What is the real name of the helo?

I know this isn't what you were asking for but I crewed Hueys, UH-1H's to be exact in Nam and stateside in the Reserves. I crewed the Maintenance Bird in Nam and the Section was the Witch Doctors so we referred to our Huey as the "Witch Bitch", affectionately of course. I never "named" my Reserve Medevac bird, just went by the last 3, "718". I believe it was 74-21718. Can't think of any other "endearing" or otherwise term to describe the venerable old Huey! My gunner from Nam is crewing a UH-1V in the National Guard.

Same-same in the Cav. We called 'em by the last three of the serial number. Even though the aircraft "belonged" to the crew chief, when a pilot qualified as aircraft commander, in our unit, he was assigned an aircraft. My first was AH-1G
67-15720 which was getting a little long in the tooth at the time. The crew chief took darned good care of it ; going so far as to wax the airframe under the assumption that this would make 720 "slicker" and thus make up for her less than powerful engine. Unfortunately, this effort at drag reduction was not as successful as the chief had wished and 720 struggled to keep up.
My second was a transfer from another unit, 68-17054, and I was assigned to it
in the autumn of 1970. It had what our crew chiefs called an "elephant engine".
It could heft quite a load of gas and pyrotechnics and could be handled by the most ham-fisted of pilots (which some of you wags would surmise, is why I got it).
We pilots had "names" for some of the birds, but we never said them within earshot of the crew chiefs; names like "Pig", "UFO", "Hanger Queen", "Knuckle Dragger", and other unflatterring things to describe their performance or appearance.

All Army birds I worked on always went by the last three although some we gave unofficial names to them and used that between ourselves(had a C model HUEY acquired from White Sands that was painted high-viz red and white we called the "Ice Cream Machine")

So far it is as I suspected,
No real unofficial/official "names" for helo's!
I mean the A10 is the the Thunderbolt II but who calls it that? (WARTHOG).
The F16 is the Fighting Falcon (?) but it is called the Viper.
Other than unprintable "pet" names, us rotory wingers don't have much. . .

Don

Well, the worst name for any aircraft has to be the Iroquois.....I mean, is there any self-respecting rotor-head out there who even lets the name cross his lips? "Huey" has got to be the most recognized nickname certainly of any helicopter, and near the top of the list of aviation in general.
The Marine Corps refers to it's CH-46E Sea Knights as "Phrogs" and the CH-53E Super Stallions as "Shitters". Or they are also commonly just plain old "46" or "53".
Some others lump us HML/A guys into one category -- "skidz." But I think that's just because the Cobra and Huey are bad-ass enough that they don't need a cheesy nickname

QUOTE: Originally posted by dkmacin So far it is as I suspected, No real unofficial/official "names" for helo's! Other than unprintable "pet" names, us rotory wingers don't have much. . .

Speaking of the "Huey", it came about as an off-shoot of the original designation, "HU-1".

....also

The Sikorsky CH-54A/B "Tarhe", assumed the unofficial names; "Crane" and/or "Skycrane".

... and

The (L)OH-6A was sometimes referred to as a "Loach", also after the designation, but was officially the "Cayuse"

These US Army examples came to mind.

Take care,
Frank

53's are also referred to as the "Big Iron" in the 53 community.

The Piasecki (Vertol) H-21 inadvertently gained the "flying banana" nickname even though it was originally the Piasecki HRP-1s nickname that carried over to the HRP-2 as well.

One of the best names official and otherwise has to be the Bristol Sycamore (I'm not sure of the spelling). one look at the machine and you will see why.
The Skycrane is known in this area of Oz as an Elvis.
Dai

Well, I didn't work on 'em or fly them, but I got to ride a few. At Ft. Campbell in the mid-eighties we infantrymen called the the CH-47s sh--hooks, and UH-60s crashhawks (cause in 85 and 86 they were crashing so often that ours were grounded for close to sixth months).

Al

Well I know that I am completely in the wrong enviornment here. As an air defender (STINGER!), part of our job is to visually ID a/c. That is (in theory) to assure we don't shoot down one of our own. And though we are all very familiar of the more common, unofficial naming conventions, our training involves knowing the nomenclature (military designator) and official name for the aircraft. So the UH-1 Iroquois, HH-65 Dauphin II, and A-10 Thunderbolt II is how I know them.
And if anyone one has anymore "official" name questions, I can probably answer them for any current use military a/c. For any military in the world.
The Army gave me this cool manual for this purpose.

Dana B. Woodley
SSG, USA

Then there was this E-6 tacamo at Travis AFB, he landed half on and half off the runway (killing a rabbit!), they called it the 784 x 4.

My machine is called the Jet Ranger or just ranger, or the bell. The otherone goes as the "bubble" that is the 300C.

On a Discovery program about a Nimitz class carrier, one of the interviewed crew members called the MH-53 Pave Lows they were transporting "uglies".
Not surprising, as these aren't your typical sleek helo's. But I myself love them. Besides, I can imagine any Special Forces group that get's transported out of a hotzone by one of these "uglies" to find it the most beautiful thin they ever saw!! Hey, it's the fastest, biggest, strongest and baddest helo of the Western world!!

