during the second world war were helicopters activly used in battle either for transport or as gunships?

Answer 1

The first helicopter to be used operationally by the Allies was the Sikorsky R-4B "Hoverfly", in May 1944.
The helicopter during WWII was still in its initial steps of development so it saw limited action.
Great Britain and Russia did use autogiros ( based upon spaniard Cierva designs ) for observation duties but always used in small numbers.
Germany had already flown the Flettner FL 282 Kolibri , the most advanced helicopter model of this period and used in limited combat at the Mediterranean Sea.

Answer 2

Not used as gunships, but there were helicopters used in WW2.

The following quotes are form Wikipedia.

"The German Flettner Fl 282 was the first helicopter to be used in warfare (during WW2, in the Mediterranean)."

"In May 1942 mass production of the military version of the Sikorsky XR-4 began for the United States Army; this was used over Burma for rescue duties. It was also used by the Royal Air Force, the first British military unit to be equipped with helicopters being the Helicopter Training School, formed in January 1945 at RAF Andover with nine Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly I helicopters."

Answer 3

Manned Helicopters first flew in 1906, built by 2 French brothers (Jacques and Louis Breguet) and many more helicopters were designed, built and used between this time and the late 1930's. However the first large scal production helicopter was not produced until 1942 when the military version of the Sikorsky XR-4 was produced (about 400 were built) it was used by the US Army for rescue duties over Burma and by the Royal Air Force.

However helicopters did not come in to there own until the RAF, Royal Navy, US Navy and US Army deployed them in large numbers to the Korean peninusula in the 50's

Answer 4

The correct answer is yes. The Germans had a working intermeshing side by side rotor design that was used on ships for dropping mines and spotting subs.It wasnt widely used as resources were scarce. It was discovered to be highly stable and shocked helicopter developers around the world. Bare in mind that most countries were still trying to get a viable machine even in the air. I cant remember the name ,I think it was Flockner. It was on Discovery channel on a series called Helicopters(I have it taped on Video somewhere). It was impressive and looked a little like a small Apache.The USA grabbed them after the war. I believe the Piesacki Helicopter Company reversed engineered them.(Designers of the Chinook).

Answer 5

No. During World War II helicopters were still relatively new and generally in a stage of development well short of being ready for active combat.

Late in the war there may have been some experiments with helicopters for rescue or scouting, but choppers in this time were small, underpowered and not ready for the big time.

A few years later, in the Korean War, helicopters were actively used for rescue and transport. They were thought too vulnerable to risk in the gunship role at that stage, although the notion of armed helicopters almost certainly was on the minds of military planners.

Answer 6

No. Helicopters start having a role in warfare durring the Korean Conflict. Their role was medevac and observation. Vietnam War was the first time helicopters has a combat role as gunships and transporting troops into combat operations beside medevac.

Answer 7

No, the helicopter was a brand new design at the very end of the war and could barely carry 2 people so didnt have much military application.
It wasnt till Vietnam that Helicopters became true military weapons.

Answer 8

Helicopters played an inconsequential role in World War II.

However, they did see service to a limited extent as supply craft and for rescue operations in the China-Burma-India theater, and were operated by the 1st Air Commando unit.

World War II demonstrated that the helicopter could perform useful missions, but the helicopters of the day were still limited in their power, size, and hence their capabilities.

Answer 9

There was a helicopter design built during WWII, however it was never used. It wasn't until Korea that the perfected helicopter was used. Even then the use of the helicopter was mainly for medevacs. Not until later in the war did the Marines experiment with troop movement with them.

Answer 10

Yes they were
The Sikorsky YH-4A was used by the Coast Guard for submarine watch and the Sikorsky YR-4 was used in Burma for Med-Evac, for one evac.

The Germans also flew the Flettner FL 282 as an observation aircraft in the Mediterranean