... WHAT’S IN A NAME ...

history page

For the first couple of years that the aviation section of the Headquarters & Headquarters Company of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry Division operated in Vietnam, it did not have an official name. Though the logo of the Peanuts character "Snoopy" was often used, and his likeness often appeared on items belonging to the unit, this character was officially adopted by the 2nd Brigade of the Cav.

Snoopy, painted on rock by Nicola Zeuzem An Khe, 1967 - by T. Winkler

It was not until Tom Kuypers joined the aviation unit as its new Commander in October of 1967 that a name was introduced that would stick. Tom named the group after a World War One German squadron of outgoing, unorthodox, yet top rate pilots who called themselves "The Flying Circus". The original Flying Circus came to be known far and wide for its abilities, and included such names as the Baron Von Richthofen.

Tom had the scout section of the unit more in mind when he started using the Flying Circus name, but it was soon adopted by the entire aviation group. To distinguish the scout section, Tom introduced another name from that same era, calling them after a French aviation unit made up entirely of American flyers known as the "Lafayette Escadrille". That unit made a huge, favourable impression on the French, and a similar impression was made by the 1st Brigade aviation unit on those who received their support in Vietnam.

In addition to this name, a small French flag, or Tricolour, began to appear on some objects, though mainly on the scout helicopters. The name "Lafayette Escadrille" and the flag emblem began to fade from use from late 1968, but it was the name "Flying Circus" that stood the test of time and continued to be used throughout the rest of the Vietnam War.

Flying Circus sign at Quang Tri Quang Tri, 1968 - by F. Vanatta

The aviation unit of the HHC, 1st Brigade, consisted of five UH-1 helicopters used for Command & Control and eight smaller helicopters used for scout missions. It was more from the exploits of these scouts that the unit’s reputation was made. Moving ahead of the main units, they performed much as did the scouts of the old wild west. Because they were not restricted to operating as part of a bigger aviation group, these scouts went when and where they were needed in more of an atmosphere of "have gun, will travel". This philosophy meant that the scouts performed a more varied type of flying and became proficient in a wide variety of missions. Their exploits produced a fine mixture of those early cavalry scouts with the spirit of those days when the original Flying Circus took to the air.

As proper names were not used over the radio, each person had a nickname. If the individuals did not choose a name for themselves, one would soon be given to them by the members of the unit. These names were used not just by the pilots, but by most of the members of the Circus.

There was also a series of more formal military type call signs used in normal communications. These were assigned by "the powers that were running the show" and were changed from time to time.

The call signs for the Command & Control helicopters stemmed from the call sign of the units to which they were assigned. Examples of these names could come from football positions such as "Fullback", "Halfback", or "Quarterback", or they could be names with no particular association such as "White Knight". These names were followed by a number which denoted the rank of the person being addressed. A "6" represented the Commanding Officer of the unit, and then the numbers reduced as the rank decreased. An example would be a Battalion Commander’s helicopter with a call sign of "Fullback 6".

The scout helicopters usually had a generic call sign which denoted which unit they were assigned to. The Flying Circus scouts were known as "Stingray" for many years. This name seems to have been in existence from sometime in 1967 to at least early 1970. This call sign was followed by a color code which showed what type of mission was being flown. White was used for scouts, red for guns or artillery, etc. This combination was in turn followed by a number which belonged to the particular pilot flying that aircraft. This number may have been assigned in a random order at first, but it soon settled into a pattern of each pilot taking the next number in the sequence as they were assigned to the unit.

An example of such a call sign would thus be "Stingray white 24".

What this added up to was that while a particular scout pilot may be addressed as "Chartreuse OX" by those who knew him, he would be "Stingray white 31" to another aircraft from outside the unit.

All of these things came together to produce the colorful names to which various stories have been attached over the years that the unit operated in Vietnam. The members of the unit, no matter what job they performed, all contributed to making the history of the Flying Circus a memorable one in the annals of that war.

compiled by Frank Vanatta