Korean War: "Helicopters, more helicopters, as many helicopters as possible!"
We should begin the conversation not with the epic battles between MiGs and Sabres, but with less visible aircraft, for which the Korean War was their finest hour. With helicopters. It's not that the battles on the peninsula were the first combat test for rotary-wing aircraft. No, the first use of a helicopter in combat was in 1944 in Burma. But it was Korea that truly revealed the combat potential of these machines! However, let's start from the beginning.
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky on the "Horse"
Igor Sikorsky built his first helicopter as a child (Jules Verne's novel "Robur the Conqueror" was one of his favorite books). The machine used a rubber band as its engine, so payload, speed, and other performance characteristics were out of the question. A second attempt was made in 1909, but the 25-horsepower Anzani engine meant it was unlikely to succeed. The Kyiv Polytechnic University student realized this in time, dismantled the machine with its coaxial two-bladed propellers, and forgot about helicopters for a long time, switching to airplanes. As is well known, he achieved considerable success in this field, but his multi-engine bombers are not the subject of today's story (it's about the Korean War!).
The S-42 is Sikorsky's commercially successful flying boat.
A close acquaintance with Tsar Nicholas II after 1917 turned from a feature into a bug, and Igor Ivanovich decided not to tempt fate and instead change his place of residence, first ending up in France, and in 1919, in the United States. Here he designed amphibious aircraft, but his dreams of rotary-wing aircraft aviation He never abandoned it. The success of his four-engine S-42 flying boat provided the funds for its implementation: in 1939, the VS-300 took to the skies (tethered!), and the R-4, built on its basis, became the world's first mass-produced helicopter in 1942.
Boris Nikolaevich Yuryev, the author of the classic helicopter design and a prominent Soviet aviation theorist
Sikorsky didn't design it out of thin air. In 1911, Boris Yuryev, a member of Zhukovsky's circle and a student at the Moscow Higher Technical School, developed a swashplate mechanism, but was unable to patent it due to a lack of funds. Sikorsky was familiar with Yuryev's idea: they had met at the Second International Aeronautical Exhibition in Moscow in March-April 1912, and on March 30, Sikorsky attended the morning session where Yuryev delivered a report entitled "A Helicopter of My Own Design." Plagiarism? Unlikely: at the time, Igor Ivanovich was designing the "Russian Knight," but he most likely appreciated the idea—at least, the swashplate mechanism he later created differs from Yuryev's only in minor details. The same applies to Yuryev's proposed helicopter design with a main and tail rotor—his earlier models resembled the later Kamov helicopters, with coaxial rotors.
Yuryev's helicopter
It must be said that Sikorsky was right about the helicopters. By the late 30s, a fairly well-developed network of airfields had emerged worldwide, and passenger flying boats were losing popularity. Sikorsky's aircraft competition was so strong that his chances of beating Boeing, Lockheed, or Douglas were minimal. Ultimately, Igor Ivanovich was facing bankruptcy, but the R-4 attracted the attention of the US Air Force. The US military financed the construction of 29 prototypes and later ordered a batch of 100 aircraft. These helicopters also served in the Royal Navy.
R-4 is Sikorsky's first production helicopter.
The R-4 was first used after the January 3, 1943, ammunition explosion on the destroyer Turner, off New York City: a helicopter piloted by Lieutenant Commander Frank Erickson delivered two crates of blood plasma to a hospital in Sandy Cook. And on April 22-23, 1944, Lieutenant Carter Harman rescued a downed liaison pilot and several British soldiers for the first time in the Burma theater. During World War II, helicopters played a modest role: they delivered spare parts to floating aircraft repair shops, evacuated the wounded, and one served as Brigadier General Clinton W. Russell's personal jeep. Strictly speaking, the machine, which could only carry one passenger (no, four were sometimes carried if necessary, but if you're foolish enough, you could stuff 17 people into a motorcycle with a sidecar—I've seen it happen), wasn't really capable of much else.
H-5 Dragonfly – Sikorsky's "Little Horse"
But by the Korean War, the situation had changed. By 1950, the "UN forces" were armed with much more advanced aircraft. The H-5 Dragonfly was a modernized R-4 (though it could still carry three passengers in addition to the pilot), but it was significantly more reliable and easier to fly. This helicopter was equipped with a more powerful 450-horsepower Wasp Junior engine, and 92 were delivered to the Navy, where they received the designation HO3S-1 and the affectionate nickname "Little Horse." In the US Army Air Force, it was also called the R-5: such was the confusion among Americans at the time regarding the names of the aircraft in service.
