History Main / GunshipRescue

* In a marvelous example of overkill, ''Film/TrueLies'' has Arnold approaching the terrorists holding out in an office building and proceeds to rip apart the entire floor with an anti-tank weapon on the Harrier-II he was flying.

* The Marines rescue the titular team in ''Series/SEALTeam'' with three gunships. As the SEALs are pinned down, a Huey fires its door mounted machine gun, suppressing the enemy horde. A Cobra gunship then blows them up with its nose cannon and rockets, after which an Osprey lands and deploys an extraction team that provide covering fire while the SEALs run to the tilt rotor and board it.

* ''Film/TheMatrix'' had Neo and Trinity in a helicopter armed with a mini-gun that even the near unstoppable Agents can't dodge.

* In the beginning of ''Film/RedDawn1984'', the heroes realize that their escape to the mountains is about to be prematurely cut off by a Soviet roadblock. Just then an Army [[EveryHelicopterIsAHuey Huey]] helicopter turns up and blows the roadblock to pieces, clearing the way for them. (Another chopper, or possibly the same one, shows up later on harassing the Soviets as they secure the town)

--->'''Han Solo:''' "You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home!"
** ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''

** ''Film/ANewHope'':

* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' has this for the climatic scene where Stoik and his forces are fighting a hopeless battle against [[spoiler:the Red Death Dragon]], and suddenly Hiccup and Toothless swoop in and give the Vikings one thing they never had before in battle, ''air support''.

** In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', the old ''Q'', of all people, saves a part of Octopussy's AmazonBrigade by landing on some of Kamal Khan's mooks.
** Inverted in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. This time, the BigBad has a gunship, and tries to kill Bond with it.
* ''Film/ManOfSteel'': Surprisingly, this is achieved more often by the villains than the heroes, as a couple of Kryptonian fighters are part of their limited arsenal and it outclasses anything humans have. The military does help a little with their A-10 Warthogs being able to at least distract and/or disorient their targets, but can't deal any real damage. In addition, earlier in the movie, one of Zod's gunships is about to blast Kal-El's capsule out of the sky when it is blown to smithereens by a [[MoreDakka council gunship]]. Cue many more gunships surrounding Zod's position and forcing him to surrender.

* Utilized multiple times in the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Battle of Jutland]] with cases of "AllAccordingToPlan". First, the German battlecruisers, outnumbered by 6 British battlecruisers and 4 fast battleships to 5 battlecruisers, succeeded in luring them into the teeth of the main German fleet, which was their plan all along, to lure parts of the larger Royal Navy to be destroyed piecemeal by the German fleet. The British ships fled north, luring the German fleet into the teeth of the even larger British fleet, which was ''their'' plan all along, to lure the German fleet into a DecisiveBattle. The British fleet didn't get the battle they wanted, when the Germans successfully fled back into port, but never really left port afterwards.

* In ''Film/{{Transformers}}'', the Decepticon Scorponok had several soldiers pinned down and facing imminent death, when they call in two [[CoolPlane A-10 Warthogs and an AC-130 Spectre]]. Later in the movie, Megatron is beating the crap out of Optimus, when a bunch of F-22 Raptors [[MacrossMissileMassacre swoop in and shoot]] Megs and Blackout.
** ''Revenge of the Fallen'' features an air strike to help the ground troops trying to hold their position that was represented on-screen with a Guinness Record for the largest explosion Hollywood has ever done. Say what you will about Creator/MichaelBay as a director, he knows how to blow shit up.
** ''Dark of the Moon'' has a subversion, they already knew that none of their aircraft could match the Cybertronian aerial fighters (a F-22 Raptor was shot down with little trouble) and thus they staged a wingsuit entry into the city, in this case the "air" support was actual people. But it was played straight somewhat during the climax, not from physical aircraft but from a series of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a nearby base thinning out the Decepticon ranks.

** Near the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', Shepard can order the Fifth Fleet to rescue the Council aboard the ''Destiny Ascension''. its a Gunship Rescue for the Citadel regardless, but the ''Destiny Ascension'' is only saved if you feel like it.

