Gunney Bird

"Small and agile, armed with fourteen dumbfire rockets, the Gunney light attack helicopter might be decorated for a party, but in a fight it's very serious."

- Stockpile screen description

The Gunney Bird is a light transport and attack helicopter used by the Pirates in the Playstation 2 version of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Overview
The Gunney Bird is a light helicopter almost identical to the Mi-2 from the first game, but with a yellow and green coloring, like other Pirates' vehicles. The helicopter also has the same armament: it is equipped with two dumb fire rocket pods, each containing 7 rockets.

It can be found parked on a helipad near the Pirate HQ or patrolling the skies of the Pirate Isles.

Tactics
The Gunney Bird is a transport helicopter and an attack helicopter at the same time. Its rockets are not very damaging against heavily armored vehicles and tanks, but are very effective against light vehicles and infantry.

The helicopter itself is small, but it has a decent armor; however, it cannot sustain much punishment. The Gunney is fairly agile, can turn quickly, and is controlled easily. However, it isn't capable of dodging anti-air missiles easily. Another thing to note is its transport capability, it can carry three extra soldiers in total, one sits next to the pilot, while the other two crouch by the sides of the doors, using their left arm to hang onto the helicopter.

Real life
Like the Mi-2, the Gunney Bird is based on the real world Mil Mi-2 "Hoplite." It is a small, lightly armored turbine-powered transport helicopter that can provide close air support, for which it is often armed with 57mm rockets and 23mm cannons.

Trivia

 * The Gunney Bird reuses the model of the Mi-2 from Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.
 * In the stockpile screen is named Gunney Scout

Related pages

 * Vehicles of the Pirates in World in Flames
 * Gunney Transpo'
 * Gunney Attack Copter
 * Mi-2 Light Attack - Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction iteration