One out of every ten Americans who served in Vietnam became a casualty. As a result, 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.29 million who served. Although the percent of dead is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300% higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam Veterans are severely disabled.
MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions, airlifting 900,000 patients (nearly one-half were Americans). The average lapse between being wounded and reaching a hospital was less than one hour, and as a result, less than one percent of those wounded died of their wounds within the first 24 hours.
The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. Without helicopters, it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords of 1962 would secure the border).
Army Huey’s totaled 9,713,762 flight hours in Vietnam between October 1966 and the end of American involvement in early 1973. Cobra helicopters totaled 1,110,716 flight hours in Vietnam. This is also the main reason that soldiers in Vietnam saw more action than those soldiers of preceding wars. Large groups of soldiers could be air-lifted into a battle and then be withdrawn after a few hours and flown to another area to reinforce other units or to engage the enemy again in a different portion of the country.
The chart below is not all inclusive but includes most of the helicopter units that served during the Vietnam War. Where it is known, I’ve indicated their unit name / call sign, and a sample of nose art or unit patch for those units. I did post another article on this website a while ago that includes hundreds of photos of nose art used by these crews in-county. I’ll leave a link at the end of this article in the event you want to check it out.
If I’ve erred on the chart below, please let me know so I can make corrections. Also, I invite you to get back to me on any missing units, call signs or duplicates. I am aware that many of the units mentioned herein had multiple call signs and nose art – I’m just limited to the available space I can’t show them all in this format..
| CIVILIAN HELICOPTER UNITS | |||
| UNIT | UNIT CALL SIGN | ||
| Air America | |||
| U.S. ARMY HELICOPTER UNITS | |||
|
Southern Cross | ||
| B Co. 123rd Avn. Bn. | Warlords  |
||
| D Troop 1/1 Cav. | Dragoons | ||
| First Cavalry Division | Armed Falcons | ||
| 1st Brigade – 1st Cav Div (Airmobile) | Flying Circus |
||
| 1st Aviation Detachment 1st CAV | Guns-A-Go-Go  |
||
|
First Infantry Division |
Bulldogs, Rebel Guns, Longhorns, Danger Hawks | ||
| 1st Infantry Division 1/4th Cav | Quarter Cav | ||
| 1st Infantry Division A – C Troop 1/4th – Armored Cav Squadron / Troop | Quarterhorse, Darkhorse | ||
| 1st Infantry Division D Troop 16th Cav | Darkhorse, Mustangs  |
||
| Fourth Infantry Division Aviation – The Ivy Division | Blackjacks and Gamblers  |
||
| HHC 1st Brigade 5th Infantry Division Aviation Detachment | Batman | ||
| 1st Squadron 9th Cavalry, 1st Air Cav Div | Bullwhip Squadron | ||
| A Troop 1/9th | Apache Troop & Headhunters | ||
| B Troop 1/9th | Bravo Troop | ||
| C Troop 1/9th | Charlie Troop | ||
| E Troop 1/9th | Echo Troop | ||
| F Troop 1/9th | F Troop  |
||
| Aviation Platoon Headquarters & Headquarters Company – 173d Airborne Brigade (Sep) | Casper  |
||
