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Old March 8th 09, 01:29 PM posted to rec.aviation.rotorcraft
Brien
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Posts: 17
Default How difficult is it to shoot down a helicopter?

The crash seen in the movie shows the helicopter swooping down the side of
the mountain with plenty of forward speed to have overcome the loss of the
tail rotor and fly in trail. The helicopter could have flown to a place and
landed with a run on landing without crashing but that is the movie not
reality.

"Asteras" wrote in message
...
On 23 Φεβ, 10:03, Asteras wrote:
A similar question to the previous one: What is the most efficient way
to down a helicopter? When I was a kid, I saw a movie with Kirk
Douglas (I think). He was hiding in the mountain forrests with a rifle
and he was being chased by a helicopter. He aimed very carefully at
the tail rotor, the pilot confessed to the copilot that he (Kirk
Douglas) was attempting something very smart, and eventually when he
managed to shoot at the tail, the helicopter was downed.


I managed to find the film... It's called "Lonely are the Brave" and
it was shot in 1962:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Are_the_Brave

"When a helicopter joins in the chase, Burns shoots it down with his
rifle by damaging its tail rotor, causing the pilot to lose control."

I couldn't find the footage of the downing on line...