Why Army Helicopters Have Native American Names > U.S. Department of Defense > Blog
By: Katie Lange (U. S. Department of Defense)
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Nov. 29, 2019 | BY Katie Lange You have accessed part of a historical collection on defense.gov. Some of the information contained within may be outdated and links may not function. Please contact the DOD Webmaster with any questions.
You may have noticed there's a pattern in U.S. Army helicopter names - Apache, Black Hawk, Chinook and others. These crucial aircraft are all named after Native American tribes or figures.
But have you ever wondered why?
The U.S. military has a long history with Native Americans. Armed conflicts between the two were commonly known as the American Indian Wars and were fought intermittently from the time the U.S. was first settled by Europeans to early in the 20th century. But Native Americans also served as some of the fiercest fighters for the United States for more than 200 years. In fact, 32 Native Americans have earned the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor.
The tradition of naming helicopters after Native Americans was once an official regulation. That regulation no longer stands, but the tradition continues.
Here's how it all came about:
According to an unnamed Army museum official, the naming convention goes back to before the Air Force split from the Army in 1947 when Army Gen. Hamilton Howze was assigned to Army aviation. His mission was to develop doctrine and the way forward when it came to employing Army aircraft and how they would support warfighters on the ground.
According to the museum official, Howze wasn't a fan of the names of the first two helicopters - Hoverfly and Dragonfly. So, he laid out instructions for naming the helicopters after their abilities.
Howze said since the choppers were fast and agile, they would attack enemy flanks and fade away, similar to the way the tribes on the Great Plains fought during the aforementioned American Indian Wars. He decided the next helicopter produced -- the well-known H-13 of "M.A.S.H." fame -- would be called the Sioux in honor of the Native Americans who fought Army soldiers in the Sioux Wars and defeated the 7th Calvary Regiment at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
That's likely how Army Regulation 70-28 was created in 1969. The regulation listed criteria on how popular names would be given to major items of equipment. Name choices had to:
1 Appeal to the imagination without sacrificing dignity. 2 Suggest an aggressive spirit and confidence in the item's capabilities. 3 Reflect the item's characteristics including mobility, agility, flexibility, firepower and endurance. 4 Be based on tactical application, not source or method of manufacture. 5 Be associated with the preceding qualities and criteria if a person's name is proposed. An Army AH-64 Apache helicopter fires a rocket during a combined arms live-fire exercise near Litochoro, Greece, Jan. 23, 2019. Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Kris Bonet Apache Fire An Army AH-64 Apache helicopter fires a rocket during a combined arms live-fire exercise near Litochoro, Greece, Jan. 23, 2019. Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Kris Bonet Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Army Staff Sgt. Kris BonetVIRIN: 190124-A-CI827-130C
According to AR 70-28, Army aircraft were specifically categorized as requiring "Indian terms and names of American Indian tribes and chiefs." Names to choose from were provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Other categories included tanks, which were to be named after American generals like Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman; infantry weapons would receive names for famous early American pioneers like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett; and assault weapons would get fearsome reptile and insect names like cobra and scorpion.
Two members of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation dance in traditional attire around a South Dakota Army National Guard UH-72 Lakota helicopter after a blessing ceremony for the aircraft on June 10, 2012. The South Dakota National Guard and the Lakota Nation have partnered together to support the people living on the reservations and to help inspire the youth to become active members of the community. Lakota dance Two members of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation dance in traditional attire around a South Dakota Army National Guard UH-72 Lakota helicopter after a blessing ceremony for the aircraft on June 10, 2012. The South Dakota National Guard and the Lakota Nation have partnered together to support the people living on the reservations and to help inspire the youth to become active members of the community. Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: South Dakota National Guard Sgt. Jacqueline FitzgeraldVIRIN: 120610-O-ZZ999-120
AR 70-28 was eventually rescinded and replaced with policies that didn't mention that criteria, but it's clear that the tradition has continued. You only have to look back to 2012 when the Army named its current primary training helicopter, the UH-72A Lakota, after the Lakota tribe of the Great Sioux Nation in North and South Dakota.
On June 10, 2012, Lakota elders ritually blessed two new South Dakota Army National Guard UH-72A Lakotas at a traditional ceremony on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. Ceremonies like these happened often over the past several decades.
So when you think of these helicopters, remember the spirit, confidence, agility, endurance and warrior ethos their names evoke!
ArmyApacheChinookBlack Hawk
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J. D. Challenger's painting of ''Ashes to Dust''.
J.D. Challenger's painting of ''Apache Wind''.
The welcoming/blessing of the Lakota helicopter at Standing Rock, SD.
Truly a great a seed, Kavika. My Brother served two times in Vietnam on a PT boat. When he returned after his last time there he came back a disable Vet. He never wanted to talk about his time there. His last time there his PT boat was sent to rescue several Marines stranded on a small islet by the Viet Cong. In the end of the fight, only my Brother and the Coxswain were left alive on the boat, but, all the Marines were saved.
He was not a gunner, he was an Engineman, but when the Gunner was killed my Brother took over the gun. The Coxswain made some very unusual and effective swoops in the rescue effort that helped the rescue effort. Both he and my Brother were awarded a Purple Heart.
naming the greatest tool in the arsenal of american infantry after the greatest light cavalry(s) in history makes sense.
I love articles where I learn something and this was one of them. I am also proud that our people are being honored in this way!
No better way of honoring our native tribes than by naming some of our most expensive war machines after them.
Thank You Kavika!
The Kavika originally spelled KayabaKa
Good one, Hallux.
