Helicopters

[coffeeboy]

Not sure if this is the right section, but when were helicopters first used in warfare, I watching Where Eagles Dare and the Germans had one.

[Clanad]

Although the Russian-born Igor Sikorski invented the first useable helicopter in 1940 after immigrating to the U.S., the helicopter saw little use in the War. Germany had developed (according to Wikipedia) the Flettner FL 282 in 1932, but it languished until late in the War when Germany used a few of them for patrols but not for combat.
The first actual use would have been rescue in April of 1944 but was credited as combat useage. Flying a Sikorsky YR-4 helicopter, Lt. Carter Harman, 1st Air Commando Group, rescued four men from the jungle in Burma. That rescue was the first combat rescue by helicopters in the U.S. Army Air Forces (Source Air Force Link, Official Web Site of the U.S. Air Force)...
The motto of most fixed wing pilots is "Never Trust and Aircraft Whose Wings Fly Faster than the Fuselage"...

[coffeeboy]

Thank you Clanad

[colin6789]

See this web page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helecopter

German Woman test pilot Hanna Riech, flew one in a large hall before WW2, she is also the only person to survive flying a V1 doodle bug with a ****-pit. I think she only died a few years ago in the 90's.

Also both Britain and Germany used Autogyros. The germany used small ones folded up in submarines for reconasance work, after the war Wing Commander Wallis took over the design and improved it over the years, remember James Bond's 'little Nellie'.

The British used modified byplanes as look -outs as well as radar testing and calibration

[coffeeboy]

Thanks Colin6789 Great web page

[Toureman]

The first use of helicopters to carry troops into assault positions was when they carried Royal Marine Commandos during the suez crisis.

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/suez/Marines .html