| Air Cav Troop 11th Armored Cavalry | Thunderhorse | ||
| A Troop 2/17th Cav | Assault  |
||
| B Troop 2/17th Air Cav. | Banshee  |
||
| C Troop 2/17th Air Cav | Condors  |
||
| 12th Combat Assault Group – A Troop 3/17th Cav | Silver Spurs | ||
| 12th Combat Assault Group – B Troop 3/17th Cav | Blackjack, Stogie  |
||
| 12th Combat Assault Group – C Troop 3/17th Cav
12th Combat Assault Group – F Troop 3/17th Cav |
Comancheros |
||
| 7th Squardron 17th Cav Regiment (Air). | Ruthless Riders | ||
| B Troop 7/17th Cav. | Scalphunters  |
||
| 7th Armored Squadron 1st Cav | Blackhawks | ||
| HHC 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry | Aloha Airlines  |
||
| A Company 101st Aviation | Thunderbirds |
||
| B Company 101st Aviation | Kingsmen  |
||
| C Company 101st Aviation and 188th AHC | Black Widows and Spiders  |
||
| D Company 101st Aviation | Hawks  |
||
| B Company 123rd Aviation Battalion | Warlords |
||
| A Company 158th Combat Aviation Battalion 101st Airborne Division | Ghost Riders  |
||
| B Company 158th Combat Aviation Battalion 101st Airborne Division | Lancers  |
||
| C Company 158th Combat Aviation Battalion 101st Airborne Division | Phoenix  |
||
| B Company 159th Combat Aviation Battalion 101st Airborne Division | Varsity  |
||
| A Company 227th Aviation 1st Cav Div | Chickenman  |
||
| B Company 227th Aviation 1st Cav Div | The Good Deal Company  |
||
| C Company 227th AHB 1st Cav 1966-67 | Ghost Riders / Snakes  |
||
| D Company 227th AHB 1st Cav | El Lobo  |
||
| 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion | Winged Assault  |
||
| A Company 229th AHC | Load Hackers | ||
| B Company 229th AHC | Killer Spades | ||
| D Company 229th Aviation 1st Cav Div | Smiling Tigers | ||
| D Troop 1st Squadron 10th Cav | Shamrock
|
||
| D Troop 1st Squadron 1st Air Cav 101st Airborne | Dragoons | ||
| D Troop (AIR) 1st Squadron 4th Cav 1st Infantry | Darkhorse | ||
| D Troop (AIR) 3rd Squadron 4th Cav 25th Inf Div and F Troop (AIR) 4th Cav | Centaurs  |
||
| D Troop 3/5th Cav | Spooks / Raven / Long Knives |
||
| E Troop 82nd Artillery 1st Cav Div | |||
| F Trp 8th Cav | Blueghost  |
||
| H 10th Cav. | |||
| A/377 ARTY 101 ABN | |||
| 2/20 ARA 1 CAV & F/79 CAV & 4/77 ARA & E82 (All ARA and AFA units) | Blue Max | ||
| 8th Transportation Company | |||
| 11th Armored Cav Regiment Aviation | |||
| 12th Combat Aviation Group | |||
| 14th Transportation Battalion (AM&S) (GS) | The Reliables  |
||
| 15th Medical Battalion | MEDEVAC | ||
| 17th Assault Helicopter Company | Kingsman & Lancers | ||
| 18th Corps Aviation Company | Green Delta | ||
| 25th Combat Assault Company | Red Carpet | ||
| 25th Aviation Battalion | Little Bears and Diamondheads  |
||
| 31st Transportation (CH-34) Company and 138th Transportation Detachment | |||
| 48th Assault Helicopter Company | Bluestars and Jokers  |
||
| 52nd and 119th Camp Holloway | Dragons | ||
| 52nd Combat Aviation +Battalion | Flying Dragons  |
||
| 57th Assault Helicopter Company | Gladiators and Cougar  |
||
| 57th Medical Company | Dustoff | ||
| 59th Combat Assault Company | Red Cloud | ||
| 60th Assault Helicopter Company | Ghost Riders | ||
| 61st Assault Helicopter Company | Lucky Stars and Star Blazers  |
||
| 62nd Corps Aviation Company | Royal Coachman  |
||
| 62nd Assault Helicopter Company | Outlaws & Mavericks | ||
