174th AHC home page

Dolphin logo that appeared on noses of 174th slicks beginning in the summer of 1967

174th Assault Helicopter Company

"The Dolphins"

The 174th AHC arrived in Vietnam in 1966, and originally flew out of Lane Army Heliport near Qui Nhon in II Corps in 1966. In 1967 they moved to Duc Pho in Quang Ngai Province in I Corps. In 1971 they moved further north in I Corps to Chu Lai to support the final operations of the AMERICAL division.

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1967 - Lift Platoon "946" This UH-1D aircraft (tail number 09946) flew in early 1967 with a combination of high visibility markings and subdued insignia. The unit designation "174" was prominently displayed on both pilots' doors in black, block numbers. It had red "Danger" arrows on the rear of the tail boom. Some American Hueys had the words "KEEP AWAY" above these arrows. However, photos show that some 174th aircraft had the Vietnamese words "NGUY HIEM" (meaning "dangerous") in large yellow letters above the arrows. The 5-digit tail numbers of the 174th appeared in black, block, subdued numbers. There was no unit nose art on 174th slicks until mid-1967. Several 174th aircraft flew without cargo doors or mounts for M60 machineguns in early 1967-dated photos. I've illustrated "946" without this hard mount. "946" was lost in September, 1967, when a single enemy round penetrated the engine during a mountaintop landing. The hit caused engine RPM to decrease and "946" crashed on the side of the mountain. The crew walked away with minor injuries.

1969 - Lift Platoon "543" Huey UH-1H number "543" as it appeared in 1969. The tips of the landing skids have been painted yellow. Vertical white-blue-white tactical identification stripes has been added to the tail boom just forward of the horizontal tailplanes. The Vietnamese words above the red tail boom arrow have been painted out. The tail number now appears in two colors - the first two digits in black, the final three numbers in white. The M60 machinegun hard mount is also in place on this aircraft. This aircraft had a distinctive variation of the Dolphin nose art applied in 1968 (illustration coming).