During the Vietnam War the helicopter totally changed infantry combat. Helicopters could be used to insert and extract troops, including medical evacuations. Helicopter gunships could also be used to attack the enemy at close quarters to friendly troops and provide fire support. They were the angels of the sky to their own soldiers and demons to the enemy. At the Joint Base Lewis McChord Air Expo 2012 in Washington state I saw two of the classic helicopters from that period fly together; a Bell UH-1K Iriquois (the “Huey” first introduced in 1959 were used in multiple roles: transport, medevac and gunship) and a Bell AH-1S Cobra gunship (the first AH-1 was introduced in 1967). Both helicopters are from The Olympic Flight Museum collection in Olympia, Washington.