| 68th Assault Helicopter Company | Top Tigers, Mustangs & Raiders  |
||
| 71st Assault Helicopter Company | Rattler and Firebirds  |
||
| 82nd Medical Detachment | DUSTOFF | ||
| 92nd Assault Helicopter Company | Stallions and Sidekicks  |
||
| 101st Airborne Division Association | Screaming Eagles | ||
| 114th Assault Helicopter Company | Knights/Cobras  |
||
| 114th Aviation Company | Knights of the Air  |
||
| 116th Assault Helicopter Company | Stingers, Hornets, Yellow Jackets & Wasps  |
||
| 117th Assault Helicopter Company | Beach bums, Warlords, Annie Fannies, Pink Panthers & Sidewinders  |
||
| 118th Assault Helicopter Company | Thunderbirds and Bandits  |
||
| 119th Assault Helicopter Company | Gators and Crocs  |
||
| 120th Aviation Company and Attached Units | Deans & Razorbacks  |
||
| 121st Assault Helicopter Company | Vikings and Tigers  |
||
| 128th Assault Helicopter Company | Tomahawks, Gunslingers & Witch Doctor  |
||
| 129th Assault Helicopter Company | Bulldogs and Cobras  |
||
| 132nd Assault Support Helicopter Company | Hercules  |
||
| 134th Assault Helicopter Company | Demons and Devils  |
||
| 135th Assault Helicopter Company | EMUs and Taipans | ||
| 145th Combat Aviation Battalion First in Vietnam | |||
| 147th Assault Support Helicopter Company | Hillclimbers  |
||
| 155th Assault Helicopter Company | Falcons & Stagecoach  |
||
| 159th Assault Helicopter Company | Liftmasters Pelicans & Scorpions | ||
| 159th Medical Detachment (Helicopter ambulance) | Dustoff |
||
| 161st Assault Helicopter Company | Pelicans & Scorpions  |
||
| 162nd Assault Helicopter Company | Copperheads & Vultures.  |
||
| 165-HMM (Helicopters, Marine Medium (Squadron)-165) | White Knights | ||
| 170th Assault Helicopter Company | Bikinis and Buccaneers  |
||
| 173rd Assault Helicopter Company | Robin Hoods and Crossbows | ||
| 174th Assault Helicopter Company | Dolphins and Sharks  |
||
| 175th Aviation Company | Outlaws & Mavericks | ||
| 176th Assault Helicopter Company | Minuteman/Muskets  |
||
| 178th Air Support Helicopter Company | The Boxcars | ||
| 179th Air Support Helicopter Company | Shrimpboats & Hooks  |
||
| 180th Assault Support Helicopter Company | Big Windy | ||
| 187th Assault Helicopter Company | Crusaders & Rat Pack  |
||
| 188th AHC and C/101 | Black Widows and Spiders  |
||
| 189th Assault Helicopter Company | Ghost Riders and Avengers |
||
| 190th Assault Helicopter Company | Spartans and Gladiators  |
||
| 191st Assault Helicopter Company | Boomerangs and Bounty Hunters  |
||
| 192nd Assault Helicopter Company | Polecats and Tigersharks  |
||
| 195th Assault Helicopter Company | Sky Chief, Ghost Riders, Sky Pilots and Thunder Chickens | ||
| 196th Assault Helicopter Company | Flippers & Chargers | ||
| 197th Assault Helicopter Company | Gangbusters & Playboys |
||
| 199th LIB Aviation Group
|
Fireball Aviation  |
||
| 200th Assault Support Helicopter Company
201st Aviation Company |
Pachyderms
Red Barons |
||
| 203rd Air Support Helicopter | Wildcats | ||
| A Company 203rd ASH | Wildcats | ||
| B Company 203rd ASH | Longhorns | ||
| C Company 203rd ASH | What more can we do? | ||
| 205th Assault Helicopter Company | Geronimos  |
||
| 213th Assault Support Helicopter Company | Blackcats  |
||
| 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion 1st CAV | Pouvoir  |
||
