Trash haulers, dust-offs and battle taxis – transport helicopters have transformed the battlefield. Whether it’s bringing in troops and supplies, evacuating wounded, rescuing downed pilots or providing liaison, artillery correction or surveillance, rotorcraft perform roles faster and more efficiently than any ground vehicle.

The first rescue missions were flown in Burma in 1944 by some of the US Army’s first helicopters and rotary-winged machines have been indispensable ever since for recovering personnel who would otherwise be lost behind enemy lines.

In Vietnam, the United States used helicopters to move large numbers of troops into combat and out again. While often tactically successful, this ‘airmobile’ warfare did not take and hold ground, allowing the enemy to return when the sound of rotors had faded into the distance. Since then the use of helicopters has expanded to include aircraft packed with sensors and equipment to provide commanders with real-time intelligence. The machines themselves are changing, with new tiltrotors about to revolutionise the world of vertical lift.

Battlefield Helicopters, No 88 in the Aviation Archive series, tells the story of a wide range of machines used on and above the battlefield through the use of archive photographs, detailed cutaway drawings and colourful profile paintings.