The fact that the helicopter was more advanced than the R-4 didn't mean it was particularly good: there were problems with balance, and it was recommended to carry two iron weights—11 and 23 kg—on a flight. When flying with passengers, they were to be placed next to the pilot, and when flying without them, they were to be stored in the baggage compartment. In hot weather, lift decreased, and the weights had to be jettisoned to prevent them from falling. And then they had to be replaced with stones or sandbags! Only about 300 helicopters were built, and they were the ones who "got things done" at the beginning of the war—rescuing downed pilots, evacuating the wounded, and even attempting to search for naval mines.
Bell-47 Sioux - so cute!
Besides Sikorsky, Bell was also involved in helicopter production in the United States. At the outbreak of war, its success was considerably more modest, but their light, single-engine Bell-47 also saw combat service. The US Army designated it the H-13 "Sioux," the Air Force designated it the YR-13A, and the Navy designated it the HTL-1. The aircraft was used for casualty evacuation, reconnaissance, and communications. It earned the nickname "Angel of Mercy" among the troops—the evacuation containers for the wounded were attached, one to each ski, and equipped with acrylic shields to protect patients from the wind. This small helicopter had a fortunate fate: it proved very successful as a civilian aircraft, and at least 2407 were produced after the war. And yes, this cutie was a favorite character in films: if you take films about the Korean War, he appears in "MASH Hospital," and if you take more modern films, he appears in "Crocodile Dundee."
Hiller OH-23 "Raven"
There's not much to say about the Hiller OH-23 Raven helicopter—it's very reminiscent of the Bell 47. During the war, it was used as a reconnaissance, ambulance, and multi-role helicopter. In the latter role, the Raven could be equipped with twin M37C 7,62mm machine guns, but during the Korean War, these were still homemade, pilot-initiated projects. The machine later served in the Vietnam War. A total of over 2000 units were produced.
H-19 Chickasaw - the first proper military transport helicopter!
But the true star of the conflict on the peninsula was Sikorsky's H-19 "Chickasaw"! All other helicopters seemed like toy dragonflies in comparison: the helicopter boasted a 600-horsepower engine, allowing it to carry over 900 kg of cargo—12 soldiers, or eight wounded on stretchers and one medic to escort them. It had a top speed of 177,8 km/h and a range of 667 km. Igor Ivanovich employed an ingenious layout for this helicopter: the cockpit was located on top, with the propeller gearbox above it, and the engine in the nose, below, which saved the crew in the event of an emergency landing. The engine fell forward and downward, preventing injury to the crew.
There was the usual confusion with the names in the US: the Air Force knew it as the H-19, the Navy as the HO4S-1, the Marines as the HRS-1, and the civilian version as the S-55. 1281 helicopters were produced in the US, with another 447 licensed. Interestingly, Sikorsky helicopters were not equipped with standard armament—it was a sign of war with the USSR, and creating weapon The designer didn't want to use them against his homeland. This, however, didn't stop the military from upgrading them in the field, letting their imagination run wild: they installed machine guns in the hatches, mounted NURS rockets, and so on. It's said that the French, to whom the vehicle was also sold, installed a 20mm cannon or a twin heavy machine gun mount in Algeria.
Chickasaw in Korea, 1953
It was the Chickasaw that changed the face of the conflict, giving it a third dimension. While all the previously mentioned helicopters could perform reconnaissance, evacuate the wounded, and similar tasks (for example, the H-5 was successfully used for naval fire adjustment artillery), the R-19 could land troops, which is what it soon did.
On September 2, 1951, US Marine Squadron HMR-161 arrived in Korea, equipped with 15 HRS-1 helicopters (yes, remember, that's the same H-19 Chickasaw, but for the Marines!). By then, the war had smoothly transitioned to a trench warfare phase, and the Marines' objectives were modest: to capture several hills from which, according to the US command, observers could direct artillery fire on the "Kansas Line" and the supply road for the "UN forces." The limited offensive turned into a nightmare: the 36th South Korean Regiment spent five days assaulting the Chinese People's Volunteers' positions head-on, earning the ridge the nickname "Bloody Ridge." The assault was unsuccessful; what's more, the Chinese launched a counteroffensive, and the Southerners were driven back. General Clark Ruffner, who commanded the 2nd Infantry Division, was forced to send the 9th Infantry Regiment to support the Allies.
U.S. Marines take up positions overlooking the Punchbowl.
The North Koreans worked efficiently: they waited out the air and artillery bombardment in concrete bunkers, and when it ended and the enemy infantry advanced through pre-laid minefields, they emerged and rained machine gun and rifle fire on the enemy. The Americans dubbed these positions "Punchbowl." By early September, they had managed to capture its northern part, and on September 4-5, the Koreans, having suffered heavy losses, abandoned the ridge.