Remko

We call any H-60 "Hawks" or "60's". we call our Pavehawks "60's" or Jolly's. Here's some others we use:
MH-53J..."Pave Pig", "53"
Jet Ranger..."Jet Danger" (we've done quite a few SAR missions for them up here; no more right tail rotor)
SH-60B..."Bravos"
SH-60F..."Foxtrots"
HH-60H..."Hotels"
AH-6J..."Killer Egg's"
MH-6J..."Six-Pax"

Whenever we're flying on a mission our Pavehawks go by Jolly and the last 3 of the call number. Incidentally, those 3 numbers are also what's painted on each side of the forward upper fairing. We'll sometimes refer to the bird as "469", "471", etc... When we're on missions, we'll go by Air Force Rescue and use the same 3 numbers.

Is that what you were talking about Don?

In the RAN we call Sea King's Sally (from Mustang Sally) or Leaking (cos that's what they do!). Seahawks are flying aspro clear because they dissolve on contact with water and Squirrels are "Battle Budgies".

Not quite Sal.
I guess I was trying to get the name crews use, but couldn't think of any.
As I said the crews seem to change the 'official nomenclature' of a fixed wing aircraft and it sticks better than the company moniker.
The rotory world seems to just be happy with 'helo' or the number. . .of course the names called in less polite company do come to the fore. No name seems to stick to one type of aircraft, other than Huey. I just found it odd.
Same Same on the call sign when we were SAR. "CG Rescue 6505" when first calling up then just 'Rescue 05' after.
I suppose we just had better things to do with our time than think up names?

Don

I was under the impression that the AH-1 was mainly called 'The Snake'....or the 'Whiskey' for the AH-1W...am I in the wrong?

QUOTE: Originally posted by A68Trans-AmMustang I was under the impression that the AH-1 was mainly called 'The Snake'....or the 'Whiskey' for the AH-1W...am I in the wrong?

AH-1 series are all generally called Cobras.

Al,

I had forgotten my buddy in the Gurard called thier UH-60A's "Crash Hawks" because they were down more than they were up! He actually named his "Desperado". He was and still is a Heuy lover! They turned in the UH-60's for UH-1V's!

QUOTE: Originally posted by dkmacin The name given by the French was Dauphin which means "Prince." Don

Interesting. I always thought "Dauphin" was the French word for Dolphin. Learn something new every day.

Dauphin IS also the word for Dolphin. It has a double meaning in French.

Like was mentioned before CH-53E are Sh*tters, but we refer to the CH-53D's in service as "straight-tails"

You are of course right Jon as my son the French language expert tells me.
Something to do with the way you pronounce it or something, but a guy at APO Grand Prairie TX from Aerospatial told me it was meant to be "little prince", dauphin petit' or something that rolled off his tongue like that. But again, the powers that be decided on Dauphin.
So the CG had it named DOLPHIN. . .odd name for a helicopter that can only land in the water once., but better than little prince.

Don

QUOTE: Originally posted by dkmacin So far it is as I suspected, No real unofficial/official "names" for helo's! I mean the A10 is the the Thunderbolt II but who calls it that? (WARTHOG). The F16 is the Fighting Falcon (?) but it is called the Viper. Other than unprintable "pet" names, us rotory wingers don't have much. . . Don

I never heard of the F-16 called the Viper....It was always the Falcon to us. Hack what do I know though? I was in the Navy!

Well, we called them 'lawn darts' too, but that didn't stick. . .pun intended.

Don

Cobras are also refered to as snake's

I recall hearing these terms once or twice around the watering holes of Fliegerhorst, and other 'exotic locales'..
"Slick" : UH1H or earlier with only door mounted 60's for armament
"Bomb Box' and/or "Bomber Huey" : UH1H with M-56 mine delivery sub system
"Hog" / "Fat Mike" : Mike model gunship Huey... different cord and span on blades, ect.
"Disco Bird" , "High Slow & Stupid", "Electric Huey" : SOTAS Mission UH1H, retractable skids, ect.
"Snake" "Sea Snake" (never Cobra) AH series, Army (single eng.) & Corps respectively were "Snake Drivers"
"Sh*t Hook": Chinook also, "Big Windy" (local unit nick name)
"Greaser" : CH53 ...might have been local use only cause U needed a 55 g. drum of oil & hydrolic fluid and a hand pump to complete the missions
"Loach" OH6 scout, especially when working with a gun team
"Lady Bird" the early crew name for the first BH206 replacements (hated) for the Loach...word was that Lady Bird Johnson had stock in Bell Helicopters, and we paid for her war profits in blood... way underpowered, crash and burn became one word, lack of tail rotor authority, lack of survivability.. the list goes on... sorry, I digress.

There were more. Go do your homework now .
Rotorhead173

This is my homework
And so far I have three names that can be associated with helo's only, Slick, Snake and Loach, the rest can all be applied and are applied to fixed wing aircraft also.
What flightmech/crew chief hasn't called his charge a 'piece of excrement' at one time or the other?

Don

Most army helicopters are named after one of the Native American Indian tribes, such as the UH-1 Iroquios (of the south-east in Florida/Georgia), CH-47 Chinook (I'm unsure of what part of the country they were/are in), the H-21 was also known as the "Workhorse", and the CH-34 was originally known as the "Choctaw".

In the Canadian Forces, the old Sea Kings got the nickname "Sea Pigs" due to their very high ground maintenance requirements in later life amoungst other increasingly unsavoury qualities that the rigors of old age have burdened them with.

Last I heard the average Canadian Sea King requires about 35-40 hours ground maintenance for ever 1 hour it spends in the air.