| 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion | Guns-A-Go-Go, Winged Warrior, Long Horns, Wildcats  |
||
| 235th Air Support Helicopter Company | Delta Devils | ||
| 237th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) | Dustoff | ||
| 238th Aerial Weapons Company – | Gunrunners  |
||
| 240th Assault Support Helicopter Company | Greyhounds, Maddogs and Kennel Keepers  |
||
| 242nd Assault Support Helicopter Company | Muleskinners  |
||
| 243rd Assault Support Helicopter Company | Freight Train  |
||
| 271st Assault Helicopter Company | Innkeepers & Bartenders | ||
| 272nd Assault Support Helicopter Company | |||
| 273rd Heavy Helicopter | Super Hook | ||
| 281st Assault Helicopter Company | Intruders, Rat Pack, Bandits, Wolf Pack  |
||
| 282nd Assault Helicopter Company | Blackcat & Alleycats  |
||
| 334th Aerial Weapons Company | Sabers, Playboys, Raiders & Dragons | ||
| 335th Assault Helicopter Company (A/82 in 1965) | Cowboys, Falcons and Caspers  |
||
| 336th Assault Helicopter Company | Warriors and T-Birds  |
||
| 339th Transportation Company (DS) | Always in good hands |
||
| 355th Heavy Helicopter | Workhorse | ||
| 361st Aerial Weapons Company | Pink Panthers  |
||
| 362nd Aviation Company – The Last Chinook Unit in Viet Nam | Fly United | ||
| 478 Heavy Helicopter | Hurricane | ||
| 498th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) | Dustoff | ||
| 610th Transportation Company (AM) (GS) 1966-1972 | Fast and Sure  |
||
| A Company 501st Aviation Battalion | Rattlers & Firebirds | ||
 |
|||
| USMC VMO-3, HML-367, HMLA-367 | Deadlock, Hostage, Cowpoke & The Angry Two | ||
| USMC VMO-2 | Oakgate, Scarface, Eagle Claw, Cyclone  |
||
| USMC VMO-6 | Klondike | ||
| HMM-161 | Evil Eyes  |
||
| HMM-163 | Ridge Runners | ||
| HMM-164 | Yankee Tango | ||
| HMM-165 | White Knights | ||
| HMM-167 | Warriors | ||
| HMM-261 | Raging Bulls | ||
| HMM-262 | Old Tigers | ||
| HMM-263 | The Thunder Eagles | ||
| HMM-361 | Flying Tigers- | ||
| HMM-362 (first USMC helicopter unit in and out of Vietnam) | Ugly Angels  |
||
| HMM-363 | Lucky Red Lions | ||
| HMM-364 | The Purple Foxes | ||
| HMM-365 | The Magnificent Flying Circus. | ||
| HMA-369 | Pistol Pete | ||
| HMH-463 | Pennant Day, Dimmer, Pineapple | ||
| White Hat Airlines | Aircofat | ||
| U.S. NAVY HELICOPTER UNITS | |||
| HA(L)-3 | Seawolves  |
||
| Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Seven (HC-7) | Seadevils  |
||
| Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 6 (HS-6) made WESTAC deployments in 1966 and 1967-8 on the carrier USS Kearsarge and provided Combat Search and Rescue in the Gulf of Tonkin prior to the establishment of Combat Support Squadron 7 (HC-7). | |||
| Combat SAR operations | |||
| U.S. AIR FORCE HELICOPTER UNITS | |||
Rotor heads  |
|||
| SOUTH VIETNAM HELICOPTER UNITS | |||
| VNAF (Viet Nam Air Force) was the air force of the Republic of South Vietnam. | |||
Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam (All services) and it’s estimated that 40,000 pilots served in the war. Those red figures in the chart below represent the combined total of all other helicopters / crews outside of the Huey category; I was unable to locate individual statistics for each line item for that group. The numbers in the destroyed column are actual numbers which are verified by tail numbers.
