In Vietnam, I saw Army pilots flying fixed wing U-21 and OV-1 aircraft. I don’t know if they still have any fixed wing aircraft, but they did then.
“In Vietnam, I saw Army pilots flying fixed wing U-21 and OV-1 aircraft. I don’t know if they still have any fixed wing aircraft, but they did then.”
Service department roles & missions were last set in the late (”Key West Agreement” comes to mind) and have not been significantly altered since.
According to those, and other provisions of public law, US Army is barred from owning & operating armed aircraft. US Navy and USAF do so according to applicable regulations and statutes.
At the time, helicopters were not very far past their experimental stage; powered by piston engines, they labored under severe performance limitations and were unable to haul of any significance. engines were just being invented; no one foresaw the degree to which they would revolutionary aircraft design and performance.
The French fielded the first known armed during their intervention in Algeria during the ; and Sikorsky platforms were tried, both of which were piston-powered.