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HELICOPTERS IN VIETNAM WAR.

Evaluates evolution of roles in war, advantages & disadvantages, tactical & logistical support, enemy responses, losses incurred.

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THE USE OF HELICOPTERS IN THE VIETNAM WAR
This research paper describes and evaluates the role of helicopters during different phases of the Vietnam War. Because of technological developments and the nature of that conflict, helicopters were used extensively by American and South Vietnamese armed forces to perform a variety of functions. These were primarily in the nature of tactical and logistical support to troops in the field, which greatly enhanced mobility and firepower on the ground of the anti-Communist forces in South Vietnam. In the early phases of the war (1956-1964) that role evolved in part to compensate for weaknesses in the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) but soon became an integral feature of the effort to counter communist control of the South Vietnamese countryside. As American military involvement in the war escalated du

These were primarily in the nature of tactical andlogistical support to troops in the field, which greatly enhanced mobilityand firepower on the ground of the anti-Communist forces in South Vietnam.In the early phases of the war (1956-1964) that role evolved in part tocompensate for weaknesses in the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) but soonbecame an integral feature of the effort to counter communist control ofthe South Vietnamese countryside. As early as 1965, Mason commented: "with all our mobility, theVC still called the shots. The failure ofARVN's first major offensive, into Laos in 1971, demonstrated its inabilityto make effective use of American equipment, but Westmoreland said in thatoperation, "American helicopter crews and tactical airmen were superb(39 ). As American military involvement in thewar escalated during 1965-1968, helicopters appeared in even greaternumbers and provided indispensable support to the troops in the field.However, despite the indefatigable, skillful and often heroic efforts ofAmerican helicopter pilots and crews, and improvements in design andarmament, helicopters increasingly faced more effective countermeasures andsuffered high looses. However, most of the fighting incurred in andaround villages in the countryside and more remote areas, such as SpecialForces camps in the Central Highlands and the Marine base at Khe Sanh.South Vietnam's road system was primitive and railroads practicallynonexistent. As time went on, the Viet Congand the North Vietnamese became adept at developing countermeasures toneutralize at least in part the tactical advantages presented by thehelicopter. Logistic Support. Time and again Mason andhis buddies maneuvered their machines in and out of hot LZs saving manyAmerican lives in the process. Entire air cavalry divisions were formed.Westmoreland described their mission as follows: "In 'Eagle Flights,'companies of Vietnamese or Americans in Huey helicopters swooped downswiftly upon a site where intelligence indicated an enemy presence . Some major battles were fought in major population centers during thisperiod, such as the Battle of Hue during and after the communist Tetoffensive in early 1968. . When South Vietnam eventually fell in 1975, it was not due to alack of American arms of equipment, but rather, as Kolko pointed out, dueto failures in "its morale and leadership" (525). Westmoreland, William H. Philadelphia: Lippincott,1967. By late 1961, Kolko said thePentagon top brass "concluded . Mason recalled, the 'fatigue factor' in flying helicopters for long periods is high. . Kolko, G. New York: Random House, 1988. Army helicopters (86). According to Kolko, Secretary of Defense RobertMcNamara "enthusiastically regarded the helicopter as the single mostimportant key to counterinsurgency" (192). Ground travel was often unreliable or dangerous because ofViet Cong and North Vietnamese control of the countryside, especially atnight. Sheehan, Neil. According to Heiser, "the helicopter became an indispensable linkin the forward area of operation because of its ability to operate invirtually any weather condition, day or night, with little or nopreparation of landing sites," (153). He said "the air-mobile concept . that helicopters were crucial toextricating the ARVN from static defense roles better handled by local andirregular militia" (143). Army estimate in 1968was that about 18, combat sorties were flown per helicopter lost (222).However, Kolko said that by 1968, more than 3,5 machines had beendestroyed or put out of action. New York: Viking, 1983. We fought on their terms" (1 2). 1956-1964 Helicopters in small numbers were sent to South Vietnam by the UnitedStates to support the regime of Ngo Diem as early as 1956. The helicopterprovided indispensable logical, transportation and communications supportto the troops in the field and helped keep in the fray but could notcompensate for the deficiencies of ARVN and the government of SouthVietnam. Morrison, Wilbur The Elephant and the Tiger The Full Story of theVietnam War. Their principal armament was two machine guns. He said "helicoptersprovided great mobility and enabled infantry and artillery [delivered bylarger Chinook CH-47A twin rotor helicopters] to be switched quickly fromone area to another" (223). more ponderous and ungainlythan the Army's [Hueys] . . . Countermeasures included heavy small arms fire aimed at helicopterswho were very vulnerable due to their light armor especially during periodsof descent and ascent and while they were on the ground in hot landingzones. Martin's, 