A new addition to the very popular Images At War Series that includes mostly full colour photographs. The helicopter story has developed since 1945 and rotary wing aircraft have made some impressive advances which are nicely detailed in this new book, with some clear introductory text, good captions and extended captions, with some longer sections of text. As always the images are outstanding. – highly recommended.
NAME: Images of War, US Military Helicopters, Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives FILE: R2630 AUTHOR: Michael Green PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 220 PRICE: £16.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Helicopters, rotary wing, troops transport, vertical insertion, vertical extraction, gunship, fire support, fire base, column warfare, Vietnam, Middle East ISBN: 1-47389-484-0 IMAGE: B2630.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y9v5tvqc LINKS: DESCRIPTION: A new addition to the very popular Images At War Series that includes mostly full colour photographs. The helicopter story has developed since 1945 and rotary wing aircraft have made some impressive advances which are nicely detailed in this new book, with some clear introductory text, good captions and extended captions, with some longer sections of text. As always the images are outstanding. – highly recommended. Attempts at rotary wing flight started in the earliest days of aviation but it was not until the 1930s that viable aircraft arrived, and then initially in the form of the autogiro. Sikorski produced one of the first viable helicopters and work proceeded through WWII. The American aircraft designers produced most of the models available into and through the Korean War, but some of the first use in combat zones was by the British using US-built Sikorski designs and then license-built versions. The first limited use was before the end of WWII, using the Sikorski R4B, Hoverfly in British service, and sometimes using US pilots. This included the evacuation of Chindits wounded in the fighting in Burma as these Special Forces battled behind Japanese lines, depending very heavily on aircraft to re-supply them, bring in reinforcements and evacuate the wounded and sick. After WWII, Britain fought a very successful campaign against Chinese insurgents in Malaya. Unlike the disastrous campaigns by the French, and later the US, in Indo China, the British used mainly small groups of special forces and expended at least as much effort on winning hearts and minds of the indigenous Malayan people as in hunting down and killing the Chinese. That required great mobility and the British used Sikorski S-55, in British service Whirlwind, helicopters to insert and extract its hunter teams and to move troops around a battlefield when larger numbers of communist fighters were located. Coupled with close support aircraft, the helicopters worked hard to move assets rapidly into the areas they were needed in and then moving them to the next point of need. During the Korean War the US military began using helicopters in some numbers, although mainly for medivac to bring the wounded to MASH forward hospital facilities for stabilization before flying the casualties out to Japan or back the US for complete treatment and recovery. This saved a great many lives of UN Forces deployed to Korea and set the standard for all future conflicts, where the chances of survival for the sick and wounded dramatically increased. The British had been very quick to start experimental operation of R4B helicopters from ships at sea and for SAR duties from ships and shore installations. This was almost entirely with Sikorski designs that were license-manufactured in Britain by Westland. The US Navy also made early use of helicopters at sea and for SAR but, unlike the British, the US used a much wider mix of helicopters, including multi-engine designs with greater lifting capacity. Through the Cold War, the US continued as the leading manufacturer of helicopters with great diversity in size, capability and operating roles. By the disastrous involvement in the Vietnam War, the US was expanding its use of the helicopter as a standard transport for soldiers. This saw helicopters used as the major method of moving soldiers and supplies around the battlefield and the concept of fire bases surrounded much of the time by the enemy and supplied by helicopter. It also saw helicopters becoming ground attack aircraft with progressively more heavily armed and protected machines as gunships. Today, the helicopter is a standard aircraft for a range of emergency services and for operation in battlefield areas. Much of this has been pioneered by US aircraft manufacturers and the US military. This book provides a great deal of detail, outstanding images and crisp narrative