolution.
The United States forces saw the necessity for more aerial fire support and more
importantly, a way to provide armed escort for cargo choppers.
( Read
Operation Shoofly
in our Stories Section ).
Urgent demand by the US army for a new gunship helicopter equipped with the
newly designed turbo shaft engines (prior models used piston engines), pushed
Bell to develop the Iroquois Warrior , a revolutionary concept derived
from the
Bell 204 Huey.
Bell finished a mock-up of the Iroquois Warrior in June 1962. It was a
Huey with wings, a slender fuselage and other features.
Bell 207 Sioux Scout
:
Bell built a private-venture, concept-demonstrator looking for US army
support before developing its Iroquois Warrior.
This helicopter was a derivative of the succesful Bell 47.
1964 US Army AAFSS Program :
The Advanced Aerial Fire Support System
was the first american competition for a gunship and involved three contenders:
Bell 's D-262 ( a variant of the Iroquois Warrior ) ,
Sikorsky 's S-66.
and Lockheed 's C-840.
Lockheed 's entry was selected from this group and designated the
AH-56 Cheyenne
1965 Bell 209 HueyCobra :
While the US Army went forward with its sophisticated AAFSS,
Bell proceeded with its proposal now as a company-sponsored prototype.
Construction of this model was well advanced when the US Army called for
an interim gunship helicopter for service in Vietnam while the AH-56 was
still under development.
First flown in September 1965, the Bell 209 was selected in March 1966 as the new
AH-1G HueyCobra in competition against gunship derivatives of Kaman 's
SeaSprite
, Boeing Vertol 's
Chinook,
, Piasecki 's
Pathfinder
and Sikorsky 's
S-61.
Bell 's Cobra went into combat in September 1967.
An
armed Chinook was used in Vietnam. ( "Guns-a-Go-Go" photo )
Vietnam proved to be a major testing ground for the helicopter and a new form of
warfare known as air mobility. No longer would armies fight each other
along long fronts on the ground. Now they could be lifted deep into enemy territory,
striking suddenly and powerfully.
Mil Mi-8 Hip E / F :
Like the Americans, the Soviet Union was developing the helicopter as an
attack aircraft as well. The heavy armed variants of the
Mil Mi-8 Hip were equipped
with a machine gun and wings, which held 6 rockets launchers and 4 anti tank
missiles.
But the most famous soviet armed helicopter was the following
design by the Mil bureau :
Mil Mi-24 Hind
The Mi-24 was use in combat in Afghanistan and in the African wars
End 60s World Wide :
Most armies formed new air combat units using choppers
armed with anti tank missiles like the AS.12 and TOW.
These proved dramatically effective in the Arab/Israeli conflicts.
From this period on, helicopters became a vital piece military hardware
in the inventory of most of the world 's powerful armies.
The French HAP ( seen at right ) is a Gazelle derivative
and the German PAH-1 comes from the
MBB bo 105.
Early 70s :
The AH-56 contract was cancelled due financial and technical problems.
American companies soon launch new development programs like the
Sikorsky S-67 and the Bell 309 King Cobra
but both were later cancelled too.
1972 US Army AAH Program :
Competition for the Advanced Attack Helicopter was between the
Hughes Model 77 (YAH-64)
and the
Bell 409 (YAH-63).
Other contenders were the
Boeing Vertol AAH and
the
Lockheed CL-1700, a Cheyenne derivative.
The Hughes Model 77 was selected and designated the
AH-64 Apache
Late 70s :
Almost all helicopter manufactures offered armed variants of their
models, for example the
Hughes Defender
, the
Agusta A.109
and the
Sikorsky S-76 Eagle
Since 80s :
All others programs, like the
Kamov V-100, were cancelled.
The coming years ... :
After a 20 years program the US Army cancelled the Sikorsky / Boeing RAH-66 Comanche
in 2004 and award Bell a contract to build the ARH-70 based on the civilian
Bell 407
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