Vietnam War Army Helicopter Nose Art

Vietnam War Army Helicopter Nose Art brings to light over 250 recently recovered Vietnam War photographs from Army aviation veterans. The vast majority of these photographs have never before been published, with them all capturing that quintessential and unmistakable American war custom of embellishing one’s assigned aircraft with personalized markings. Each is accompanied by a caption containing data particular for each featured image: helicopter name, unit, serial number, photo date, photo location, crew names, artist name, photo contributor, and anecdotal information.Against a backdrop of censorship, political correctness, and military directives to the contrary, in-country Army helicopter nose art flourished in Vietnam, and the failure to acknowledge this archetypal convention in any study of Army aviation history demonstrates a lack of respect for the personal cost of conflict.Although ‘Iron Butterfly’ may not be as well-known as ‘Memphis Belle’ or ‘Enola Gay’ from World War II, it nonetheless carried its crews into battle with just as much passion for life and sense of duty as its predecessors. We all know the ugly politics of that war; these pictures show us the human side of it.