LibGuides: Army Airmobile and Air Mobility: Home

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Airmobile: The Helicopter War in Vietnam by Jim Mesko
Call Number: DS558.8 .M48 1984
ISBN: 0897471598
Publication Date: 1985-01-01
Airmobility 1961-1971 by John J. Tolson; United States Department of the Army
Call Number: DS557.A65 T587
ISBN: 1780392370
Publication Date: 2011-03-01
First published in 1973. From the preface: "The purpose of this study is to trace the evolution of airmobility in the U.S. Army. The integration of aircraft into the organic structure of the ground forces is as radical a change as the move from the horse to the truck, and the process is only beginning. Because this change is not the product of one man or one small group of men but rather a fortunate confluence of technology, tactics, and imagination, proper credit to every responsible individual is impossible. I have tried to identify some of those people who made a major contribution throughout the years. Although Vietnam was the first large combat test of airmobility, air assault operations in Southeast Asia would not have been possible without certain key decisions a decade earlier. This study attempts to trace the most important milestones which led to the eventual formation of airmobile divisions."

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Image downloaded from https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vietnam-war-the-early-years-1965-1967/

According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary air mobility is defined as: The ability to transport military troops and supplies in and out of combat areas by means of aircraft.

On 11 December 1961 the United States aircraft carrier USNS Card docked in downtown Saigon with 82 U. S. Army H-21 helicopters and 400 men. The 57th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) from Fort Lewis, Wash., and the 8th Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) from Fort Bragg, N. C., had arrived in Southeast Asia; it was the beginning of a new era of airmobility in the United States Army.

Just twelve days later these helicopters were committed into the first airmobile combat action in Vietnam, Operation CHOPPER. Approximately 1,000 Vietnamese paratroopers were airlifted into a suspected Viet Cong headquarters complex about ten miles west of the Vietnamese capitol. The paratroopers captured an elusive underground radio transmitter after meeting only slight resistance from a surprised enemy. The events of December 1961 prefaced a decade of unparalleled growth of air mobility.

From LG John J. Tolson, Vietnam Studies: Airmobility 1961-1971.