Helicopters in the Vietnam War

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During the U.S. militaries involvement in Vietnam, a new era of modern warfare emerged, aerial warfare. There were two areas of aerial warfare; fighter jets and helicopters. Although fighter jets were important, helicopters were twice as important. They had multiple functions and the U.S. would’ve been defeated faster than they actually were without the use of them. Helicopter losses in the Vietnam War were high; out of 11,827 helicopters 5,086 were lost. Army helicopters were an essential piece to the U.S. military. They provided many important roles. Different helicopters preformed different tasks. Such as the UH-1A “Huey” assault helicopter. This particular helicopter became an important part of the American military in 1960. It could take on just about any role including search and rescue, assault, transport goods and humanitarian efforts. The Huey was mainly used for hunting enemies. To describe the many different weapons on this particular helicopter, he concludes “the Huey was armed with fourteen rockets and a door mounted m60, 7.62 mm machine guns” (Weigly 73). Another important non-offensive helicopter used was the cargo helicopter. Commonly known as “Chinooks”, they were long helicopters with 2 rotors that could transport soldiers; carry medical supplies, water, ammunition, artillery and other mundane items. The original CH-47 Chinook could carry a maximum payload of 15,000 pounds, but by 1968, a new, more powerful version appeared, called the CH-47C, which could carry up to 28,000 pounds. Although there were many helicopters used in the Vietnam War, these two played major roles and without them the war would not be the same. Helicopters were not only used for delivering supplies but also for observing missions, checking in on enemy forces, photographing enemy bases quickly, avoid enemy hostilities and even more importantly,

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