ABOUT FACTS NET Air/Space Craft

 

Focke-Wulf Fw61 - First Practical Helicopter
Photo Source: GNU Free Documentation License

A design based on the Huey helicopter, saw the production of the first attack helicopter. Bell Helicopter had developed it, because the army felt that there was a need for a fast attack machine that would support the troops on the ground. Helicopters had been used before, but attack helicopters were a new concept.

Leonardo Da Vinci may have been the first person to ever visualize a helicopter. Drawings of his 'Air Screw' have been seen by millions of people. He also worked on a glider, so in essence, he was thinking about two distinctly different type of aircraft at a time when not even one had been invented yet. When internal combustion engines were invented, thoughts turned to the helicopter again, but it presented great problems. A way had to be figured out to stop the body from rotating one way while the blades rotated the other way. Another problem with developing an early helicopter was how to stop it from flipping over. This problem was solved when someone figured out that if you could change the pitch of the blades, the problem would vanish. The first flight of a helicopter occurred in 1907 when Paul Cornu from France flew his twin rotor helicopter. Unfortunately the flight was only a few seconds in length. In 1924, another Frenchman flew a helicopter about a kilometer. He didn't go very fast, the flight took almost 8 minutes for a distance of about 3/5 of a mile. The Germans are credited with developing the first modern helicopter, the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 in 1934.

One of the amazing things about the the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was that it was demonstrated by one of the most famous German female pilots, Hanna Reitsch, who flew it inside an exhibition hall, quite a feat indeed.

During World War II, helicopters were still considered as being mostly under development. The Germans used the Flettner Fl 282 Kolbin in a limited roll around the Mediterranean Sea. The US was trying out the Sikorsky YH-4A as an antisubmarine weapon in experiments and Britain and Russia were using autogiros as spotters, but the autogiros were not true helicopters.

The US Army Mule
Photo Source: US Army 1951

During the Korean War helicopters were used mainly as flying ambulances and light cargo movers. The Bell 47 could carry two stretchers, one on each side. It had a top speed of about 170 mph with a range of about 200 miles. Many a wounded man owed his life to these speedy little copters.

Left: Huey Gun ship
Right: ACH47A Chinook
Photo Source: US Army

The Vietnam war saw the extensive use of helicopters as spotters, attack ships and flying ambulances. When the war first began, we were using many antiquated copters that dated back to World War II. We remedied this problem by producing new helicopters like the Ch-54 heavy lifter and the TH-55 A Osage trainer. The true gun ships began to appear in 1963. You hade the Bell UH-1B/UH-1C, UH-1m Huey Gun ship and the ACH-47A Armed/Armored Chinook.

Left: Cheyenne
Middle: Apache
Right: Blackhawk
Photo Source: US Army

In 1967 the Cheyenne attack helicopter was developed by Lockheed. It was designated AH-56A. In 1974 the Black Hawk UH-60 combat assault helicopter appeared. This was the replacement for the Huey UH-1. 1975 saw the Apache AH-64A, developed by Boeing. It held two crew. The Apache was equipped with a Northrop Target Acquisition and Designation Sight (TADS), with direct-view optics, passive forward-looking infrared (FLIR), low-light-level television, laser range finder with target designator, a laser tracker, integrated with a pilot's night vision sensor (PNVS), and a computerized fire control system. The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is a lightly armed scout helicopter that is very capable. Many people are familiar with the look of it's ball dome above the blades.

There are other helicopters in the US arsenal, but I just covered the ones that I thought were the most important, some of you may not agree with my choices, but I hope you will.

Future Helicopter?
Photo Source: US Army

So what will attack helicopters look like in the future? No one can say for sure as they seem to be evolving very quickly, but here is a drawing of a proposed 'future helicopter' from the Bell-McDonnell Douglas LH Super Team.