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Did George Orwell invent the concept of the helicopter gunship in his novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' which he wrote in 1947?
"April 4th, 1984. Last night to the flicks. All war films. One very good one of a ship full of refugees being bombed somewhere in the Mediterranean. Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him, first you saw him wallowing along in the water like a porpoise, then you saw him through the helicopters gunsights, then he was full of holes and the sea round him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the holes had let in the water, audience shouting with laughter when he sank. then you saw a lifeboat full of children with a helicopter hovering over it. there was a middle-aged woman might have been a jewess sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms. little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms round him and comforting him although she was blue with fright herself, all the time covering him up as much as possible as if she thought her arms could keep the bullets off him. then the helicopter planted a 20 kilo bomb in among them terrific flash and the boat went all to matchwood."
The description of the helicopter above includes some kind of forward-firing machine-gun or cannon, a gunner with a gunsight and capable of carrying small bombs (20kg) in this case (oddly no mention of rockets despite air-ground unguided rockets being used during WW2). This description and concept of an armed helicopter predates the French conversions of Bell 47s in Algeria in 1955 and Sikorsky H-19 and Piasecki H-21 conversions with fixed and door-guns made in 1956 by a decade. Was Orwell's helicopter one of the earliest gunship helicopter concepts? Many modern inventions and concepts of social control are attributed to Orwell's foresight but helicopters are rarely mentioned but the fact he has them in police and military roles when helicopters usefulness in the last couple of years of WW2 was hampered by thier size and carrying capability is noteworthy. 1947 was still the infancy of practical helicopters and their future role was perhaps less clear than we can see today. In fact are the only aircraft Orwell mentions in the book, perhaps indicating primacy of rotary-winged craft in his distopian future. So was Orwell the first to predict such use of armed helicopters and did this have any influence on military planners?
"April 4th, 1984. Last night to the flicks. All war films. One very good one of a ship full of refugees being bombed somewhere in the Mediterranean. Audience much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him, first you saw him wallowing along in the water like a porpoise, then you saw him through the helicopters gunsights, then he was full of holes and the sea round him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the holes had let in the water, audience shouting with laughter when he sank. then you saw a lifeboat full of children with a helicopter hovering over it. there was a middle-aged woman might have been a jewess sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms. little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms round him and comforting him although she was blue with fright herself, all the time covering him up as much as possible as if she thought her arms could keep the bullets off him. then the helicopter planted a 20 kilo bomb in among them terrific flash and the boat went all to matchwood."
The description of the helicopter above includes some kind of forward-firing machine-gun or cannon, a gunner with a gunsight and capable of carrying small bombs (20kg) in this case (oddly no mention of rockets despite air-ground unguided rockets being used during WW2). This description and concept of an armed helicopter predates the French conversions of Bell 47s in Algeria in 1955 and Sikorsky H-19 and Piasecki H-21 conversions with fixed and door-guns made in 1956 by a decade. Was Orwell's helicopter one of the earliest gunship helicopter concepts? Many modern inventions and concepts of social control are attributed to Orwell's foresight but helicopters are rarely mentioned but the fact he has them in police and military roles when helicopters usefulness in the last couple of years of WW2 was hampered by thier size and carrying capability is noteworthy. 1947 was still the infancy of practical helicopters and their future role was perhaps less clear than we can see today. In fact are the only aircraft Orwell mentions in the book, perhaps indicating primacy of rotary-winged craft in his distopian future. So was Orwell the first to predict such use of armed helicopters and did this have any influence on military planners?