* Done many times throughout the WingCommander franchise, but never more dramatically than in Wing Commander IV, when your tiny carrier is hopelessly, hilariously outgunned by the Supercarrier Vesuvius, only for the missing Captain Eisen to jump in with his freshly liberated Supercarrier, the Mt. St Helens, to cover your back while you make a desperate run for Earth.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/RedAlert3Paradox'', a ''VideoGame/RedAlert3'' GameMod: it's stated that the Harbinger gunship was sent to attack a prison camp holding a high-value prisoner. The gunship did indeed singlehandedly destroy the defenses, the ground forces, the camp... unfortunately, [[SplashDamage it also destroyed the prisoner as well.]] The scandal was such that the Harbinger project was shelved indefinitely (to explain why the Harbinger, like all Uprising units, are absent from Paradox).

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'':

* Happens in ''VideoGame/SyphonFilterTheOmegaStrain'' after [[HoldTheLine holding the line]] at Taherir Palace. In this case, you have to physically jump to the helicopter, if you miss, you fall to your death and fail the mission.
* The TCS ''Mount St Helens'', in ''[[VideoGame/WingCommander Wing Commander IV]]'', steps up to bat for this trope, [[BigDamnHeroes jumping in from Sol System with Captain Eisen in command]], to engage its sister ship, the ''Vesuvius'', just as the ''Vesuvius'' was about to blow the player's carrier to [[Literature/HonorHarrington dustbunnies]]. However, as the ''Mount St Helens'' wasn't completed before Eisen hijacked it, things didn't go quite as well as hoped, though they did still delay the ''Vesuvius'' long enough for Blair to slip in ahead of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Admiral Tolwyn]], for the final showdown.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

* The climactic battle in''Film/SwissFamilyRobinson'' is won when Roberta's grandfather returns in the nick of time with a warship and blasts the pirates to smithereens.

** In ''Film/RogueOne'' X-Wings and U-Wings of Blue Squadron obliterate the entire force of AT-ACTs that had the ground team dead to right [[CurbStompBattle in a single pass]], after the [[AirstrikeImpossible sprint through the Scarrif shield gate]] that claimed multiple ships. The U-wings also drop a few squads of reinforcements. [[HeroicSacrifice Blue Squadron are wiped out with the rest of Rogue One]] in the end but without their intervention the raid would have failed, and the Rebels would never have been able to destroy the first Death Star.

* In Episode 5 of ''LightNovel/BodaciousSpacePirates'', the Odette II is being fired upon by the Lightning 11 using optical sights (since the crew had hacked their computer beforehand). The main character, Marika, aboard the Odette II, uses an ImprovisedWeapon in the form of aiming their solar sails to blind the Lightning 11's gunners. Shortly afterwards, the Bentenmaru and the Barbaroosa, along with several military ships show up to assist them.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic The Second Raid'''s first episode has Sousuke being surrounded on a bridge. With nowhere to go, Al recommends self-destruct to avoid capture which Sousuke promptly rejects. The enemy commander starts counting down over loudspeaker... and just as he reaches 'one', the Arbalest launches off the bridge above the water. Cue the Tuatha de Danaan breaking through the surface and launching several cluster missiles at the enemy forces, wiping them all out in a single salvo while retrieving the Arbalest and quickly diving back underwater. Hilariously lampshaded by the shocked and singed enemy commander a while later.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

* At the end of ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'''s first season, Saito shows up in a WWII-era fighter plane, turning the battle and [[spoiler:giving up his chance to go home.]]

* There is a battle in ''VideoGame/Mother1'' (a.k.a. ''Earthbound Zero'') where your party is saved by the giant tank that rolls up and kills the enemy.

** Taken UpToEleven in "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E10TheStarsAtNight The Stars at Night]]" where Mariner calls in ''[[AllOfThem every single Cali-class ship in service]]'' to deliver DeathByAThousandCuts to the [[AIIsACrapshoot rampaging]] USS ''Aledo''.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E10NoSmallParts No Small Parts]]", [[spoiler:the U.S.S. ''Titan'' drops out of warp to save the ''Cerritos'' from the Pakleds]].

* ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}'': Aria T'Loak's forces attempting to retake Omega (which has by then crashed into the Citadel) are rescued in this fashion by geth. Said geth had been waging a guerrilla war against the invaders, and having noticed that potential allies were in trouble, swooped in with what forces they had. It even leads to an airdropped geth colossus serving as a mount for the remaining organic forces. Arguably, Trans-Galactic Republic forces in the [[Fanfic/{{Fractured}} previous work]] count as well when they smash Reapers.