Helicopter names

[widgeon]

I wonder why some names are rarely used EC120 Colibri for instance.
Nearly every bell product I can think of had a name except the 407 and 429.
Was the S76 officially called the Spirit.

[WylieCoyote]

I call mine Mandy and one of the other lads refers to his as Beryll but some how I can't see Bell or Eurocopter following our lead!

[GoodGrief]

Isn't a designator enough?
Why would it need some animal's name?

Does an AS350 actually remind you of a squirrel ? Yeah, looks exactly like it...

Those new EC numbers are perfect. When someone tells you the 155 is a 6 ton machine, you can easily say:" Wait a minute, what was the second 5 for ?"

My 2 centavos.

[Ian Corrigible]

The 429 was christened 'GlobalRanger' at launch, but the name seems to have fallen out of favor (too close a connection with the 206?). Ditto for the S-92 ('Helibus').

Looking at one of the other recent threads, some people apparently call the helicopters flying over their homes "Motherf......" :E

I/C

[TiPwEiGhT]

I believe the S92 is also known as the Sea Queen... no exactly a tough sounding name.

TiP

[ShyTorque]

Possibly they realised the name "Colibri" could cause confusion.

It was already in use in other aviation circles, and had been for many years before they thought to use it for the EC120.

Brügger Colibri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%BCgger_Colibri)

[Scorpygixxer]

The Irish were apparantly given the honour of naming the AW139 and chose Wolfhound to reflect Cu Chulain's dogs of war.The submission went into historic and mythologic detail and was well recieved by the Italians. Subsequently officially turned down for being 'too warlike' by the civil side of the DOD. Currently reflected in the formation callsign 'WOLF' adopted by all 139 formations, although this may vary in the future. I imagine it may be resurected by the Italians for the 149. It is a rather cool name!

[SASless]

I guess the MV-22 would be called the "Hangar Queen" then?

[Whirlygig]

How on earth can "wolfhound" be considered aggressive? :}

http://www.hunde-irish-wolfhound.de/irish_wolfhound_3071.jpg

I think the Schweizer 300 should be called the Maybug - they share many aerodynamic properties :p

http://www.invisiblebeard.com/images/cockchafer.jpg

Cheers

Whirls

[212man]

Those new EC numbers are perfect. When someone tells you the 155 is a 6 ton machine, you can easily say:" Wait a minute, what was the second 5 for ?"


Yes, the system works well until you get into double (weight) figures, then starts to go a bit awry - hence the 225 and 725 (by rights they should be the 1125 and 6125, but that spoils the 3 digit number convention!)

[ShyTorque]

Whirls, the other common name for the Maybug would put the blokes off! :ooh:

[Fareastdriver]

When the S76A started off it was called the S76 Spirit. The name Spirit was dropped because of some problem in Hispanic speaking countries.

[Whirlygig]

the other common name for the Maybug
ShyT, it never crossed my mind :E

Cheers

Whirls

[flap flap flap]

If it has a '5' on the end, then it's a twin engine (eg EC155, AS355, EC135), if it has a '0' on the end, then it's a single (eg EC120, EC130, AS350)

[GoodGrief]

@flap flap flap
You are right, of course. I meant the second digit being a five.
The 135 would have been a better example.
Sorry.

[widgeon]

would be interestting to know rhat the Bolkow concepts between the 105 and the 117 where. I think the 108 was the precurser to the EC135 , wonder what the 106 and 107 were ?.

1977 | 0737 | Flight Archive (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%200737.html)

I am guessing the bo107 became the BK117.

and the BO 106
MBB Bo.106 helicopter - development history, photos, technical data (http://aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bo-106.php)

Wonder why it never went past prototype stage

[SASless]

Flap,

I would have thought one's and two's would have been appropriate rather than naughts and fives.....but then the French do have their own unique way of doing things.

