To solve the problems of input delay and saturation during helicopter maneuvering flight with uncertain model, a model-free incremental adaptive optimal control scheme is proposed.Firstly, the approximate time-varying model of the system is obtained by using incremental nonlinear technique, and the parameters of the relevant matrix are identified by Recursive Least Squares (RLS) estimation.Secondly, the functional performance indexes are used to deal with input delay and saturation, and Incremental Adaptive Dynamic Programming (IADP) is used to design the approximate optimal tracking control law.The Time Difference Error (TDE) function based on real-time state and delayed input is approximated by neural network, and the weight updating rate of the evaluation network is obtained by its instantaneous integral.Finally, the stability of the closed-loop system is proved by the Lyapunov function analysis.Simulations of helicopter maneuvering flight velocity tracking control are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.