Helicopter gunship

Helicopter gunships

Early helicopter gunships also operated in the side-firing configuration, with an early example being the Aérospatiale Alouette III. During the overseas wars in Africa in the 1960s, the Portuguese Air Force experimented with the installation of M2 Browning 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in a side-firing twin-mounting configuration in some of its Alouette III helicopters. Later, the machine guns were replaced by a MG 151 20 mm cannon in a single mounting. These helicopters were known in Portuguese service as "helicanhões" (heli-cannons). They were used to escort unarmed transport helicopters in air assault operations and to provide fire support to troops on the ground. The South African and Rhodesian air forces later used armed Alouette III in similar configurations as the Portuguese, respectively in the South African Border and Rhodesian Bush wars.