Helicopters in WW2

[seahawk]

I read about a few Sikorskies being used by the coast guard for emergency deliveries to ships off coast or evacuations of wounded sailors, so I like to know if helicopters were used by other services / countries and in which roles and when.

[KingSargent]

I read about a few Sikorskies being used by the coast guard for emergency deliveries to ships off coast or evacuations of wounded sailors, so I like to know if helicopters were used by other services / countries and in which roles and when.

I believe there were some used in the Philippines in 1945 for rescue and casualty evacuation.

[Guest aevans]

Google "Fl 282 Kolibri" and "Fa 223 Drache".

[KingSargent]

Google "Fl 282 Kolibri" and "Fa 223 Drache".

But were they ever actually operational?

[Guest aevans]

But were they ever actually operational?

 

I've read (sorry, can't remember exactly where) that the Fa 223 were used for medevac on the Eastern Front. Also, and Fa 223 was supposed to be the extract vehicle during the Skorzeny Mussolini rescue, but it suffered mechanical problems, so they used a Storch instead.

[ABNredleg]

But were they ever actually operational?

 

Like the Fl 265, the Fl 282 underwent exhaustive service trials, and several were used operationally from 1942. Usually they flew from platforms above the gun turrets of convoy escort vessels in the Baltic, Aegean and Mediterranean, often in extreme weather conditions, and revealed control and performance qualities well above expectations. By VE-day, only three of the twenty-four prototypes completed by Flettner at Johannisthal still survived, the others having been destroyed to prevent capture. Two of these, the V15 and V23, were taken to the United States, and the other to the Soviet Union. The RLM had placed an order in 1944 for one thousand Fl 282's from BMW, but Allied bombing attacks prevented production from being started.

 

 

Read more here.

[Marek Tucan]

I also believe I have read somewhere about the first helos of Sam being used in Burma theater close to the end of the war, for SAR of downed pilots, MEDEVAC or supplying small units.

[nigelfe]

I also believe I have read somewhere about the first helos of Sam being used in Burma theater close to the end of the war, for SAR of downed pilots, MEDEVAC or supplying small units.

 

Yes I've come across that as well but can't locate where.

[irregularmedic]

IIRC one of the German helos racked up an impressive distance covered retreating on the eastern front.

[shep854]

Yes I've come across that as well but can't locate where.

 

There's a pretty good writeup about the AAF's 1st Air Commando using Sikorskys in Burma in a magazine on Special Operations I read at a local Joe Muggs/Books-A-Million store. I'll try to find it and post the name.

 

Blast! Wiki is not my friend, and my Google-Fu is weak. I'll have to find the publication.

Edited July 25, 2007 by shep854

[beans4]

Info on the US R-4 here:

 

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/sys...ircraft/h-4.htm

 

"The R-4 was first used in combat in May 1944. In a letter to a friend, Col. Philip G. Cochran, Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Air Commando Group, wrote "Today the 'egg-beater' went into action and the damn thing acted like it had good sense." "

[Jim Martin]

Jackie Coogan, the child movie star of the '30s, was a glider pilot in the CBI and later one of the first combat helo pilots. Story of how he saved the life of a Chindit can be found here.

 

...it occured to me that a famous,rich stranger with everything to lose,had risked his all to get a couple of wounded men he didn`t even know out of the jungle.He could have just taken the easy option and said full up with no risk at all,but didnt.I know a lot of men will be forever grateful to mr Jackie Coogan for his bravery..including me.

[KingSargent]

Jackie Coogan, the child movie star of the '30s, was a glider pilot in the CBI and later one of the first combat helo pilots. Story of how he saved the life of a Chindit can be found here.

He was also 'Uncle Fester' in The Addams Family.

[Tony Williams]

From that famous and incredibly high-quality work Flying Guns – the Modern Era: Development of Aircraft Guns, Ammunition and Installations since 1945 , which has a chapter on helicopter armament:

 

It would have been reasonable to expect the Second World War to have stimulated the development of the helicopter in much the same way that the Great War did for the aeroplane, but this did not really happen. There was much pre-war experimentation in various countries which sometimes produced technically successful designs, but it was mainly by small firms or individual inventors and most of it stopped on the outbreak of war. There were three exceptions, however; in the USSR, the USA and Germany.

 

Work in the USSR was carried out by the TsAGI team under Bratukhin, but the need to evacuate Moscow delayed developments, and even then progress was slow and did not lead to production. The American firm of Sikorsky (established by the Ilya Muromets designer, who had emigrated) managed to follow through a continuous development programme which commenced with the VS-300 of 1940, produced its first practical machine, the R-4, and continues to the present day. The R-4, a small utility machine, was ordered by the US military in 1942 and was in mass production by early 1944. It provided valuable experience but was mainly used operationally for search and rescue missions. It was apparently used for armament trials in 1942 but its instability made it a poor gunnery platform.

 

At that time Germany was well in advance. Flettner actually achieved the helicopter's first quantity production order, from the Kriegsmarine in 1940, for the Fl 265, which had two intermeshing rotors. This was succeeded by the two-seat Fl 282 Kolibri (humming bird), which was used operationally in the Second World War, both for general liaison purposes and from various ships, including cruisers and merchant vessels, for scouting and anti-submarine reconnaissance in the North, Baltic, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. Although 1,000 were ordered, only about 24 were completed by the end of the war. It was partnered by the big two-rotor Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache (kite) transport helicopter, of which perhaps only a dozen or so were completed. It could carry four passengers or lift 900 kg, and was the first helicopter to carry a gun armament. A 7.9 mm MG 15 could be fitted into the transparent nose for self-defence purposes, as it was intended to be used for potentially hazardous tasks such as rescuing downed pilots or inserting special forces.

[shep854]

There's a pretty good writeup about the AAF's 1st Air Commando using Sikorskys in Burma in a magazine on Special Operations I read at a local Joe Muggs/Books-A-Million store. I'll try to find it and post the name.

 

Blast! Wiki is not my friend, and my Google-Fu is weak. I'll have to find the publication.

 

Double blast!! I found the pub I was referring to, but there is no article about Air Commandos in WWII.