World War II is not associated with helicopters. Meanwhile, it was on its fronts that these machines made their debut as a means of conducting military operations. The debut was not large-scale: the technologies of those times did not yet allow helicopters to have a significant impact on the course of hostilities, and they appeared late.
But the first timid experiments with their use turned out to be so promising that immediately after the war, this class of technology was simply waiting for an explosive development. During World War II, many experimental helicopters were created in several countries. Several of them went into series. Only a few models managed to see the hostilities. And only American helicopters were successful without any reservations.
But the Germans also tried to use their vehicles in battles, and they are also worth noting.
German helicopters
Germany was one of two countries that tried to use helicopters in hostilities. The helicopters themselves were not something secret for the Germans: their first rotorcraft flew several years before the Second World War. Moreover, the world's first helicopter suitable for any practical application was German. It was the Focke-Wolf Fw 61, taking off in 1936.
In total, many small-scale and experimental machines were created in Germany during the war years. Some of them were unique, for example, the ultra-small portable single-seat helicopters Nagler Rolz Nr55 were tested - a folding structure on (exactly "on", not "in") which one pilot could sit, over which one blade was spinning, balanced by a three-cylinder engine with a small propeller, which, with its thrust, made the blade rotate.
The car did not fly much, but it lifted 110 kg in hovering.
However, we are interested in the machines that saw the war. There were two such cars. The first helicopter on this list was created by the talented German aeronautical engineer Anton Flettner and went down in history as the Flettner FI 282 Kolibri.
For Flettner, this was not a debut; his company had previously built the FI265 helicopter, then the safest helicopter in the world. It was the first helicopter capable of autorotating and vice versa. After building six helicopters in 1938 for experimental use by the Luftwaffe, Flettner began work on the Hummingbird. All Flettner's helicopters were built according to the synchropter scheme, or a helicopter with crossed rotors. After World War II, such helicopters were built and are being built by the American company Kaman. The inventor of this scheme is precisely Anton Flettner.
The Hummingbird flew for the first time in 1941, a fatal year for Germany. Soon after the helicopter tests, they became interested in the Kriegsmarine. Deprived by Goering's intrigues of its naval aviation, the fleet desperately needed a means of reconnaissance.
In 1941, testing of the vehicle began in the interests of the fleet. What is especially interesting is the attempts to use the car as a deck car. On one of the towers of the cruiser "Cologne" was equipped with a helicopter landing pad, from which the car made flights over the Baltic.
The experiment was considered successful, and a small series of helicopters went to airfields near the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. By and large, this was a continuation of the tests, although, according to some sources, during these tests, the Hummingbirds were used to protect the shipping of the Axis countries from the allies. If so, then it should be considered the year of the beginning of the use of helicopters in hostilities. However, taking into account the fact that no details of such flights are given, apparently, these were more test flights than sorties for real combat use.
The Luftwaffe, inspired by the successful tests and good aerobatic qualities of the helicopter, ordered BMW a series of thousands of Flettner helicopters. However, it was planned to use them over land, as spotters of artillery fire.
By that time, the helicopters had already been upgraded, and twice. The first series had an enclosed cockpit with a glass canopy, the following vehicles had an open cockpit. Given the low speed of the helicopter (maximum 150 km / h), this was acceptable. Later, a version with a second seat in the tail section of the helicopter was created. It was in this form that this machine was supposed to fight on land fronts.
In 1944, a production contract was signed with BMW, and a number of already built Hummingbirds, along with another German helicopter, which will be discussed a little later, were transferred to the Eastern Front to confront the Red Army. But soon the BMW plant was destroyed by Allied aircraft, and the plans for the production of helicopters had to be put to rest.
It is reliably known that German helicopters made a number of sorties against our troops. They were all based at a military airfield near the city of Rangsdorf in eastern Germany. But, naturally, German helicopters could not influence the course of the war in any way. In the spring of 1945, the last German helicopter was destroyed. Speaking about the reasons for the destruction of helicopters, Western researchers indicate that some of them were shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft fire, and the other was shot down by Soviet fighters.
