First Combat Helicopter

In a Mail Call video, R. Lee Ermey answers a question from Rusty of Laurel Hill, Florida, who wants to know what the first helicopter used in combat was. Ermey explains that Russian emigrant Igor Sikorsky was the inventor of this helicopter, called the R-4. The year of 1943 was when Sikorskys R-4 became the worlds first helicopter to go into mass production; it was also the first helicopter in U.S. Military service and the first to operate from a ships deck. After a few modifications, the helicopter became the YR-4B and on April 25th, 1944 it became the first helicopter to ever fly in combat. Pilot LT. Carter Harmon used the YB-R4 to rescue 4 men who had crash landed in extremely rough terrain.