HELICOPTERS IN VIETNAM

A detailed Summary of HELICOPTERS IN VIETNAM

Early in 1961 General Maxwell Taylor, who was then Military Advisor to John F. Kennedy, went out to Southeast Asia to find out just what was happening there. During his visit to Vietnam, he noticed the lack of good roads inhibited the movement of government troops in fighting the Viet Cong. His reports to the president motivated Kennedy to help the South Vietnamese in their struggle against communism. Although he quickly decided to help out, the president knew that new army techniques and weapons would have to be administered to combat in the dense jungle terrain, still new to the United States Army. Kennedy proceeded to send in a newly improved military innovation to help American troops fight the rising Vietnamese War. This innovation was the Helicopter. On December 11, 1961, the U.S. aircraft carrier "Card" carried the first Army H-21 helicopters to South Vietnam.(Gregory 12) During the Vietnam War, the helicopter proved to be a necessity in being able to combat the power o!

The helicopter is a member of a very versatile group of airplanes known as vertical takeoff and landing craft. The main advantage in the jungles of Vietnam was the helicopters ability to takeoff and land in a smal

Other types of helicopters were used as workhorses. Most helicopters could carry light loads, but the big loads had to be lifted with the help of helicopters like the Ch-54 Tarhe, another of the Chinook family. These helicopters were also called "Flying Cranes", which were unarmed but with a turboshaft engine and a crane hook fed out the flat skinny underside, the "Flying Crane" could lift up to 20,000 pounds. It carried a farther distance than the Chinook dual-rotor helicopters but did not go as fast. It lifted anything from sections of a bridge to another helicopter . (Gregory 28)

Helicopters played and overwhelmingly important part in the war in Vietnam. The Vietnam War is referred to by many historians as the "helicopter war", because of its primary use of helicopters. The dense jungle terrain made most parts of Vietnam inaccessible to most of the conventional war machines such as tanks and cargo vehicles, and pretty much anything that was big and rolled on tracks or tires. Although there were some roads, nearly all of them were country-type, two-track roads that flooded and turned muddy during the annual monsoon season. This poor maneuverability forced the involvement of a new type of locomotion. (Masaki 1) The helicopters proved necessary to move troops to one place to another, but had many advantages outside the primary function. They served as air raid attackers, troop deployment, evacuation, medical rescuers, and supply ships. Some helicopters even fought alongside troops in the battlefield hovering close to the ground, which proved effective bec!

In addition to the Hueys, which could do almost anything, there were many other types of helicopters that were more specialized but more limited to the tasks they would perform. The Chinook dual-rotor helicopters were of a primary use as flying ambulances. Along with certain types of Hueys these Chinook helicopters could evacuate casualties or the wounded from the battle fields. The Chinook helicopters were more of an airship than helicopter because of their size. It could carry up to 35 men or 24 stretchers. With its hook suspended from its fuselag

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Approximate Word count = 1428
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History