Helicopters create interwar airmobile amphibious forces

Unlike parachutes or gliders, helicopters can place troops deliberately and retrieve them afterward. That precision fits the interwar British and American search for small forces able to achieve disproportionate effects in amphibious operations. Royal Marines could raid from inland, approach beaches from the rear, extract agents, or reinforce a threatened point without first securing a landing strip. Cruiser-borne aircraft also turn imperial presence into theater by landing a party before the warship appears over the horizon. The Norwegian campaign becomes especially different if Adrian Carton de Wiart controls an airmobile brigade, although early helicopters remain vulnerable wherever fighters or prepared air defenses can reach them.