Evacuation of MLRS by helicopter, by M. Coll
On September 13, American command carried out a unique operation dubbed "Windmill 1": HMR-161 flew 8,6 tons of supplies and 74 Marines to Punchbowl in their Chickasaws. Then, a week later, helicopter pilots delivered 224 Marines from a reconnaissance company and 8,1 tons of supplies to the remote ridgetop. The flights crossed an 11-kilometer-long "gray zone" exposed to fire. And there was more! During Operation Haylift II from February 23-27, 1953, these aircraft delivered 730 tons of supplies to two regiments. The official report on the operation stated:
These remarkable initial successes demonstrated the significant contribution the helicopter could make to the tactical tasks of transporting and supplying attacking troops.
Despite operating under enemy fire, the Sikorskys suffered no losses. Yet, they were operating at an extremely risky rate at the end of the war: they were tasked with removing multiple rocket launcher batteries, which, after firing, would kick up clouds of dust and become perfect targets for counter-battery fire. So, after the salvo, Chickasaws would fly in and move the launchers and their crews to new positions: the launchers would be attached to an external sling, and the gunners would be carried into the cockpit. And this happened twice a day!
The M422 "Mighty Mite" airmobile jeep
The use of the Chickasaw in Korea led to the creation of a rare vehicle: the M422 "Mighty Mite" SUV. Why rare? Well, the H-19 couldn't carry much cargo—less than a ton. So it was decided to develop a 770 kg jeep with an aluminum alloy body. Mid-America Research Corporation (MARCO) was created for development and production, hiring Harold Christ, chief engineer of American Bantam (the original Willys manufacturer), who brought in his own team.
The result was a two-seater vehicle (theoretically, the bed could hold six people), capable of hauling a 390 kg load off-road, plus the ability to tow a standard Willys military trailer. But... The first vehicle entered testing in 1958, and production began in 1960. The Jeep was quite expensive—$5000, equivalent to about $55 today. And by this time, the H-19 Chickasaw had already been discontinued. Epic fail!
Rescue Captain McConnell. This shot is likely staged, taken for helicopter publicity...
One of the most memorable pilot rescues of the Korean War occurred on April 12, 1953. Captain Joseph McConnell, in combat with Semyon Fedorets, was shot down and ejected over the Yellow Sea. H-19 pilots Joe Sullivan and Don Crabb spotted the falling Sabre and set a course parallel to McConnell's aircraft. As a result, the American pilot was pulled from the water two minutes after splashdown: "I hardly got wet."“— McConnell later recalled this incident (McConnell was a famous ace - 16 destroyed and 5 damaged aircraft).
Helicopter - in stock!
The use of helicopters revolutionized combat. First and foremost, they significantly reduced personnel losses—thanks to timely evacuation, the death toll from moderate and severe injuries dropped by a factor of 8-9. Before the Korean War, 80-90 percent of casualties occurred; with the advent of helicopters, this figure dropped to 10 percent. During the war on the peninsula, helicopters saved more than 25,000 lives of American soldiers. Meanwhile, helicopter losses were extremely low: the helicopters were resilient, and man-portable air defense systems had not yet been invented.
General Lemuel Shepherd - "More helicopters!"
U.S. Marine Corps Chief of Staff General Lemuel K. Shepherd said in September 1950:
The helicopter is receiving an exceptionally favorable reception in Korea... We must spare no effort to get as many helicopters to the front as possible... giving them priority over any other weapon... Helicopters, more helicopters, as many helicopters as possible to Korea!
And the general's words were heeded: soon, every American infantry division was assigned its own helicopter detachment. While before the war, the US produced less than a hundred helicopters per year, by 1952, that number had risen to over a thousand. A new branch of the Army—Army Aviation—was born within the ground forces. In fact, this was where the majority of helicopters went. By the start of the war, Army Aviation had 1186 fixed-wing aircraft and 56 helicopters; by 1954, it had 2518 fixed-wing aircraft and a whopping 1140 helicopters. While the number of fixed-wing aircraft had merely doubled, the helicopter fleet had grown twentyfold! And then there was the US Marine Corps, which also consumed rotary-wing aircraft like crazy. And the Navy also appreciated the opportunity to equip any ship, no matter how large, with its own air wing.
Frank Piasecki – his helicopters didn't make it to Korea, but it would be wrong not to mention them...
In 1952, the Chickasaw faced a rather unusual test: an atomic bomb was detonated at a test site, and Sikorsky helicopters delivered radiation reconnaissance teams and soldiers to the epicenter. Ultimately, it became clear that helicopters were indispensable even in a nuclear war. Frank Piasecki, a descendant of Polish émigrés, burst onto the market alongside Sikorsky, Bell Helicopters, and Hiller. He didn't have his helicopters ready in time for the Korean War, but he later produced the epic Chinook and Sea Knight. Ahead lay the transition to gas turbine engines, Vietnam, and competition from Mil and Kamov helicopters... But it was the Korean War that set the stage for it all.
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