Some modern military-historical resources indicate that the two-seater versions of the "Hummingbird" were taken out of the encircled Breslau by Gauleiter and a prominent Nazi figure August Hanke, but this information has no reliable confirmation. Also, some sources indicate that the "Kolibri" performed transport tasks of the 40th transport squadron of the Luftwaffe (Transportstaffel 40).
Only three helicopters survived the war, two of which went to the Americans, and one to the USSR. In the USSR, the helicopter was flown and comprehensively tested, but its design with criss-cross propellers was assessed as unnecessarily complicated.
Flettner himself with his family left for the United States in 1947, lived there for many years and worked in the American aviation industry. Flettner was doing well, he knew Werner von Braun, another famous German engineer in the American service. According to some reports, Flettner and his family became the first German emigrants to the United States after World War II (not counting those who were forcibly taken out).
In addition to the Hummingbird, the Germans tried to use another helicopter in hostilities, the Focke Achgelis Fa.223 Drache (translated as "Dragon"), a heavy machine, much more powerful than the Hummingbird. This helicopter was somewhat less fortunate and, together with real participation in hostilities, it participated only in attempts to make war.
The helicopter was designed in the late thirties and repeated the Focke-Wolf Fw 61 scheme, that is, it had two main rotors. It was the largest helicopter in the world at the time. However, the Germans managed to build only 10 aircraft: the Focke Anghelis plant, where it was planned to build these helicopters, was destroyed by Allied aircraft in 1942.
The machine made its first flight on August 3, 1940, but this helicopter did not really reach readiness for military service. The work on the project was greatly interfered with by allied bombing. As a result, the first small-scale Luftwaffe helicopters were seen only in 1943, already on the basis of a new aircraft plant, in Laupheim.
During this time, the plans for the production of a whole family of combat and transport helicopters were abandoned in favor of one multi-purpose modification. However, the new aircraft factory was also soon destroyed by Allied bombers, and a large series of "Dragons" was never built.
And the helicopter was outstanding at that time. For example, during demonstration flights, the Dragon lifted the Fizler Storch aircraft or the fuselage of the Messerschmidt Bf.109 fighter on the external sling. Moreover, the maneuverability of the helicopter made it possible to accurately place the cargo on a truck, trailer or other platform. For such operations, the Germans even developed a self-unlocking electromechanical hook.
Despite the problems with production, the Germans tried to use the built prototypes for their intended purpose.
In early 1944, with the help of one of the built prototypes, V11 (all built helicopters had their numbers with the letter V at the beginning), an attempt was made to evacuate the fallen Dornier-217 bomber by air. The helicopter itself suffered an accident. Then in May 1944 by another helicopter during ten flights, the disassembled aircraft and helicopter were evacuated on an external sling by another prototype of the "Dragon" - V14 in 10 flights. It was a success, and the Germans learned a lot from the operation.
After that, two helicopters were sent to the training center of the mountain troops near Innsbruck, to participate in experimental exercises with the mountain units of the Wehrmacht. The helicopters made 83 flights, with landings at altitudes up to 1600 meters, they transferred troops and light cannons on an external sling. They have proven themselves well.
Then came the turn of the real service. By personal order of Hitler, one helicopter that had not yet been transferred to the Luftwaffe was sent to Danzig, which by that time was already a front-line city. By that time, the plant had already been bombed and a helicopter test center was deployed at Berlin's Tempelhof airport. From there the helicopter went to the front, piloted by an experienced Luftwaffe helicopter pilot and participant in all helicopter operations of the "Dragons" Helmut Gerstenhower. The imperfection of the car and bad weather led to the fact that, having arrived in Danzig a few days later, the Germans were forced to urgently fly back: the city was already occupied by the Red Army. The return turned out to be successful, and the helicopter proved its capabilities to be used for a long (12 days) time and fly long distances (1625 km) without regular maintenance at the airfield.
After this episode, in January 1945, all the surviving helicopters were sent to the 40th transport squadron, in Mühldorf (Bavaria). The end of the war caught them at the Einring airfield, where the Americans captured three helicopters. One of them, the German pilot managed to destroy before the capture, and he came to the Americans in an irreparable condition. The other two were serviceable.
