What is the real name of the helo?

In the Navy (and serving with the Marines) we have several names.

CH-46:      Phrog or Bull Phrog (depending on the version)

CH-53:      Shi**ers

UH & AH:  Skids.  The squadron members are called "skid kids"

SH-3:         Seapig. Because it is so slow, but, there is no better SAR platform for room to work!

We weren't so nice in our names for the 130's. . ..
When just burning holes in the sky we were "Coast Guard (last three digits of the tail number)" When On rescue we were "CG Rescue (last two digits of the tail number)"
Should I stir the pot again?
No, I won't. I only have 5 days left on this new enlistment thing for FSM and I don't want to get kicked out early.

Don

Don,

Slick or Slicks is also what we use when refering to cargo C-130's (non-rescue).

By the way we still carry on the Jolly Green Giant tradition by calling our HH-60G's "Jolly's" and using the callsign "Jolly" when not on real-world SAR missions.  When on real-world SAR it's "Air Force Rescue...".  Remember the tradition of the green feet?  Got mine back in 1991...

 

The common name for all AH/MH-6 or MELBs is "Little Birds", even though you'll hear Killer Eggs and Six-Pax.

Actually the Iroqouis tribe were indigenous to what is now the North Eastern United States. The Chinook were indigenous to the Pacific Northwest. "Tarhe" was an actual person, a member of the Wyandot tribe of the Northern Midwest. the Choctaws originally inhabited Southern Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana and were moved to Oklahoma. Chickasaw were predominant in much of the Southeast and also wound up being foricibly relocated to Oklahoma.

UH-1 Iroqouis, H-19 Chickasaw, H-34 Choctaw, CH-37 Mojave, CH-47 Chinook, CH-54 Tarhe

UH-60 Blackhawk, OH-58 Kiowa etc....

 

HTH

Jonathan Primm

 

I did occasional missions on the H-43 Husky.  The company name never stuck and we called it Pedro although none of us knew where it started.  As far as the F-16 being called the Viper, we heard that because it came out about the same time as Battlestar Galactica the pilots wanted it called viper after the fighters on the show.  It also had the name "Electric Jet".

need to add medivac to the list also, fits for HUEY's and Hawk's(you could sub Dustoff), In answer to the question, yes, I was a FE on a HUEY but we were called crew chiefs or chief for short

Okay Okay!
Slick, Snake, Jolly Green, and Hog. . .hmmm all Viet Nam era helo's interesting. . .

Don

Geejee Z:

Alouette, if memory serves correctly, translates into "sky lark"

so you were a FE (Flight Engineer) on a UH-1? and I alway had thought Heavy Hog meant it was loaded with everything that could go boom and bang. And on top of that you had the door gunners hosing down anything that didn't look like a Grunt with the 60's. Too bad the UH-1's didnt carry Napalm woulda made the enemy think twice about shooting at a Huey.

The name hog was used for all HUEY gunships(Bravo, Charlie or Mike), the term heavy hog(sometimes frog) was used for those with the 40mm on the nose

that's me in one of my Mike's

The UH-1 Huey Hog was the name given to the Charlie Model when it had the 40mm Thumper added to the nose. Since the Thumper Turret did look like a Hog snout the usual load out for the Hog was either twin 50's on each side or the 7.62mm gatling gun then the 2.75" HVAR rocket pods and the 40mm thumper turret on the nose.
Then you also got the UH-1C Huey Frog with the 40mm Thumper turret and the 2.75" HVAR rocket pods. But what confuses me is why they called that configuration the Frog?

Need to add Hog to your list

GeejeeZ,
Could be as the rest of the Areospatiale helo's are named after animals, but the French guy said " l'petit dauphin" or "l'dauphin petit" and he said it was "little prince". . .might be because the 365N is the Dauphin and the US Coast Guard is a 366G (Prince?).

Don

how about
Angry palm tree

Read on this forum, a civil helo mecanic or pilot who referred to the Bell 212 as "the steam chicken". Beautiful nickname.

As for the origins of Dauphin: I would bet my money on the French having meant the fish: didn't Aerospatiale also design the Alouette (don't know the English translation, but it's a little bird), The Ecuereuil (Squirrel), the Lama (lama), the Puma and the Cougar. The Puma, Lynx and the Gazelle were in conjunction with Westland of the UK.

The H3E was the Jolly the CH53 was the SUPER Jolly,
But you are correct and I stand corrected to FOUR names that stuck, Snake, Slick, Loach and Jolly Green Giant.

Don

well the CH-53 was called the Jolly Green Giant because it was big and green.

We called our HC131A "Samaritan" the "Thunder Pig."
That name stuck so well we were threatened with severe punishment if we continued to do so. . .so we did. Even went so far as to have a T-shirt made up with four pigs doing a Thunderbirds type fly by. . .spewing oil and all.
But as for our helos, they got nothing.

Don

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.

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".

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

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

Cobras are also refered to as snake's

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

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!

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

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

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

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.