The Bell 47 combat helicopter

After World War II, the military temporarily lost interest in helicopters for any purpose other than transport in difficult terrain. It was the French fighting a guerrilla war in Algeria who led the way in bringing the helicopter back to the battlefield with the Bell 47. This small, fairly slow helicopter had been acquired for use evacuating wounded on stretchers mounted on the skids. However, commanders soon began removing the stretchers and putting two men armed with machine guns into the helicopter instead. The craft were then used to attack positions in rocky mountains and hills. The first known instance of this came in 1955 and proved to be so successful that within a year the French military began modifying the larger Sikorsky H34 helicopter by adding a 20mm cannon and rocket firing racks.

By 1958 the French were developing air assault tactics that would later be copied by every other army with access to helicopters. A number of H34 helicopters would attack a target first with rockets and cannon, then Sikorsky CH34 helicopters would land to disgorge infantry who would attack and occupy the enemy positions. Once the enemy had been defeated the French troops would be airlifted out again by the CH34 helicopters while the H34 craft laid down covering fire.

Although the French were to lose the Algerian war, the success of their helicopter assault tactics had been noticed. During the 1960s the US Army began arming its UH1B Huey helicopters with rockets and machine guns while the CH-47 Chinook was given improvised bomb racks to drop bombs on bunkers. The Soviet Union adapted its Mil Mi8 in a similar way. The British Royal Navy, meanwhile, began using helicopters equipped with magnetic detectors to locate submerged submarines, and soon fitted them with depth charges to drop on any target located.