As in the case of the Hummingbird, the Americans flew around the Dragons. Then one of them was sent to the USA and the other was transferred to the UK. In order to save time and money, the British decided to fly the helicopter across the English Channel by air, which was done on September 6, 1945 by a prisoner of war at that time Helmut Gerstenhower. The latter can be safely assigned the title of one of the most experienced German helicopter pilots of World War II, and the Dragon became the first helicopter in history to fly over the English Channel.
Later, the British ditched this car during the tests. But in France, on its basis, the French SE-3000 helicopter was created, built in the number of three copies. The machines were used until 1948.
Also from the captured kits, two helicopters were assembled in Czechoslovakia and served in the Czechoslovak Air Force for some time.
The German efforts, however, are no match for the scale of the use of helicopters during the Second World War in the United States.
American helicopters and war at sea
As in Germany, in the United States, the development of helicopters was very large-scale. Moreover, in the United States, a helicopter with a classical scheme - a main rotor and a tail rotor - immediately went into operation. This scheme was created by our former compatriot Igor Sikorsky. He also became the father of the American helicopter industry and it was the helicopter that bears his name that made its debut in hostilities on the American side. It makes no sense to list all the experimental and small-scale machines created in the United States in those years: only the Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly saw the war. This machine in various modifications became the most massive on the one hand, and the most "combat" on the other, a helicopter of the Second World War.
In addition to the United States, this helicopter entered service with the British Air Force, but did not see combat service from the British.
In the United States, this vehicle was used primarily by the United States Army Air Force. The Navy received a number of helicopters, and the Coast Guard received three units. Only army helicopters saw the hostilities, but it is impossible not to mention two episodes related to non-army helicopters.
The first to recognize the potential of helicopters in war at sea in the United States were the commanders of the Coast Guard, mainly its commandant (commander) Russell Weishe. In 1942, he approved the US Coast Guard helicopter development program, soon notifying the commander of the US Navy's naval operations, Admiral Ernst King, of this fact, convincing him of the special role of the Coast Guard in this process. There was nothing surprising in this: the first year of the US participation in the Battle of the Atlantic, it was the Coast Guard who dragged the convoys from the American side, its contribution in the first months of the war was higher than that of the Navy, shackled by the war with the Japanese. At the suggestion of Weisha and King, a working group on the use of helicopters in anti-submarine defense was formed, which included both Navy and Coast Guard officers.
I must say that they managed to predetermine the entire post-war development of shipborne helicopter business.
At the beginning of these glorious deeds, the Coast Guard, having borrowed one Sikorsky from the US Army, organized its flights from a tanker. A little later, the British participating in these tests tried flights from a specially equipped vessel at home.
The Coast Guard, however, went further.
After making sure that the helicopters fly normally from the ships, the SOBR quickly converted the steam passenger ship "Governor Cobb" into the warship of the same name. The Cobb was equipped with cannons, machine guns, it was armed with depth charges, and behind the chimney an take-off and landing site was equipped, from which the Coast Guard's float Sikorskys could fly on combat missions.
The Governor Cobb became the world's first warship armed with helicopters and capable of using them. The Sikorsky helicopters themselves received the name HNS-1 in the Coast Guard and differed from army helicopters only by floats instead of a wheeled chassis.
These helicopters did not have to fight, although they took part in the search for German submarines. Tests of the Sikorskys on the Cobb showed that this helicopter was too weak to be an effective submarine hunter: it lacked both carrying capacity and range.
It was after these tests that the Navy significantly reduced the order for helicopters.
Nevertheless, they have shown their importance in rescue operations.
In the early morning of January 2, 1944, ammunition detonated aboard the destroyer USS Turner DD-648 right in the harbor of Emborose Light in New York. Two hours after the explosion, the ship sank, but a number of sailors were able to leave and were picked up from the water. Many of them were injured, there were many people with a lot of blood loss.
The survivors were taken to a nearby hospital in Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
But it turned out that there was not enough blood for transfusion. The military had the idea to urgently deliver blood plasma from another hospital by plane, but unfortunately, the wind did not allow the planes to fly. According to journalists of that time, his speed exceeded 25 knots.
