Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Does anyone have any good information about the early use of helicopters on naval ships either as an adjunct or replacement for seaplanes? Was this exclusively a post-war phenomenon, or were there some experiments during WWII?
I saw in the Sikorsky Archives that the Coast Guard used helicopters operationally during the war, and the U.S. Army did in CBI theater, but I don't see anything about US Navy use especially from warships. This page says the first helicopter naval rescue was in February 1947.
Sikorsky Archives | Naval Rescue
Reminds me of the poor bastards that were assigned to the "Air Car" aboard Zeppelins during the Great War, where they were lowered several hundred feet below the airship to scout beneath the cloud cover.And let's not forget the Bachstelze towed behind U-boats for reconnaissance duties. Exact service dates and usage are not known, although what is known was that they were unpopular as, if a U-boat had to crash dive, the fate of the poor fella up in his rotor kite was uncertain.
Just a heads-up: that's a Piaseki H-25, introduced just before the Korean war.