Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 283 Helicopter

However, just as Wang Gensheng was having the Marine Corps assault team, under pressure, have the fire support team plant explosives on the airport runway.

Duan Peng then found Wang Gensheng and said to him:
"Si Ling, come here and take a look. I found something very strange, right on the west side of the airport runway! It looks a lot like an airplane, but it's different from other airplanes. The propeller isn't in the front, it's on top, and it doesn't have wings. I don't know what it is!"

Wang Gensheng was completely confused by Duan Peng's description, so he spoke up:

"Come on, take me to see what this thing is!"

However, after Duan Peng took Wang Gensheng there, Wang Gensheng realized that what Duan Peng was talking about was actually a helicopter, that's right, a helicopter.

In the movie "The Battle at Lake Changjin," there is a scene where Captain Smith rides one of these helicopters at low altitude to observe whether there are any signs of reinforcements from the Chaozhou army in the Changjin Lake area.

However, due to the heavy snow, all the marching routes were covered by snow, and the reinforcements were all hiding with white cloth cloaks, so Smith, who did not have infrared detection equipment, could not find anything with his naked eyes.

This helicopter is the Sikor H5. This scene is quite unexpected, considering that helicopters were used extensively during the Second Sino-Japanese War. So some people are asking if this is a time warp.

In fact, when Wang Gensheng first watched the movie "The Battle at Lake Changjin," he also had the same question: was the director of "The Battle at Lake Changjin" some kind of military illiterate? But later, after Wang Gensheng searched online, he discovered that he was the one who was military illiterate.

It's important to know that the U.S. military was already equipped with helicopters in the early 1950s. Of course, more importantly, helicopters were actually invented during World War II. The helicopter Smith was riding in was the Sikorsky H-5, which had already made its maiden flight in 1943, seven years before 1950.

As Sikorsky's second helicopter, the XR-5 prototype made its maiden flight in 1943. After entering service in 1945, a new variant was developed, designated the S-51, and the military designation was the H-5. The new model featured a larger rotor diameter, increasing carrying capacity and takeoff weight, and could accommodate a crew of four. Although this helicopter appeared relatively early, it already employed the classic rotor and tail configuration still in use today. It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial air-cooled engine, producing 450 horsepower. The helicopter could also be equipped with stretchers for search and rescue operations and evacuation of the wounded.

The H5 helicopter served during the final stages of World War II, during the Chao-Guo War and the Yue-Guo War. Since there was no concept of attack helicopters in the early days, it was mainly used for battlefield search and rescue missions after its invention.

From its entry into service until production ceased in 1951, more than 300 were produced. In the film "The Battle of Chosin Reservoir," this aircraft model was mainly used for reconnaissance and liaison, artillery fire correction, battlefield search and rescue, and casualty evacuation. It could be equipped with pod-shaped enclosed stretchers in the sides of the fuselage, and could also carry a stretcher in the rear troop compartment, making it a powerful aircraft for transporting wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

This external casualty evacuation pod can accommodate one wounded soldier who does not require medical care. If the wounded are seriously injured and require a doctor's assistance, a stretcher and the wounded soldier are placed in the rear troop compartment. In actual casualty evacuation missions, it can carry a total of three wounded soldiers, effectively reducing the battlefield mortality rate.

In addition to battlefield evacuation of the wounded, some models are equipped with winches and floats, enabling vertical rescue and maritime search and rescue operations. For example, after many US aircraft were shot down in the Taiwan Strait conflict, H-5 helicopters were used to evacuate pilots, and shipborne versions were used for rapid search and rescue after emergency landings at sea. This modification of the H-5 also made it the US's first amphibious helicopter. The new wheel and float combination design, along with the improved visibility from the cockpit, enhances the helicopter's amphibious capabilities.

The H-5 helicopter has an empty weight of 1.8 tons and a maximum takeoff weight of 2.5 tons, carrying a total of 378 liters of fuel and 657 kilograms of payload. This performance is quite excellent for a first-generation helicopter. It has a maximum speed of 198 kilometers per hour, a cruising speed of approximately 137 kilometers per hour, and a maximum range of 440 kilometers. However, limited by engine power, while its maximum flight altitude can reach 4,500 meters, its maximum hovering altitude is only 900 meters, which somewhat restricts its use in complex mountainous terrain.

Being first-generation helicopters, their battlefield tactical applications were not very mature, especially the later-added air assault tactics, which suffered from poor performance. This included a lack of sufficient transport capacity, preventing large-scale air assaults as seen in later stages of the Korean War. They were only suitable for small-scale, sporadic operations, often resulting in the deployment of too few troops and subsequent encirclement and annihilation. Consequently, we saw platoon-level small-scale air assault operations wiped out on the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, the helicopters at this time did not have much consideration for protection, and many were shot down or captured in actual combat.

Although the H5 helicopter seems rather useless now, Wang Gensheng's eyes lit up when he saw it. After all, a helicopter that can take off and land at any time without needing terrain is perfect for a surprise attack.

Of course, it would be great to take it back for research. However, Wang Gensheng and the others had never flown such a helicopter before, so Wang Gensheng couldn't start it up and fly it back like he could with a transport plane.

Moreover, seeing the increasing number of American soldiers rushing towards the airport runway, Wang Gensheng understood that he didn't have time for impromptu learning.

Just looking at the helicopter, Wang Gensheng gripped the landing gear and exerted a little force, feeling that he could easily flip this light helicopter with an empty weight of 1.8 tons.

It is obvious that although Wang Gensheng cannot fly the helicopter weighing only 1.8 tons, it would not be difficult for him to move it.

Wang Gensheng immediately said to Duan Peng:

"Have the fire support team send twenty men over to move this helicopter away for me!"

That's right, Wang Gensheng was planning to have the helicopter carried away. After all, it weighs 1.8 tons, and each of the twenty or so people could only carry less than 100 kilograms. Given the physical condition of the Marines, carrying this thing for more than ten kilometers shouldn't be a problem.

After the fire support team retreated with the helicopter, Wang Gensheng also led the assault team to retreat.

So when Wang Gensheng took Smith's H5 helicopter with him, the entire Hagaru-ri Airport became completely empty, with not a single plane able to take off.

However, Smith was not flustered by this result. In Smith's eyes, as long as Hagaru-ri Airport and the command center could be saved, the loss of thirty or so aircraft was nothing.

However, before Smith could even rejoice, several loud explosions rang out, and three large craters, each over ten meters in diameter and three meters deep, appeared on the airport runway, dividing it into four sections.

(End of this chapter)