The situation was rescued by one of the HCF test pilots, an experienced helicopter pilot, lieutenant commander (lt.commander, the equivalent of our military rank "lieutenant commander") Frank Erickson. On his helicopter, he was able to take off in a strong wind, pick up two canisters of blood plasma in one of the New York hospitals and in 14 minutes deliver them to Sandy Hook, taking them directly to the hospital, where, of course, no plane would have landed.
For the rest, the sorties of helicopters of the SOBR and the Navy were of a semi-experimental nature, and their value was mainly reduced to processing the tactics of using helicopters and gaining experience.
But army helicopters in World War II had to fight for real.
In Burma
In 1943, to help the British "Chindits" (special forces of British troops in Burma, operating in the Japanese rear), the Americans formed the "1st Commando Air Group" (1st Commando Air group, today - 1st Special Operations Air Wing). Its aircraft fought air war, including in the interests of the Chindite raiders, carrying out air strikes for their protection and guidance, delivering ammunition and even reinforcements. However, sometimes carrying out the removal of the wounded.
In early 1944, the air group received its first helicopters. Due to their low carrying capacity, low flight characteristics and insufficient range, it was impossible to use them as combat vehicles.
But they came in handy as rescue.
On April 22, 1944, Lieutenant Carter Harman, helicopter pilot of the 1st Air Group, pilot of the YR-4B helicopter (one of the R-4 modifications), was ordered to rescue the crew and passengers of the crashed communications aircraft in the jungle. There was no way to put the plane in place, the helicopter remained. Despite the presence of one seat in the cockpit, Harman managed to pull four people to the rear in two days - the pilot and three British soldiers who were on board. Despite the high altitude and high humidity, which jointly complicated the operation of the engine, Harman managed to take the pilot and the soldiers to the rear in two flights, packing them into the cockpit, two people at a time.
Later, helicopters in Burma and southwestern China were used for similar purposes.
A unique helicopter operation took place in January 1945 in another part of Burma. It deserves to be told in more detail.
Saving Private Ross
On January 23, 1945, an incident occurred at one of the control posts, whose task was to monitor the weather in the interests of American aviation. Private Harold Ross, a 21-year-old native of New York, accidentally fired a machine gun in his arm. The wound turned out to be harmless, but in the Burmese climate and with the typical sanitation checkpoint in the remote mountains, the wound immediately began to rot. There was no way to get medical care high in the jungle-overgrown mountains, it was necessary to go down to the plain, go out the bank of the Chindwin River, suitable for subsidence, and wait for the plane there. The speed with which Ross's hand swelled clearly told his comrades that they would not be in time: it took at least ten days to get out to their own.
The command initially planned to drop a medic with medicines by parachute, but after assessing the relief, they abandoned this idea: it was impossible to ensure the safety of the parachutist's landing in that area.
And then it was decided to use the helicopter at the disposal of the Air Rescue Unit.
Ross could well consider himself lucky: the helicopter arrived at the site a day before, it was delivered by special request directly from the United States by air. It is unlikely that anyone would have done this for the 21-year-old goofy infantryman who wounded himself, but luck intervened.
Five days before the Ross incident, an American plane was shot down over the jungle. The crew managed to make an emergency landing, and, despite being injured, retreated to the nearest hill and dig in there. It was for the operation to rescue them that a helicopter was required. On the 17th, an emergency radiogram from the Eastern Air Command in Burma went to Washington.
On the evening of the same day, at Wright Field, in Dayton, Ohio (now the US Air Force base), the helicopter was already being disassembled for loading into a transport plane. The operation was commanded by 27-year-old First Lieutenant Paul Shoemaker, a helicopter maintenance and repair engineer.
At the same time, another officer, 29-year-old First Lieutenant Irwin Steiner, a helicopter pilot, was engaged in the selection of rescue equipment that might be needed in a rescue operation. Also, Captain Frank Peterson, a pilot with more than two years of experience in flying helicopters, a participant in the tests of these machines, was urgently summoned to the airfield where the disassembly was carried out. It was for his extremely intense participation in helicopter tests and huge flight experience that Peterson received a captain, despite the fact that he was only 21 years old at that time.