I want to be an airborne ranger
I want to live a life of danger
I became a chairborne ranger.
And here I thought you were a Gravy Seal from Meal Team Six!
I always thought if I ever joined the forces, flying a helicopter would have been my top choice of what I wanted to do.
I like to be in control. Like I would rather drive most times than be a passenger.
Wrong Service, uniforms confuse you.
I know the feeling. I always hated riding behind some one on a motorcycle, even when I knew that they were more skilled than I.
I was supposed to go into OCS to fly huey's in '73 and did all the tests, but the recruiter tried to pull a fast one just as I was ready to sign on the line. where does it say on this enlistment form I'll be flying a helicopter, says I. "oh, we have no openings in flight school right now, but we'll find something for you to do until a spot opens up", says the recruiter. I put the pen down and told him to make sure and call me when a spot opens up and I'll come right down. gee, never heard back.
Comanche was going to be one hell of an Army Warbird. Requirements development began in 1982 on the light attack helicopter. It was to be super-stealthy, loaded with advanced sensors and network equipment for armed reconnaissance and surveillance missions. The Army thought they needed about 1,200.
By 1988, the Army released a Request For Proposal to our defense industry teammates, and we took three years evaluating them and finally awarded a contract to a Boeing-Sikorsky team in 1991. We thought that the production line would start up in 4 or 5 years, but by 2002 we only had two prototypes built.
Much of the technology was still very immature. As we started combat in Afghanistan and then Iraq, the Comanche program was consuming 40% of our Army aviation budget and impacting necessary improvements to helicopters that we actually had. In 2004, after 22 years and $7B spent, we terminated the effort.
The interesting story of how J D Challenger found the model for ''Ashes to Dust''.
But, never forget the SH-19 (Chickasaw) and UH-34 (Choctaw) of USMC fame.
In the video, our flights are taking off of the USS Princeton just off of Cua Viet. My chopper, HMM-362, "Ugly Angels", YL-24, is the third one in line from the rear.
And, one of my most favorite pilots, Major "Ben" Casio, stands in front of his at Phu Bai.
Many a ride on the beautiful "Beast".
At one point gunships came in to get us out of a really tough spot in the highlands saving a number of us as the situation was dire.
Still get cold sweats even today remembering that.
I'm glad you made it back, too many didn't. one of my friends got drafted while he was still in high school. they waited for him to graduate and then stuck him in the door of a helicopter behind a machine gun. he was on 2 birds that got shot down during his tour and lived thru it with minor injury. he came home quite a bit different than he was before he left. larry then became crazy larry. it didn't take too long afterwards for him to drink himself to death.
That happens way too often, if it's alcohol, drugs, or withdrawal from society it all ends up in death.
I can sympathize with Larry - I turned into a major alcoholic when I got back from the 2nd tour. Got so bad that, drinking a 5th a day, one morning in '85, I couldn't even hit the glass with the scotch. That's when I put the stuff down - 17 years and four jobs later.
Now, i just go out and bang the white ball four times a week, but the dreams still keep comin'.
Welcome back to all that went to any "foreign engagement" - Semper Fi.
at one time I was very worried about my nephew. 2 tours of iraq, 1 tour in afghanistan, 1 year as a cop in kentucky, then 5-6 years as a security contractor in iraq and afghanistan. when he was a cop he got tired of going to the funerals of guys in his unit that killed themselves and he went off to be a merc in afghanistan. he came back from that and he was pretty scary. back to the corner, glock in the belt scary. he floundered a bit until last february when he heard from his military era friends that were headed to ukraine. he left to meet them there in early march and got back end of may. he came back a different person, a better person mentally I guess, as if a huge burden had been lifted off him.
I asked him about the change when I saw him in july. he said going to ukraine and being with people that he served with in iraq and afghanistan somehow brought him closure and it didn't seem as dangerous fighting in the ukraine. he made really good money, but he said he really enjoyed working with/training the ukrainian freedom fighters and it was a lot different than being in the middle east. he said he was very impressed with the ukrainian volunteers eagerness and tenacity. he and his friends were tossed into the fire 3 days after they landed in poland where he said they did some hiking with a purpose, but he got to spend some time training basics to the ukrainians at the end which he really liked. I didn't press him for any stories, but he laughingly remarked that he was happy to add russians to his personal list of enemies liquidated.
so as not to be accused of derailing, my cousin's son and his new wife are both army air assault helicopter pilots, she outranks him at work too. I can't remember which helicopters they fly, but it's the 2 seat job that's armed to the teeth. I think I heard a couple weeks ago thru the family grapevine that their group is maybe shipping out to eastern europe soon. the kid's dad flew one somewhat like it in the first gulf war against iraqi tanks. last time I saw him was 20 years ago and that guy had some war stories, but I got the impression of a little lingering guilt because he kept telling me about how our military tech just completely overwhelmed iraq in the first gulf war.
I didn't drink but was a very angry man, willing to fight over anything real or perceived. I believe what saved me was getting back into my native culture and getting a mide (member of the Grand Medicine Society) to help me sort it all out.
I currently have a son that is 100% disabled combat Marine and three close relatives that are serving. Two of them are lifers and have seen a lot of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and are currently in Lativa with the 173rd Airborne and in Poland with the 10th Mountain.
I'm the last Indian standing in the Vietnam 7/11 club.
From a Warrior to an Elder - awesome.
Thank you for your selfless service and protection.
Right back atcha niijii.
Congrats I guess, bittersweet success.
Very interesting article.