[Ian Corrigible]

Goodgrief - It's still pretty easy to follow - just remember to 'carry the one' (hence EC2xx & EC7xx for a 10-19 ton platform. If that European heavylift project ever gets off the ground, we could perhaps even see an EC9xx designation used, though a 3-engine solution would screw-up the ECxx0/ECxx5 logic...).

widgeon - The BO106 was a widebody BO105 that flew in '73, and was used as a trials ship for the next decade; the BO107 was a 10-seat study that preceded the BK117.

I/C

[alouette3]

While we are on about names, is it true that the EH101 started life as European Helicopter Industries 01 and a typo by a clerk resulted in it's current designation?.
Incidentally, the ATC in the US still has the AS350 designated as a Squirrel. Personally, I lile the name squirrel. It's a warm, fuzzy creature and needs a lot of nuts to keep it going.:E Besides, close to the ground, on a windy day, it behaves exactly like one.
Alt3.

[GoodGrief]

The British call it squirrel, the yanks call it Astar.

[twinstar_ca]

is squirrel not ecureil in french?

[Tango and Cash]

The Globalranger name was promoted by Mike Redenbaugh when he was CEO at Bell. Not sure whether who at Bell came up with it, but Red liked it and used it. The name fell out of favor after Red's departure, but I've seen in used in a few recent articles about the 429.

[Helilover]

As Alouette3 mentioned, I also heard that the EH101 was originally intended to be the EHI01. Along the same lines, I also understand that it was meant to be Marlin (as in the fish) rather than Merlin, but don't know whether that's true......I think Merlin is more inkeeping with it's predecessor, the Sea King.

I like how the US call the AS350 the Astar and the AS355 the Twinstar - they roll of the tongue easily! :ok:

[Focha]

Is it from the company to call their helicopters animal names? What is the criteria for the names?

I can name some, Squirrel (Ecureiul), Fennec (it's a fox), Puma, the super powerful transformation of the last Super Puma, Cougar, Dauphin, Panther, Tiger, Colibri (now that I think, they should name the EC130 Super Colibri as well as the EC155 the Super Dauphin or Super Panther), Lama, Allouette (it's a bird), Gazelle, etc.

Some I cannot find the name are EC135 and EC145 as well as for the new EC175... Wonder why?

Regards.

EDIT: Ah... I forgot one, Super Frelon. :}

[jhiles]

Apologies for slight thread drift, but this reminded me of a thought (or more of a theory) I had wandering around RIAT a couple of weeks ago...

'All military helicopters are named after something which could in some way or another kill a person' eg. Lynx (big teeth), Sea King (big trident) etc

Obviously there are a few grey areas, just wondering if there are any placid sounding military helicopter names out there (Eurocopter Fluffy Bunny? AW Cloud?)

Ah well, back to the madhouse for me.....

[Whirlygig]

Scouts are quite cute :E

Cheers

Whirls

[FH1100 Pilot]

widgeon said:Nearly every bell product I can think of had a name except the 407 and 429.

Huh? Straining my brain...trying to recall..

47D?
47G?
47J - "Ranger"
47H?

204?
205?
206B - "JetRanger"
206L - "LongRanger"

212?
214 - "Big Lifter"
214ST - "Super Transport"

222?

609?

Am I missing something? We're talking about factory marketing model names, right? Not the names the military gives them? (But while we're on the subject, has anyone EVER heard a Bell 47 referred to as a "Trooper" or a "Sioux?")

[ShyTorque]

has anyone EVER heard a Bell 47 referred to as a "Trooper" or a "Sioux?")

The British Army called their Bell 47 variants "Sioux".

The EC 145 should be called the "Bumble Bee". The UK's Met police ones look like one and sound like one and no-one can work out how they manage to stay airborne. ;)

Scouts are quite cute

Thankfully for scouts everywhere, Whirls is a lady and not a scout leader. :uhoh:

Obviously there are a few grey areas, just wondering if there are any placid sounding military helicopter names out there (Eurocopter Fluffy Bunny? AW Cloud?)

Wessex, Belvedere and Gazelle. Terrible killers, those.

