Quote:
Originally Posted by macajay
But as far as contributing to any large scale engagements, their role would almost certainly have been negligable, and the losses catastrophic, even if commanders had allowed them anywhere near the front. The first RAF Meteor jets were ready by June 1944 but were not deployed over Europe for fear of the technology falling into German hands. It would have been almost inevitable that any allied force would have used a similar strategy if helicopters had been developed. In the hands of Germany towards the end of the war, I'm sure like every other development they would have been thrown into haphazard operational use, and almost certainly wiped out within months.
Well that's my two bob's worth
Cheers!
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Considering the Germans already had used jets, had axial flow turbines, afterburners, turbo props etc and were aware of centrifugal turbines I'm not sure it was the British jet technology itself they were worried the Germans would copy. Just fear that the Germans would know exactly at what stage of development the British were at.
The Germans already had spectacularly performing helicopters able to lift artillery and whole airframes. They were already being thrown into use, it wasn't hypothetical. They had already used helicopters for submarine spotting and dropping marker flares over the submarines.
They already used helicopters for picking up downed airmen, artillery spotting and other observation duties.