It should also be pointed out that 532 American passengers were killed in downed aircraft and are not included in any of the KIA totals.
| KIA | KIA | |||
| Model | # Served | # Destroyed | Pilots Lost | Crew Lost |
| All UH-1 Huey Slicks/guns | 7,013 | 3,305 | 1,074 | 1,103 |
| All AH-1G Cobras | ⇑ | 272 | ⇑ | ⇑ |
| CH-21C Banana | ⇑ | 18 | ⇑ | ⇑ |
| CH-3 Jolly Green’s | ⇑ | 14 | ⇑ | ⇑ |
| CH-46 / 47 Chinook | ⇑ | 284 | ⇑ | ⇑ |
| CH-53 Sea Stallions | ⇑ | 23 | ⇑ | ⇑ |
| CH-54 Flying Crane | 5000 | 9 | 1128 | 1601 |
| HH-37 Heavy lift transport | ⇓ | 2 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| HH-3 Jolly Green Giant | ⇓ | 21 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| HH-43 Huskie Rescue | ⇓ | 13 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| HH-53 Super Jolly Green | ⇓ | 9 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| OH-13/23 Light Observation | ⇓ | 240 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| OH-6 LOH Scout | ⇓ | 842 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| OH-58A Armed Scout | ⇓ | 45 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| Misc Sioux / Sikorsky SH-3/34 | ⇓ | 14 | ⇓ | ⇓ |
| Totals | 12,013 | 5,111 | 2,202 | 2,704 |
It’s believed that the Huey and Cobra have more combat flight time than any other aircraft in the history of warfare assuming you count actual hostile fire exposure versus battle area exposure. As an example, heavy bombers during World War II most often flew missions lasting many hours with only 10 to 20 minutes of that time exposed to hostile fire. Helicopters in Vietnam were always exposed to hostile fire even in their base camps.
The following short video offers an animation presentation that shows crash sites during the war on a map of Southeast Asia. It’s interesting to note that only three major areas of the country show heavy concentrations in additions to the many locations in Cambodia and Laos.
The following article was published in the San Diego Union Tribune by John Wilkens on January 8, 2017 about the last pilots to die in Vietnam:
History remembers them as the last two American pilots to die in Vietnam, killed when their Marine Corps helicopter went into the South China Sea during the frantic evacuation of Saigon on April 29, 1975. Their bodies were never recovered
“I’ve thought about it every day for 41 years,” said Steve Wills, who was on the helicopter as crew chief and survived the crash. “I think it would be a healing thing for the whole nation.”
One of the aviators was Capt. William Nystul, who grew up in Coronado. The oldest of four sons, he graduated from Coronado High and San Diego State. He was 29 when he died, married with a young son. His co-pilot, 1st Lt. Michael Shea, from El Paso, Texas, was 25.
YT-14 was on search and rescue duty off the carrier Hancock that day, ready to swoop in if other helicopters crashed and the crews needed to be pulled from the water. It took off at 6 a.m. for what would turn out to be about 17 hours of flying, interrupted a half-dozen times to land on the carrier to refuel.
About 1 p.m., Nystul and Shea came on board to relieve the original pilots. Nystul, who had been teaching at a fixed-wing flight school in Pensacola, was sent back to Vietnam for his second tour after about 20 hours of re-training in the CH-46. Shea, a CH-53 pilot, had about 25 hours of training in the 46 before he was deployed.
Wills, the crew chief and right gunner, and Richard Scott, the mechanic and left gunner, were the other crew members. It was a busy day. They transported refugees from one ship to another. They rescued a Vietnamese man who crashed his small plane in the water.
“We were dodging aircraft left and right,” Wills said in a phone interview from his home in Kalispell, Mont. “The helicopter flew good that day.”
At about 11 p.m., YT-14 was running low on fuel and needed to land on the Hancock. But there wasn’t room. Nystul got waved off twice. Finally cleared to come in, he had to make a hard right turn away from the carrier to avoid being hit by a plane arriving from behind.
