On July 20, 1983, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago held an outdoor festival to celebrate its 50th anniversary. But 10 years later I had a personal encounter with a Huey, and I’ve not forgotten it. I was too young to understand much about the war, and frankly, I don’t remember anything special about that date.
military involvement in Vietnam officially ended on August 15, 1973, just before I turned 9. The Huey has become one of the most widely recognized military vehicles of all time. Indeed, the vehicle has become synonymous with the Vietnam War.
#HUEY HELICOPTER SOUND FULL#
The Huey has been made famous by its prominent role in Hollywood films, from Francis Ford Coppola’s award-winning classic Apocalypse Now(1979) to Platoon (1986) and Full Metal Jacket (1987) among many others. Officially, a total of 7,013 Hueys were used in Vietnam 3,305 of them were destroyed, leading to the deaths of over 2,700 pilots, crew members, and passengers. During the Vietnam War, its role expanded greatly to include search-and-rescue operations, troop transport, disaster response, firefighting, cargo transport, and special operations. Ground-based American medical personnel often had mixed feelings about the sound, for it often meant that new casualties were being transported back from the front lines.įormally known as the Bell UH-1 Iroquois Helicopter (originally the HU-1, hence the nickname), the Huey was first flown during training exercises in 1956 as a medical evacuation and general utility helicopter for the U.S. On the other hand, for the North Vietnamese soldiers who were on the receiving end of an attack, the sound would’ve been insidious and demonic.
soldiers in Vietnam, the sound communicated the promise of rescue and transport to safety, and was therefore inspirational and heroic. Painted black or dark green, it is frighteningly utilitarian, if not sinister.Īcoustically, the rhythmic, thumping sound of a Huey is primal and tantalizing, and iconic in and of itself. Visually, the helicopter looks vaguely like a dragonfly, a grasshopper, or some other large insect with big eyes. But nothing tops the Huey, if you ask me. World War I gave us biplanes for the first time, World War II and the Korean War gave us the Jeep-now part of American pop and recreational culture-and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars gave us Predator drones. What is the most iconic military vehicle ever created? For both visual and acoustic reasons, I’d suggest it’s the Huey helicopter of the Vietnam War era.
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