Just as a note about the "Huey" - its nickname did come from its designation, which was originally HU-1 (Helicopter, Utility). Hence, Huey. Later on though, the DOD was mucking with names and reversed it to UH-1. But, of course, by then the name had stuck and everone called it a Huey. The name was actually so popular that the attack version of the copter (AH-1) was
officially named the "Huey Cobra".
By the way, Riptide is right. Ever since 1969 the US
Army has had a "general policy" of naming helicopters after native american tribes, leaders, and terms. Hence: Iroquois, Chinook, Apache, Sioux, Blackhawk, Longbow, Chickasaw, Mojave, Choctaw, Comanche... the list is a huge one. That said, not ALL helicopters are named after native american history. Base models, from what I know, pretty much always recieve a native name. However there are TONS of variants and special equipment versions of aircraft with non-native names. The UH-60 Blackhawk is a perfect example: Velcro Hawk, Firehawk (firefighter), Nighthawk, Jayhawk (Coast guard), Deserthawk, are some of its nicknamed variants.
As for Sea Kings, Sea Stallions, Sea Knights, those would be US
Navy choppers and designations. I'm not sure if its policy or not, but the Navy have a tendancy to use medieval, mythological, and animal names: Knight, King, Stallion, Dragon, Sprite, Hawk, Ranger, Wolf, etc. With a "Sea" prefix. So the Navy's "Seahawk" is the basically the same ship as the army's Blackhawk. Again, the Navy has special names for its variants, like the "Warhawk" which is a special Seahawk that the SEALs use.
As for the USAF... I've got no idea how they name their choppers. Their blackhawk is called a "Pave Hawk". WTF?!
Just wanted to clear some things up there
A long way for little joke huh...
)
oups mistake, it was another one