[SASless]

Jhiles,

Try....Souix,Commanche, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Chinook, Osage, Tarhe, Mojave, Apache, and a host of other American Indian Tribal names for US Army helicopters. Reckon in a way they were named for things that would kill you.

[Epiphany]

In pronunciation challenged parts of the globe the Dauphin is called the 'Dolphin' and with the addition of nasal strine it is the 'Dawfeeeen' mate!

[unstable load]

47D?
47G?
47J - "Ranger"
47H?

204?
205?
206B - "JetRanger"
206L - "LongRanger"

212? "Steam Chicken"
214 - "Big Lifter"
214ST - "Super Transport"

222? "Cripple Two"

609?

[widgeon]

FH have to admit I was thinking of the miltary versions ( which I guess are not named by bell ).

I recall the BK117 being called the space ship at some stage

[John R81]

Names could impart more information about the aircraft (like model numbers sometimes do) if they were a little more descriptive, not wistfully hoping to emulate a magnificent jungle animal.

Any suggestions? here's my go:

I would like to propose that the MD 900 be called the "Starbug". It looks just as ugly as that craft from Red Dwarf. Especially from high/rear view

And how about the A109 "Hanger Queen"? Perhaps not the name the factory would choose but I know one or two who would endorse it.

Or the R44 "Starter-ring-breaker" - or is that just Nick's machine?

John

[Tango and Cash]

Widgeon--I seem to recall BK117s being referred to as "Starship", but not sure if that's an official name.

John--I'm sure MD would prefer "Explorer", but "Starbug" seems to fit :ok:

[TwoStep]

Thought the AS365 was the 'Dough-fan' rather than 'Dawfeeeen'

DanCopter have suggested the name 'Orca' for the EC155...:hmm:

[victor papa]

EC130 maybe "tadpole"?
AS350 should have been a "dragon fly" as it looks just like one if you remove the skids.
What would one call the sleek S76?

[TiPwEiGhT]

Bell 212 - Twin Two Twelve?

TiP

[unstable load]

What would one call the sleek S76?

I have heard "The Plastic Pig" and "Sh1t Hawk" used equally often and often with great feeling by the maintenance guys, sometimes prefaced by a string of colourful adjectives.

[Troglodita]

What would one call the sleek S76?



I seem to remember from when I did my conversion back in early 80's that it was call the "Sikorsky Spirit" but maybe that is just 28 years of other "Spirits" taking their toll! :}

Oops - didn't read the thread from the beginning - already said.

The Mitsubishi Pajero also reputedly suffered a similar fate and was renamed the "Montero" in Spanish speaking areas - apparently not too many people were keen to be seen driving their W:mad::mad:kers

Trog

[unstable load]

Apparently the "Spirit" fell foul of copyright issues.

[VeeAny]

JohnR81

I used to call A109 AII I used to fly the DODO

Day On
Day Off

It was so unreliable.

The power on the other hand, was very good and worked almost every time.

[Curtis E Carr]

Try....Souix,Commanche, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Chinook, Osage, Tarhe, Mojave, Apache, and a host of other American Indian Tribal names for US Army helicopters

Following the lead of our American cousins, there was a move by the Brits to name their aircraft after famous Indians.

Hence, the WAH-64 was to be known as the Westland Patel!

[alouette3]

Curtis:

Good One!! LOL:ok::ok:.

Alt3

[John R81]

:O:D:D

I love that!

[Bell_Flyer]

There was an export variant of the 206L called the Bell Texas Ranger.

[diethelm]

My wife named my 530F.

She called it......

"The god dammed helicopter"

[Ascend Charlie]

I know a man who had a 530N registered VH-FLY. He painted the tail cone blue, and said it went like a blue-arsed fly!:8

[topendtorque]

My wife used to call them 'tuit'
well she used -quite often- to say that I should have been married tuit.

[2 per rev]

Pilot who operated a 500C for many years took the leap and upgraded to a 500D and got married about the same time.
It was not long before his high maintenance wife was always referred to as the "D model". Cost a lot to run but performance was OK.