A Brief History of The Helicopter

Centuries before the Korean War, wars were long and painful events that any man could ever go through. Troops would match from countries to countries, crossing mountains, trial through the forest, and wander the desert to meet with their enemy in battle. The only problem with the troops traveling so far for so long is that before the war ever starts, the men were fatigued and casualty rates were higher than they should be. By the Korean War, an amazing machine was introduced to the military ranks, turning the tide in warfighting and troop survivability. UH-1 Huey Helicopter, or Utility Helicopter, was the one machine that was created by Bell that change the concept in warfighting and giving the United States the upper hand in war. On several

In 1733, James Kay, a clockmaker, invented a simple weaving machine called the flying shuttle(Doc6). He built it, supposedly, with nothing more than a pocketknife and his tool. The flying shuttle improved on the old hand loom. The machine only came into general use in the 1760s- after decades of trial- and-error improvements.

The first flight occurred in 1903 when the Wright brothers famously took their airplane for a final test flight in December. In the years after this historic flight many people start to see the potential for airplanes in war, transportation, and shipping. Other builders disregarded previous doubt about flying and began to replicate the ideas of the Wright brothers in creating planes with three axes. In addition, the approach of WWI prompted military personnel to pursue uses of airplanes as a war machine. The airplane influenced many aspects of American culture after it’s invention including civilian life, war technology, and individual possibility.

One key battle that shows usage of helicopters was the battle for Quang Tri City. This battle was a part of the 1968 Tet-Offensive. The Tet Offensive was a surprise attack on key points on the United States in South Vietnam during the Vietnamese holiday Tet. It involved when 2 battalions of People 's Army of Vietnam and 2 Vet Cong battalions attack the East of the city of Quang Tri. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam was able to block them off before the whole city was taken. With ARVN reinforcement’s days away, US Colonel Rattan planned an attack to regain the city. That plan was landing airmobile forces by the enemy rear and communication lines

Everyone has seen movies that portray aviation and the use of helicopters in wars and conflicts throughout the years. Even that first sentence alone was enough to conjure up an old time favorite scene of a favorite movie. One thing that Hollywood always seems to leave out of movies is the reality that a helicopters mechanical limitations take on the flight, the calculations and actions of the aircrew based on these limits, and the overall impact these place on the mission. There are also environmental limiting factors that take place on a helicopter, whether it is temperature, moisture, or the terrain itself. We get it. Showing

On the morning of April 30 1975, with White Christmas playing on the radio, the last American boarded a helicopter on the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon effectively ending a long and painful chapter in US military history (Leeker, 2015). The iconic photo of Americans climbing the embassy staircase to board the waiting helicopter became a lasting symbol and serves to highlight the critical role the helicopter played in the Vietnam War. While the United States had tested the feasibility of helicopters in the Korean War, their utility and combat power fully matured over the rice paddies and jungles of Vietnam. This was never more apparent than during the final hours of the Vietnam War. The massive air evacuation that took place undoubtedly saved

The Vietnam War was the first successful large scale usage of rotary wing aircraft to move combat troops and equipment around the battlefield in the history of warfare. The terrain and vegetation of the Vietnam countryside make most parts of the country inaccessible to wheeled and tracked vehicles and using relatively inexpensive aircraft was the best way to move troops around during that timeframe. Using helicopters, it was now possible to not only place troops and equipment where they were most needed, but it also made a quick way to bring back wounded troops back to the rear areas for trauma care.

The helicopter played a huge role in The Vietnam War, both as a transport and combat aircraft. Helicopters were a huge method of transportation for troops in Vietnam. The attack helicopter was also introduced as a vital weapon and it gave a new strategy for the U.S. military. These attack helicopters intimidated enemy ground forces while giving close air support to troops on the ground. The strategy behind conventional bombing in World War Two was to drop a large amount of bombs and destroy large areas. During the Cold War there was a lot of nuclear tension between the US and USSR. The Cold War was a massive show of force, competing for the superior aircraft. During World War Two, bombers had supportive aircraft but in the Cold War aircraft

The AH-1 Cobra was the first dedicated gunship to engage in frontline battles anywhere in the world. Based on the Bell UH-1 Huey airframe and developed as a private venture, it proved to be a huge success once it entered combat in Vietnam. This was one of the few U.S. Army aircraft to have actual combat experience being put into the design of the airframe. The Cobra successfully provided aerial gun support and fire suppression for the vulnerable transport and airmobile aircraft. The overwhelming success it had in real world battle was the beginning of the armed gunship style helicopters being used by the U.S. Military.

Aviation Hall of Fame and was awarded the lifetime Achievement Medal by the Air Force Association. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and the author of over fifty books. He also co-founded of the cable channels Wingspan, and Air and Space Channel. In this book Walter Boyne explains the transformational importance the helicopter has gained on American battlefields.

It has always been the dream of mankind wanting to join the birds in the sky, many innovators created various contraptions to achieve flight. On December 17, 1903, two brothers by the name of Wilbur and Orville Wright decided to test their contraption and it was successful. This event changed the course of aviation as the contraption known as Flyer 1 became the first successful powered heavier-than-air flight.

They date back as far as 3,000 years, where they were made from bamboo and silk. The earliest written account of kite flying was about 200 BC. In 478 BC a Chinese Philosopher, Mo Zi, spent three years making a hawk from light wood or bamboo which sailed with the wind. It could fly, but after one day’s trial it was wrecked. In AD 550 Emperor Kao Yang, actually decided to test kites on men, captured enemies of course. Several men were strapped to gliders and sailed off a tower. According to his book only one survived, who was eventually starved to

The United States Army began its aviation heritage in the mid 1920’s as the United States Army Air Service later turning into the United States Army Air Force. It was the aviation fighting force for the Army until 1947 when the United States Air Force was created and the Army was no longer legally allowed to conduct missions in the same manner as it did in World War II (WWII). It was in WWII that the Army saw the potential of Vertical Lift, however it was too late to make any effect on the war. The helicopter saw its first combat in the mountains and valleys of Korea. It was here that the Army was able see a significant change in combat due to this new piece of technology. U.S. Commanders were able to get real time updates to the

No one knows when or how kites were invented or their origin, but it is rumored that the kite first took flight in China, and was created when a Chinese farmer tied a string to his hat to keep it from flying in the wind, and

The exact date and origin of the creation of the kite is unknown but historical evidence suggests that they were flown in China about two thousand years ago. The earliest known account of kite flying was around 200 B.C. when the General Han Hsin of the Han Dynasty flew a kite over the walls of a city him and his troops were attacking to see how far his army would have to travel to reach past the enemies defenses. Kite flying was soon spread by Chinese Kitestraders from China to Korea, and through Asia to India. As it spread, people developed new ways of lying them and reasons for flying them.