The next morning, the helicopter was dismantled and prepared for transportation. At six in the evening local time, the C-54 aircraft, which was at the disposal of the transport command, arrived at the airfield, and the loading of the helicopter began. At 1:40 am on January 19, the C-54 launched into Asia, having on board a disassembled helicopter, a group of technical officers and pilots, spare parts, tools and rescue equipment. The flight through several intermediate air bases took more than two days, and on January 22, at 15:45 Indian time, the C-54 with a different crew landed at the base of the Air Rescue Unit of the 10th Air Army in Burma, in the city of Myitkyina. The helicopter was immediately unloaded from the plane.
But, fortunately for the downed American pilots and to the disappointment of their rescuers, who were incredibly tired of this expedition, the downed pilots were saved by that time: the Americans found a way to get them out of there without a helicopter.
Nevertheless, the command of the rescue squad decided in any case to quickly assemble the helicopter, so that later, if necessary, it would be ready to take off without delay. The war was going on, and the reason for the flight was supposed to appear in the very near future.
On the morning of January 23, the assembly of the helicopter began, which was basically completed by the evening, minor work and adjustments remained, and the machine was supposed to reach readiness for flight at noon on the 24th.
On the day the technicians were assembling the helicopter, Ross shot himself in the arm. By the 24th, it became clear who the newcomer to the theater of operations "Sikorsky" would be the first to save in this war.
There was, however, a problem: the weather observation point from which the wounded soldier had to be removed was too far, 257 kilometers from the airfield. The helicopter would not have enough fuel to fly. In addition, it was too high in the mountains, at an altitude of more than 1400 meters, and the ability of the car to climb there was under some question, and an even bigger question was the ability of the helicopter to then take off from there with a load. In addition, none of the American helicopter pilots knew the area, and it was impossible to put someone who knew with them: it was necessary to leave a free space in the cockpit for the evacuee, the helicopter was two-seater with the ability to somehow shove a third person. For flights at such a distance, two pilots were needed, one could not withstand the loads, driving a flimsy car on the verge of an accident. There was no room for the "guide".
It was also impossible to direct the helicopter by radio, since there was no radio on board and there was no place for it, no electricity, or, in principle, the possibility to put it there. All this made the operation incredibly difficult. But it nevertheless took place.
After some thought, Captain Peterson and Lieutenant Steiner decided to fly.
The plan was as follows. Two L-5 liaison aircraft will fly along with the helicopter as "guides". The helicopter, led by airplanes, will fly to the Chindwin River, to a natural "strip" called by the Americans Singaling Nkatmi, named after a local tribe. On this strip along the river L-5 could have landed. The distance from this point to the airfield was 193 kilometers. There the L-5s were supposed to bring fuel for the helicopters. The pilots had to refuel the helicopter with gasoline and then fly to the pick-up point, where Ross's comrades were to escort him about 96 kilometers from the refueling point.
The helicopter will land there, pick up Ross and try to take off. If it works out, then everything is done in the reverse order. An additional risk was that part of the territory between the refueling point and the Ross recovery point was not even properly explored, and there could be anything, including some Japanese troops. But against the background of other risks, this was already a trifle.
On January 25, 1945, at 8:00 am, the crews of the rescue group were instructed, and between 9:00 and 9:15 am the whole group took to the air.
The problem immediately emerged: the helicopter barely flew in the hot and humid climate of the Burmese highlands, it literally hooked the landing gear to the treetops. The speed didn't pick up either. But the planes did not have any problems with gaining speed, but there were problems with how to fly flush with the slow helicopter - the speed with which the Sikorsky was going in a straight line was less than the stall speed of slow-moving communications aircraft. As a result, the L-5s circled around the helicopter, slowly moving in the right direction.
Then clouds appeared, not very thick, but all together - clouds, the camouflage color of the helicopter and its flight over the crowns of trees - led to the fact that the crews of the aircraft lost sight of the helicopter.
But the helicopter pilots guessed this from the aircraft maneuvers. Steiner, using the gaps in the clouds, signaled his position to them with a mirror from the emergency kit. Several times the helicopter pilots had to take risks, flying between the mountains through the clouds, there was no other way, the helicopter could not gain altitude and fly over the clouds or mountains from above. The last obstacle on the way turned out to be a wide mountain range with a height of 1500 meters. It was impossible to fly around it, only to fly over. But Sikorsky refused. First, attempt, second … If it does not work out, then sooner or later you will have to return. But on the third attempt, the pilots managed to climb up and cross the ridge. Further, the height of the mountains below sharply decreased. The way to the refueling point was open.
