Always been interested in the use of helicopters by the military during wars...and surprised that helicopter development wasn't more accelerated during the war. For there was a need for quick air mobility other than transports and gliders for major operations. For Russia losing Igor Sikorsky in 1919 was America's gain, as he is considered the true pioneer of the modern helicopters of today, as seen below in a test flight in 1942. Less than ten years later, American helicopters were used during the Korean War for many roles and soon expanded during Vietnam. While the Soviet Union quickly jumped on board after the war, but can't seem find much research or test flights during the war.
If you read my book Gunners in Normandy you will find out that Brigadier H J Parham, the senior artillery officer in the Second British Army took a flight in the prototype Sikorsky helicopter in March 1944 and tried to get them deployed for D Day. He was concerned that with the low close terrain of Normandy it would be difficult to obtain good observation of German defences for artillery fire. The air OPs flown by British Army pilots were essential for this role, but could not be provided for D day itself. Parham argued that even though these were the protoypes, flying them from LCTs on D Day was that important. Parham was an autogyro pilot and had championed the development of Air OPs. He argued, successfully that it was easier to train an artillery officer to fly than to teach an RAF officer about the ground battle. He was notb popular with the RAF. He had a point as the drive to capture Caen on D Day stalled in the face of German forces not identified before D Day. Copies of the correspondence turning the proposal down are held in the Parham papers in the RA Archives
Yes, but the chopper has certain advantages. It can hover, giving the observer a good look. It can also duck behind hills if fired upon. When I was forward observer I trained in observing from a helicopter. We'd fly under the terrain, pop up, make an observation, drop down and wait for "splash"*, pop up and see where the rounds hit then make needed corrections while dropping down under cover. Repeat as necessary. Fixed wing a/c have to keep moving back and forth in relation to the target. The Kriegsmarine experimented with auto-gyros as observation platforms for U-Boats. * A 5-second heads-up from the FDC before the rounds landed.
I always had 100% faith that the tubes would put the go-bangs where they meant to put them. Yeah, right.
Yes. The US Army had a head start deploying light aircraft for their artillery because they owned the aircraft. They did not have to fight a battle with the worlds first independent air force who had ownership of every British military land aircraft. On Op Dragoon Air OPs did get a carrier to operate from on D Day.
No, auto gyros were experimented aboard warships. However, turbulence created by the superstructure proved to great for the early models to overcome. What was used aboard U-Boats was basically a kite with an unpowered rotor. The wind speed is what turned the rotor, so the U-Boat had to maintain a minimum speed of 10-12 knots for the rotor to generate sufficient lift.