The remarkable Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) was the quintessential all-purpose military helicopter for over three decades. Since its delivery in 1959, all four U. S. armed services, as well as international forces, utilized the UH-1 for missions ranging from mountain rescue to troop transport, from anti-armor to anti-submarine warfare. The Iroquois got the nickname “Huey” from its original Army designation, the HU-1. It was re-designated UH-1 in 1962, under the unified tri-service designation scheme.

Bell produced two major versions of the UH-1: the single-engine Models 204 and 205, each with several variants. Models 204 and 205 were skid-equipped helicopters with a single two-blade, all-metal, anti-torque tail rotor mounted on the left side of the tail-boom. The all-metal, semi-monocoque fuselage could accommodate two crewmen and seven passengers in the Model 204, and two crewmen and eleven passengers in the Model 205. These UH-1 models served as gunships, in addition to casualty evacuation, search and rescue, vertical envelopment, attack transport, anti-submarine warfare, and general utility roles during their long service life.

Twin-engine models of the UH-1, Models 212 and 412, possessed enough differences from the earlier models to warrant considering them two separate aircraft.