Soon the helicopters landed on the sandy strip. To their surprise, they found the crews of three British planes there, which had been stuck in the runway for ten days after the forced landing. The British helped the Americans refuel the helicopter with the fuel brought on the L-5, the Americans shared dry rations with them, drank a cup of coffee from the same dry rations, marking an unexpected meeting, then Steiner switched to L-5, so that it would be easier for Peterson to climb the helicopter to the height and then take off with the wounded. Soon the Sikorsky took off again.
Now it was necessary to climb to the height. The path ran between the slopes of the mountains, and the helicopter was shaken by the wind. In an effort to keep the car from hitting the rock, Peterson worked intensively with "step-gas", and the engine was practically all the time running in extreme mode. Finally, the helicopter flew to the site from which it was necessary to pick up Ross - strips on the mountain ledge 75 meters long.
After landing, it was discovered that the consumption of gasoline when climbing the mountains was such that it would not have been enough for the return trip to Singaling Nkatmi. At the same time, neither Peterson nor the soldiers from the weather station who came out to him could contact L-5, which was spinning from above: there was no radio on the helicopter, the soldiers from the observation post also did not have portable radio stations.
Peterson was able to show, however, that he needed fuel. After some time, the L-5s were able to drop several packed canisters from a low height and speed.
We managed to refuel the helicopter, but a new problem emerged: the oil level in the engine was below normal. This could not be explained by gestures or dancing around the helicopter.
But this problem was also solved with the help of the local population, from whom they managed to get a light fabric in an amount sufficient to spread the inscription OIL (oil) on the ground.
Peterson ended up spending the night on the mountain. In the morning, L-5s were brought in and oil was also dropped. It was now possible to fly.
On the evening of January 26, a stunned Ross was unloaded to Singaling. A bunch of Britons and Burmese prancing back and forth. He was completely shocked. He did not know about the existence of helicopters, and on the radio they at the post were told that help was on the way, but they did not say what kind. His arm was severely swollen, but soon L-5 was already taking him to the hospital. And Captain Peterson and Lieutenant Steiner had to first repair the helicopter at night, and then a long and dangerous flight over the crowns of trees, between the mountain slopes through the clouds, without radio communication, with increased oil consumption.
However, there was also a pleasant moment: there, on the mountain, the Burmese, who helped Peterson with oil, presented him with a spear.
They returned to the base on January 27. Ten days have passed since the eastern command asked for a helicopter to rescue the downed pilots.
In the future, this helicopter and its crew flew more than once on rescue missions. More often, however, not in order to save someone, but in order to remove secret devices from the fallen plane and paint its wreckage from above with a bright paint that is clearly visible from the air. Until the end of the war, the helicopter pilots had enough work.
But Burma was not the only place where American helicopters were used in real military operations, although not for solving problems over the battlefield. They were also used in the Pacific Ocean.
Injured instead of spare parts
In 1945, the US Army was rapidly advancing across the Philippines. There was still more than six months before the victory, and the enemy, although he was badly battered, was not going to give up even close.
Occupying one archipelago after another, the Americans regularly faced difficulties in repairing their combat aircraft. To get rid of them once and for all, the so-called "Ivory Soap" project was launched. This name hid a program for creating an extensive network of floating workshops for aircraft repair, and of any complexity. Six Liberty-class ships and 18 smaller auxiliary vessels, 5,000 sailors, aircraft technicians and engineers, a mass of equipment and floating depots of spare parts - this armada had to follow the army in order to immediately cover all the needs for aircraft repair.
Among other things, the project provided for the use of helicopters. Each of the "Liberty" equipped with a landing pad, from which the Sikorsky R-4, R-5 and R-6 helicopters were supposed to fly.
They were supposed to be used for the prompt transportation of aircraft components and assemblies for repair and overhaul.