“Missed us by less than 100 feet,” Wills said.
He remembers the pilot telling the crew, “Somebody is going to die up here tonight.”
Into the water
Bruce Collison was a medic that night on board the Hancock. Now living in Sarasota, Fla., he recalls being on the flight deck, transfixed by the red, blinking anti-collision light of a helicopter overhead: YT-14.
“It continued circling the length of the ship, running out of fuel, looking for a place to land, losing altitude with every pass,” he said. “I’m convinced that if they had tried to land, with all the other helicopters there, some of them refueling, there would have been a total conflagration and a lot of people would have been killed. So they took it into the water instead.”
Others have surmised that the pilots got disoriented; it was a pitch-black night, no visible moon, impossible to see the horizon. The last thing Wills remembers hearing over his headset was a voice saying: “Pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up!” Then darkness.
He regained consciousness underwater and made it to the surface. His left leg was fractured and his right hip dislocated. His helmet had been torn off. He fired two pen flares, then activated his rescue strobe. Scott was nearby and turned on his strobe, too.
On the Hancock, Collison remembers seeing the two strobes and thinking, “Great, there are survivors!” Then it dawned on him: “There should be four strobes.”
Another CH-46 lifted off the carrier, and to those on the flight deck, it looked as if it might disappear, too. Its landing lights went under water. Moments later, the engines roared and it lifted into the air and back toward the ship, carrying the engines roared and it lifted into the air and back toward the ship, carrying the two survivors.
The next day, on board the Hancock, they held a traditional burial at sea for the pilots. There were no bodies, so they put mock corpses under the American flags, and slid those into the ocean.
“We were numb like zombies,” Collison said. “We’d spent all day saving people and then we lost two Marines. Nobody wanted to be the last guy to die in Vietnam, and then it happened to two guys that we knew. The whole thing felt surreal.”
It’s part of military lore that no man is left behind, but the evacuation task force had orders to move on. Saigon had fallen to the Viet Cong.
Click on this link to read the entire story written above: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/sdut-vietnam-helicopter-crash-2016may28-story.html
Link for nose art: http://wp.me/pRiEw-1P4
Information for this article was obtained from Wikipedia, The Military Channel, The History Channel, https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty, and Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association. (Visit the VHPA museum in the near future at http://www.vhpa.org )
I want to personally thank the 40,000 pilots and crews for being there when called. You are all held in the highest regard by us grunts and others who were in harm’s way. Thank you for your service and Welcome Back to those who made it home. Side note: Every time a Chinook or Blackhawk passes overhead from nearby Selfridge National Guard Base, I still find myself looking into the sky and watching it cross over until it’s gone…and then sometime when I’m outside, I hold my cane in both hands overhead in tribute to those magnificent men in their flying machines – and was then thankful that they didn’t land in my backyard.
Thank you for taking the time to view this article! Don’t miss out on the many other stories, pictures and videos available to you on this website (see below).
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about the Vietnam War – subscribe to this blog and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader. Meanwhile, you can check into my special pages, most recent articles and those most popular – all listed to the right of each article. If you’d rather sample every post, then click HERE and be redirected to this blog’s main page. There, you can scroll down through all the published titles, listed chronologically – the most recent is first.
I’ve also included a poll to help identify my website audience – before leaving, can you please click HERE and choose the one item best describing you. Thank you in advance
Tagged: book sites, books war, casualties downed helicopter crews, cherry soldier, combat, Combat Infantry, destroyed helicopters in Vietnam, digital books, firefights, Grunts, helicopter units in Vietnam, Ia Drang Valley, jungle warfare, LZ Albany, LZ X-Ray, Military, novels, POW, The vietnam war, The Vietnam war story, Veteran, Vietnam blog pages, Vietnam book, Vietnam conflict, Vietnam Generation, Vietnam Heroes, Vietnam veteran, war books, war story, Wars and Conflicts