1972. Conclusion The helicopter in various shapes and sizes was the workhorse of theAmerican war effort in Vietnam. The French used helicopters in thelatter phases of their war in Indochina. Medevac missions saved many lives and raisedmorale or the grunts under fire. Until early 1966 when McNamara ruled in favor of the Army,coordination between American helicopter and tactical air force units washampered by a jurisdiction dispute between the Army and the Air Force overcontrol of the helicopters. . Because Vietnamese pilots were slow to join their counterparts when a call for a mission came and because Vietnamese flying their own planes were also slow to react, American advisers with ARVN units tended to place little reliance on fighter aircraft. Liketactical aircraft, they eliminated the element of surprise" (192). . A Bright Shining Lie John Paul Vann and America inVietnam. In 1959, the Viet Cong launched the first of a series ofattacks in the South Vietnamese countryside, which by 1961 threatened theDiem government. In the Battle of the IaDrang Valley in November 1965, helicopter fleets transported and resuppliedAmerican infantry units into combat against main force North VietnameseArmy divisions, which they defeated in major battles. . about a 4:3ratio to losses of fixed wing-aircraft, and helicopters accounted for 71percent of aircrew and passenger casualties" (223). . Against those savings must be weighedthe costs of maintaining helicopters in the field. Washington, DC:Department of the Army, 1974. They often went far beyondthe call of duty. Westmoreland was effusive in his praise of the helicopter pilots whosupplied the besieged garrison at Khe Sanh in 1967-1968: "despite long daysof pea-soup weather and . Works Cited Gablehouse, C. And in his bookChickenhawk, he described the relative ease with which American helicopterswere able to fly their missions during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley andother campaigns in the Central Highlands and near the Vietnamese easterncoast. Gavin summarized his viewsof their applicability to fighting guerrilla wars: "only by exploiting tothe utmost the great potential of flight can we combine complete dispersionin the defense with the facility of rapidly massing for the counterattack"(Gablehouse 154). ammunition, food, and especially water" (346). The firstperson to suggest that they be used as air cavalry was U.S. Eventually, a new AH-1G Huey Cobra helicopter was introducedwhich Sheehan said was "a slimmed-down advance on the Huey, roughly twiceas fast and built to carry firepower," including wing pods which could firedozens of 7.62 mm. According to Kolko, "Westmoreland claimed that without it [thehelicopter force] a million or more men would have been required toaccomplish the same tasks" (192). . According toGablehouse, "during World War II the newly-developed helicopter saw onlylimited use, primarily for patrol and rescue service" (68). By early 1971, Higham said "more than4,2 had been lost; 45 percent of them had been shot down. Westmoreland said "designed for short-haul beachheadsupply, their [Marine] helicopters were . accurate enemy fire, helicopters kept the mensupplied with . succeeded because of surpriseand flexibility, enabling troops to be moved around even in actual battlewithout a long vulnerable supply line" (222). At the Battle of AP Bac in the Mekong Delta inJanuary 1963, American helicopters escorted by American helicopter gunshipstransported three ARVN infantry battalions, but they were soundly trouncedby the Viet Cong, who also destroyed two American helicopters and damagedtwo more. Introduction Although the first successful autogiro flight took place in 19 7, theinherent technical difficulties associated with achieving stableaerodynamic flight prevented helicopters from being used widely either forcivilian or military purposes until after World War II. Higham said the Americans used helicopters to establish firesupport bases on hilltops "from which they could interdict or enfilade theenemy" (222). Marine and naval helicopters were underseparate control. They felt they could count on quicker support from U.S. Six or eight hours was pretty common in the Cav (116). The constant vibrations, deafening noise, and total concentration required made the army restrict pilots to four hours of flight time per day . .These were, in effect, airborne raids on targets of opportunity" (282-283). They delivered troops and supplies to desired points and withdrewthem as required. As American forces for the fist time came into contact inlarge numbers with Viet Cong and later North Vietnamese forces, thehelicopter really came into its own as a major instrument of war. General J. A Soldier Reports. As responsibility for the war passed to ARVN in 1972-1975, American helicopter pilots continued until the 1973 peace accords toperform valiantly, but ARVN made less effective use of the considerablehelicopter fleet left behind by the Americans. