Origin of The Centaur Radio Call Sign & Logo
It is believed that the Call Sign Centaur (not the logo) was selected during the formation of D Troop 3/4 Cav at Schofield Barracks Hawaii (1964-65). The units (Troops) of the squadron used call signs beginning with "Sabre" (e.g., Saber Alpha, Saber Bravo). However, D Troop was the squadron's Air Cavalry troop, preparing to operate helicopters rather than ground vehicles. It is assumed that to distinguish themselves, they adopted the unique radio code name "Centaur". The Symbolic Meaning: In military lore, the Centaur—a mythical creature with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a horse—represents the ultimate fusion of soldier and mount. For an Air Cavalry unit, it perfectly symbolized the bonding of the pilot to their aircraft.
When D Troop arrived in Vietnam there was no "Centaur Logo", just a Centaur Call Sign. CPT Tony Robinson was on R&R in Hong Kong and discovered and purchased a bottle of Remy Martin Cognac with the figure of a mythic Centaur on the top. We have a page on the website where Tony Robinson (Photo MP2) talks of creating the Centaur Logo graphic for the Centaurs based on the sculpture on that Cognac Bottle.
15Aug2025: Mike Peake: Up until May 1966, there was no mention of Centaur, or very few uses of call signs. I searched every entry up to 2 May 1966, and given I had already transcribe a number of logs that month, I did a search to discover there was a 2 May 1966 "Cent Power 14, D Trp" that was apparently Dusk Patrol. The next that popped up was "UH1B (Centaur 20)" on 5 May 1966. There was zero mention of Cent/Centaur prior to those dates. All references were to D Trp, including when D Troop aircraft went down.
Some of the call-signs I encountered included Duplex 3, Slick Plow 808, Slick Plow 814, Lightning 33, Lion 33 and Liberty 33. All these appear prior to May.
14Aug2025: William Carroll: My best guess is we started using Centaur in about April 66
14Aug2025: Richard Stegner: I would think it was in 1965. I’m assuming the pilots who flying us rifles around in the helicopters then were assigned to D Trp. I don’t know how many there were because they only flew the rifle platoon around. Gunships dont know as I was a lowly PFC then. The helicopters were the old banana choppers. Probably from the 25th Avn Battalion
6Aug2025: Bill Hull: I could not find any dates or documents showing when D Troop was stood up. I arrived at Schofield Barracks in July of 1965 as new recruit fresh out of AIT. I believe the troop was still being stood up at that time. CPT Frank Delvy was the Troop Commander with 1SG Roland Petty. We did have the infantry platoon at that time and did jungle training. I believe we only had a couple pilots at that time As I recall one of our young warrant officers tried to buy a car and was told he needed a note from his parents or his commanding officer because he was too young to sign for it himself. I recall that the Troop did a lot of op force training of units being deployed, that was about Cpt Delvy's forte.
Michael Banks: I recall in the developing early days of the "Centaur" image that CPT Jack Kempster said, during a card game one evening, that he had the proposed centaur logo design from a gin bottle figure. "REMY MARTIN" I believe. He gave me a copy of what he wanted used and I worked up a copy larger so it was about 18" high: perfect for the nose lid of a Huey. Jack approved it and asked if I could paint a white one on his ship; so I did and he loved it. Needless to say, the idea caught eyes and I was presented with a case of white spray paint cans and told to get busy on all the birds. The crossed saber's were added later.
The Troop Commander, MAJ Pete Peterson, saw the painted logo and asked me to paint a large version of it on the unit shower building.