Why US Army Helicopters Are Named After Native Americans
February 05, 2024 1:01 PM
By Dora Mekouar
All About America explores American culture, politics, trends, history, ideals and places of interest.
Apache. Lakota. Chinook. Iroquois.
These are not only Native American tribes that once fought for their land against the U.S. military. They are also the names of U.S. Army helicopters.
The convention of naming choppers after America’s Indigenous people is believed to date back to 1947. Army General Hamilton Howze reportedly wasn’t thrilled with Hoverfly and Dragonfly — the names of the first two Army helicopters — and ordered some changes.
“He wanted to name them after something that was fast-moving, militarily strong and had some kind of connection to American military history,” says David Silbey, a military historian at Cornell University. “And he thought of the Native American warriors of the 19th century — the Apache, the Lakota and all those folks. And so, he started that tradition of naming Army helicopters after Native American tribes.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/why-us-army-helicopters-are-named-after-native-americans/7467057.html
