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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_VZ-8_Airgeep
The second prototype was completed to a modified design, designated Model 59H "AirGeep II" by Piasecki and VZ-8P (B) by the Army. It was powered by two Artouste engines, with ejection seats for the pilot and co-pilot/gunner and a further three seats for passengers. It was also fitted with a powered tricycle undercarriage to increase mobility on land.
While the "Airgeep" would normally operate close to the ground, it was capable of flying to several thousand feet, proving to be stable in flight. Flying low allowed it to evade detection by radar.[7] Despite these qualities, and its superiority over the other two types evaluated by the US Army to meet the same requirement (the Chrysler VZ-6 and the Curtiss-Wright VZ-7), the [BS] Army decided that the "Flying Jeep concept [was] unsuitable for the modern battlefield", and concentrated on the development of conventional [BS] helicopters instead.[5]
ModelVISION! what a Piasecki AirJeep would be like today: http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=4331.0
The Piasecki "AirJeep" worked--so well they had to equip them with ejection seats they could fly so high Out-of-Ground Effect (OGE). They would have worked well as combination Air/Ground vehicles in Vietnam--especially with the 106mm Recoilless Rifle:
www.combatreform.org/popguns.htm
However, it would require the U.S. ARMY TO CHANGE--to actually TRUST subordinates--to have infantry or armor (cavalry) FLY THEMSELVES instead of "Mother May I?" from a separate fly boy Taxi service bureaucracy = RED TAPE = You ain't gonna fly.
SITTING ON YOUR ASS ISN'T GOING TO "FLY" (pun intended) on 720 degree, Non-Linear Battlefields (720 NLB) where tracked, armored tanks must rapidly reposition and not leave signs on the ground visible to enemy C4ISR and PDM or TFS destruction.
Perhaps someone more innovative than the U.S. ARMY will do flying tanks 1st...
https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/04/future-warthink-026-flying-tanks-yes-do.html
Someone like the ENEMY...
Someone like the clever Russians or CCP....
Semper Airborne!
James Bond is REAL.