Alas, but R-5, R-6 were not ready on time. The R-5 did not end up in the war at all. And the carrying capacity of the R-4 in a single version did not exceed 88 kilograms, which was clearly not enough. Subsequently, the helicopters showed that they could carry more, but then this was not obvious.
In June, this fleet of workshop ships, subordinate to the army command, began work as intended in the Philippines. At the same time, the helicopters were used for their intended purpose: for the urgent delivery of small spare parts from the shore to the floating workshop and back.
It was during these flights that the commander of the combat group of the 112th Cavalry Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Clyde Grant, saw them. He immediately wondered how great it would be if these mechanical dragonflies could pull his wounded soldiers out of the jungle.
Grant began attacking the command with reports demanding that front line commanders be able to evacuate casualties in helicopters where planes could not land. Grant was denied: it was not clear what the evacuation of the wounded in combat by helicopter was, it was not clear whether the helicopter was suitable for this, but it was quite clear that none of the helicopter pilots had a medical education and none of them was trained tactics of using helicopters in a combat zone, if only because then it did not exist yet.
But Grant insisted. As a result, he managed to break the system. Just ten days after the helicopters arrived in the Philippines, they began to be used to evacuate the wounded from where they could no longer be evacuated.
On June 26, five lieutenants in their R-4s began to carry out the tasks of evacuating the wounded. A little later, one of the R-4s was replaced by the R-6. One of them was Louis Curley. During one of the first sorties, Carly, who had no military experience, landed directly on the front line occupied by overgrown and slightly outdated soldiers, who immediately tried to push the stretcher with their platoon leader into the helicopter. But they didn't fit in there. The soldiers and Carly were able to dismantle the second seat from the helicopter without tools and still place a stretcher there. The soldiers had no idea about helicopters and were additionally shocked by these machines.
On June 21, Carley came under fire. His helicopter was shot down and he himself received several wounds. The car made an emergency landing in the battle formations of a small American detachment, cut off by the Japanese from their own. The helicopter had to be destroyed from the bazooka, and the wounded Carly, together with the infantry, went out to his own through the jungle teeming with Japanese, and even shot one of them with a pistol, colliding with him point-blank in the thickets.
On the same day, under less dramatic circumstances, an R-6 was shot down. The helicopter pilot was also lucky: he sat down among his own people, and without injuries, and was taken out to the rear. The helicopter was repairable and was later evacuated.
The combat losses of two helicopters, which were needed to transport spare parts, stopped their operations to evacuate the wounded. From the end of July 1945, they were no longer carried out. Perhaps this was influenced not only by losses, but also by complete unpreparedness for such tasks of people and technology. The R-4 was extremely difficult to control: it was technically unable to maintain a stable course and had to be “caught” during the entire flight. The vibrations significantly exceeded the level safe for health, and in general, even without falling under fire, the flight in these machines was a serious test. In hot and humid climates, in the highlands, the helicopters worked "for wear and tear": for a normal takeoff from the wounded on board, the pilots had to bring the engine to the forbidden speed, and almost always. This did not please those who needed helicopters for their main task. And such a regime did not contribute to keeping the pilots "in shape" - the same Carly at the time of the shootdown was on the verge of nervous exhaustion. Others were no better.
Nevertheless, according to various sources, the helicopter pilots managed to save 70 to 80 wounded soldiers.
The war ended shortly after the events described.
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The Second World War gave birth to a host of weapons that we usually associate with later times. Jet fighters, ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship guided and homing munitions, night vision optics for armored vehicles, radars, including aircraft, friend-foe identification systems in aviation, anti-tank computers, grenade launchers homing torpedoes, machine guns for an intermediate cartridge, nuclear weapons - all this was created and used for the first time during the Second World War.
Helicopters are also on this list. They appeared for the first time even before the war and at the same time showed their practical feasibility, during the war itself they were already used, just an undeveloped technological level and the presence of a lot of more important tasks in the industry led to the fact that the technical level of helicopters did not allow them to solve complex combat missions.
But they solved some problems even then and solved it in such a way that it was clear that this tool had a bright future.
And so it happened in the end. Already five years after the end of World War II, during the Korean War, helicopters were already completely different and were used in completely different quantities.
But the beginning of this and all subsequent use of helicopters in wars and in civilian life was laid by the Second World War.
