Vietnam War Attack Helicopters. Footage of air crews in battle during the vietnam war. Like the ah 1 cobra the uh 1 is built around a lycoming t53 l 11 turboshaft engine.
The vietnam war was the first conflict that saw wide scale tactical deployment of helicopters. According to research by the vietnam helicopter pilots association there were about 12 000 helicopters that served in the vietnam war specific tail numbers for 11 827 from all services out of which 5 086 were destroyed. Bell helicopter built 10 005 hueys from 1957 to 1975.
The ah 1 was the backbone of the united states army s attack helicopter fleet but has been replaced by.
The development of gunships and attack helicopters by the us army during the vietnam war convinced the soviets of the advantages of armed helicopter ground support doctrine which had a positive influence on moving forward with the development of the mil mi 24. The attack helicopter embodied by the hueycobra was also used for the first timein warfare. Vietnam war ah 1 cobra the most powerful attack helicopters ever fought in vietnam in 1966 first 110 were ordered. 877 republic of vietnam aircraft were captured at war s end 1975 of the 2750 aircraft and helicopters received by south vietnam only about 308 survived 240 flew to thailand or us warships and 68 returned to the united states.