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985. . M., Jr. was used by the United States during the Korean War toevacuate the wounded, for air sea rescue of downed American pilots and alsofor the first time as a troop carrier. According to Kolk,"each hour in the air required ten hours of maintenance, and the choppers'fuel consumption was enormous" (192). . From this point on, the armament of the Hueys wasenhanced. . THE USE OF HELICOPTERS IN THE VIETNAM WAR This research paper describes and evaluates the role of helicoptersduring different phases of the Vietnam War. . Garden City: Doubleday,1976. Diem and his brother Nhu were then relying on thestrategic hamlet program for insulating the rural population from communistcontrol. With animproved engine, the Bell Helicopter H-13 Sioux, which could reach a speedof 8 m.p.h. rockets and an automatic grenade launcher (756). Other aircav raids represented major offensives. However, American helicopters neither then or later could make up forARVN's deficiencies. Until the Peace Accords were signed in early 1973,American helicopter pilots continued to support ARVN. . [and] the marines long resisted thehelicopter gunship" (165). Communist gunners learned how to hold their fire until they couldcatch helicopters in murderous cross-fires, sent fake radio messages inpidgin English over helicopter frequencies, laid mines on supposedly safeLZs and later in the war began to use anti-aircraft rockets and handheldSAM missiles. (1965-1968) The administration of Lyndon Johnson substantially escalated theAmerican military involvement in the war during 1965-1966, in the face ofthe further communist successes in the South thus tipping the balance ofpower in the Asia-Pacific. The Kennedy administration emphasized more activecounterinsurgency efforts. They served as forward observes for artillery and morepowerfully armed aircraft. army that did not come apart under the stressof the war in Vietnam . Helicopters and Autogiros. Mason, Robert. Westmoreland explained why American advisers frequently called inhelicopters when ARVN units got into trouble. And they offered tactical air support to infantry incombat. Higham said, "the most interesting development of the Vietnam War wasundoubtedly the successful employment of helicopter air-cavalry tactics"(222). . Its role as air cavalry was less successful, especially in thelater phases of the war, not so much, however, because of the helicopter'sinherent deficiencies but rather because of the flawed military strategy,which it was used to support. Sheehan said "the aviation units were thesole combat unit of the U.S. The French had been defeated at Dienbienphubecause they allowed the Vietminh to control the surrounding commandingheights. . According to Higham, the official U.S. 1969-1975 The administration of Richard Nixon Vietnamized the war which meantturning over to the South Vietnamese huge stories of military equipment,including in July 1972 657 of the latest models of helicopters, the secondlargest such fleet in the world, as compared with 75 older-age models in1968 (Kolko 378). . New York: Hippocrene Books, 199 . Most of these helicopters were lightly armored Bell Hu-1Iroquois ("Hueys"), which were suitable for introduction into combat zonesbecause they had a powerful 1 horsepower turbine engine and could reacha speed of 126 m.p.h. Overall, American helicopter pilots, who were well trained, maneuveredtheir ungainly craft with great skill and valor. ARVN units tended to be road bound and prone to take up staticdefensive positions. World War IIairborne commander James Gavin in August 1957. Kolko said"they [helicopters] were extremely vulnerable to ambush; and although theyprovided mobility, they also revealed troop levels and location. . Chickenhawk. Sheehan said thatoverall nearly 6, helicopter pilots and crew perished (763). Higham, R. . Helicopter losses in the early phases of the American buildup werefairly light. However, Westmoreland's search and destroy missions quickly became ano-win war of attrition which Mason described as "an endless cycle of ourtaking and retaking the same areas" (247). In addition, the volatile instability of post-Diem South Vietnamese regimes contributed to this tip of balance of powertowards communism, putting the entire Asian-Pacific region at risk.Moreover, the North Vietnamese torpedo boat attack on an American destroyerin the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964 and Vietcong attacks on Americanmilitary installations in South Vietnam in 1964 and early 1965, gavegreater cause for Lyndon Johnson's administration's escalation of theVietnam War. Former Army helicopter pilot Robert Mason was attached to the FirstAir Cav Division based in Qui Nonh in 1965-1966. Helicopters served a multiplicity ofroles. New York: St. whatever the reason, the men of the helicopterskept their discipline and their spirit" (763). Westmoreland used search and destroy missions to take the war to theenemy's known redoubts. Air Power A Concise History. The helicopter pilots and crews earned asolid reputation for steady performance and often heroism under fire. They were a key communications link inthe chain of command. . . Under existing restrictionson the participation of Americans in combat, American pilots could provide air support only with a Vietnamese pilot aboard . The administration of President John Kennedy elected toprovided substantial military and economic assistance to the Diem regime,which included thousands of American officer-advisers to ARVN, and ahelicopter force flown by American pilots, which Heiser said reached 2,633by 196 (135). The American response was to arm helicopters more heavily,increase their engine power and airspeed and send more of them to Vietnam.By mid-1968 Kilko said there were more than 3,5 American helicopters inSouth Vietnam and, according to Heiser, 4,228 by September 1969 (192 and137). Because of technologicaldevelopments and the nature of that conflict, helicopters were usedextensively by American and South Vietnamese armed forces to perform avariety of functions. At that time,helicopter losses were running at the rate of three a day . Heiser, Lt. According to Morrison, "the Vietcong's ability to fight againstAmerican helicopters and armored helicopters at Ap Bac gave themconfidence" (83). Anatomy of a War Vietnam, the United States, and the ModernHistorical Experience.

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