Drailaac-pattern Banshee

The Type-26AZ Ground Support Aircraft (T-26AZ GSA), more commonly known as the Heretic Banshee, is a variant of the Type-26 Banshee commonly employed in Covenant service as a standard aircraft.

Design details
The Type-26AZ is a specialized "ordained" variant of the Type-26A Banshee. Followers of Sesa 'Refumee removed the cowlings from their standard Type-26A Banshees to reveal the glowing blue lights and silver metal of the craft's internal Forerunner-derived mechanisms. They also bestowed upon their Banshees golden-brown colors intended to represent their homeworld. The Type-26AZ is otherwise nearly identical to standard Type-26A Banshees. These Sangheili would do the same to some of their Type-26B Banshees, creating the Type-26BZ variant.

Production notes
The Type-26AZ Banshee is the "heretic" Banshee featured in Halo 2 and the campaign component of Halo 2: Anniversary - the heretic Banshee seen in the game's multiplayer mode is the Type-26BZ Banshee. The vehicle behaves identically in-game to the standard Banshee. The design was not given a formal designation difference until a 2015 Halo Waypoint universe entry.

Trivia

 * In Celtic mythology, a banshee is a female spirit who wails for the death of a particular person before they die. Banshees must steal souls from people to continue their existence. The high-pitched sound made by the Covenant Banshee is a reference to this, especially while performing tight maneuvers making it easy to hear them before one sees them. This also fits the theme of Covenant vehicles, with the exceptions of the Excavators, being named after supernatural entities.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo 2: Anniversary