Paper on the early use of helicopters in COIN ops

[Colin Parkinson]

Interesting paper, partly covering the Algerian conflict among others and the role of helicopters.

Pirates, Mammoths, Flying Bananas, and Skylarks: Helicopter Envelopment Operations in the Small Wars of Algeria, Angola, and Rhodesia, 1954-1979 – Nacelles

 

[KevinB]

Enjoyable read, but they seem to have missed the fact that in Korea the US Army had attempting to to weaponize helicopters (and after continued) as well as using them for movement - albeit mostly casevac. Which was pre Algeria, and so the author seems to view the French as the innovator, as opposed to taking a concept and expanding on it.
Then of course missing the entire US action in Vietnam that made the Rhodesian efforts look minuscule in relation to them.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Enjoyable read, but they seem to have missed the fact that in Korea the US Army had attempting to to weaponize helicopters (and after continued) as well as using them for movement - albeit mostly casevac. Which was pre Algeria, and so the author seems to view the French as the innovator, as opposed to taking a concept and expanding on it.
Then of course missing the entire US action in Vietnam that made the Rhodesian efforts look minuscule in relation to them.

Since the author provides an email address at "Centre de recherche de l’École de l’air et de l’espace (CREA)", which is a French Air Force organization, it may be safe to assume that he is a Frenchman, or at least has a bias towards trumpeting French exceptionalism. And in my experience, Frenchmen are nothing if not arrogant when it comes to boasting about their accomplishments - something they have in common with Americans.

While I didn't do a close study of the paper nor make a detailed comparison of other innovations in the use of helicopters, I could not but help to notice that the Algerian War was a turning point (starting point?) for the French in developing their rotary wing doctrine. I recently finished a couple of books about Dien Bien Phu. While the American experience in Vietnam was the epitome of helicopter warfare, for the French their concept of "vertical envelopment" in Indochina was the use of parachutistes. The French had only a small presence in Korea, they were preoccupied with Indochina, however their use of "ventilators" mirrored, albeit on a smaller scale, that of the Americans.

''Ventilators'' : Helicopters in Indo-China (1950-54)

. . . In the early days of Dien Bien Phu, however, three H-19s were destroyed on the ground by Viet Minh 105mm artillery and one was shot down by AA fire despite the red crosses painted boldly on their fuselage sides (1). As a result, all helicopter flights to the besieged base were suspended in late March.
. . . The potential use of helicopters in combat was not overlooked however and the reinforcements planned for the 1954-1955 campaign included 50 H-19s. On 22 November 1954, the Army formed its own light aviation branch, the Aviation Légère de l'Armée de Terre (ALAT) to operate its own aircraft and helicopters. The veterans of Indochina would form the nucleus of a greatly expanded helicopter force which, over the next eight years, would make the Algerian War the first helicopter war.