JohnB wrote:
Oddly, no Navy nicknames for the H-34 series...the Seahorse and Seabat.
The impression I always had with the early postwar helicopters names was that there was a significant divide between the Army and the Navy. All of the names you see quoted for the helicopters only really applied to the Army and the Navy generally just didn't use them.
I'd compare it to calling an SNJ a "Texan". I don't know if it's technically correct or not, but it feels weird. (As an aside, a visitor to the museum once told me that SNJ stood for "Sorry, No Jet" as I believe there was a question of whether or not he would be assigned to jets or something like that.) If anything, it seems the Navy was prone to coming up with unofficial names based on the designation. (e.g. HRP as "Harp") Which makes sense, I guess, as its easier to do with that multi-letter style than, say, "H-37".
JohnB wrote:
Likewise, the "Workhorse" name seen on the Air Force H-21 prototype.
It could be comparable to what I've always understood the situation with the YF-23 to be. Namely, a nickname that was applied to a single airframe - "Black Widow II" - ended up being applied to the entire series because only two aircraft were ever built. (Something which, I learned just today from a
video, was as much the result of a red safety marking on the airplane as much as it was company history.)
It also worth comparing to the prototype C-82, which, as seen in a
picture, had "Flying Boxcar" and associated nose art painted on the nose more prominently than its official nickname of "Packet". (The background of the name "Flying Boxcar" has an interesting story in and of itself - something I touched on in
another thread.)
JohnB wrote:
And speaking of Army helicopter tribal names, it seems in real life they were seldom used.
I'd second that. According to a
DOD article, the Native American scheme was the result of a decision by General Hamilton Howze. However, given that it sounds like it might have been a pet project of his, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a case of him advocating for it and no one else going along with it for a while. Indeed, the article notes that the first helicopter he named was the Sioux, which was ordered in 1947, but the specific Army regulation establishing it as official policy, AR 70-28, was not promulgated until 1969. So, my best guess is that it was unofficial from 1947 until 1969, which would explain why there was not widespread adoption during that time.
It's worth noting, however, that the Army was far from the first organization to use the Native American motif. The Butler Blackhawk flew in the late 1920s and the Thunderbird Aircraft Company used two logos (
1,
2) distinctly inspired by the
indigenous legend at the same time. About 15 years later North American would
do the same thing with its P-51. Finally, in the early 1950s, around the same time as the Army decision, Piper began its series of tribe nicknames with the Piper Apache. (It even went so far as to feature a woman dancing on the wing of a Cherokee in a Native American headress in a
promotional picture.)
Another interesting fact: The Army helicopter Native American naming scheme was responsible for one of only two American military aircraft named after an individual person. (The other aircraft being the B-25 "Mitchell".) The Tarhe nickname for the CH-54 specifically refers to the
leader of the Wyandot tribe. (Technically, the F-14 could be considered a third, depending on how much weight you put on the "Tom Connolly's Cat"/Thomas Hinman Moorer etymology.
[2] The alternative being that the "Tomcat" name had
been around since the F7F.)
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