The names of the planes

Likewise, 'Son of a Bitch, 2nd class' wasn't strictly a nickname either, rather an ironic derivation of the official designation SB2C.

Further notes on the names of planes, for anyone who is interested,;

There were various policies for naming aircraft in force in the UK before WW2, from 1935 fighter names had to denote speed and aggression whhile bomber and transport names were drawn from cities of the empire, hence the Lancaster, Halifax, Wellington etc. The last RAF type to be named in this fashion was the 1966 HS Andover.

It was also the practice that, wherever possible, names would start with the Same letter as the manufacturers name, examples here include the Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, Fairey Fulmar etc. Oddly, Vickers aircraft all began with the letter W, this was purely to denote aircraft built with Barnes Wallis' (hence W) geodetic construction, thus we had the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick and Windsor bombers.

Another specific rule was the RAF V-bombers, the V-force and its aircrfaft, the Valiant, Vulcan and Victor were all so named, in the very early days of swept wing technology, because of the then distinctive V shape of their wing leading edges.

There is also a trend where a manufacturer will adopt a theme for its aircraft names, the main example of this is probably Lockheed.

The Lockheed theme of space related names is there for all to see in the Shooting Star, Starfighter, Starfire etc but it is also present in pewrhaps less obvious ways, for instance the Constellation airliner and Orion ASW aircraft are examples that fit the Lockheed pattern.

Interesting footnote here, people may not be aware of the coincidence that links the Lockheed and Gloster aircraft companies?




The answer is that both names are spelled incorrectly!

The reason for this is that the then Loughead and Gloucester companies felt that using phonetic spelling would make things easier for them commercially as it reduced the chances of prospective customers failing to find them!

[edit on 28-10-2005 by waynos]

Originally posted by waynos
Interesting footnote here, people may not be aware of the coincidence that links the Lockheed and Gloster aircraft companies?

The answer is that both names are spelled incorrectly!

The reason for this is that the then Loughead and Gloucester companies felt that using phonetic spelling would make things easier for them commercially as it reduced the chances of prospective customers failing to find them!

Hahaha, thats really hilarious info

Originally posted by ghost

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
Anyway a Corsair is a type of Pirate...

Dictionary.com is my friend...

Thank you! I learn something new every day! Well done Ground Zero.

Tim

At your service sir

One of my favorites for unofficial nicknames must be "Silent Thunder" for the A-10, I believe that is what the Iraqi's called it!

I love the A-10...and anyone who says it's ugly just don't know what sexyness is

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
At your service sir

One of my favorites for unofficial nicknames must be "Silent Thunder" for the A-10, I believe that is what the Iraqi's called it!

I love the A-10...and anyone who says it's ugly just don't know what sexyness is

I must agree the warthog is a sexy beast. I think it partly may because that we all know its effectiveness and that is what counts. See all of her arament hanging out. beautiful lil nose we call then avenger cannon. The experence counts..... sorta like liking an older woman that has all the expeirnece.
oh and on topic the warthog does suit it cause its pretty in its own way.

[edit on 28-10-2005 by Canada_EH]

Originally posted by Canada_EH

Originally posted by GrOuNd_ZeRo
At your service sir

One of my favorites for unofficial nicknames must be "Silent Thunder" for the A-10, I believe that is what the Iraqi's called it!

I love the A-10...and anyone who says it's ugly just don't know what sexyness is

I must agree the warthog is a sexy beast. I think it partly may because that we all know its effectiveness and that is what counts. See all of her arament hanging out. beautiful lil nose we call then avenger cannon. The experence counts..... sorta like liking an older woman that has all the expeirnece.
oh and on topic the warthog does suit it cause its pretty in its own way.

[edit on 28-10-2005 by Canada_EH]

if we're talking sex appeal, then i have to revert to WWII:

the spitfire has got to be the sexiest plane ever built. even though i'm an american, i have never seen a plane that just looks so right either in the air or on the ground. i realize that the hurricane, the actual workhorse of the battle of britian, got a bad rap because of the spit, but i dont care, because its just so damn elegant! its the porche of WWII fighters.

probably best to stick to sexy names though i did feel the need to rant that one out a bit.
sexy names I like one being Gripen and one no one has seemed to mention to much the mustang. Mustang too me is just a very racy/purebreed feel to it though im not sur eif the mustang horse was crossbreed or not. Just throwing it out there as a fav.

If the Mustang was a crossbreed then it would be even more appropriate for the P-51, apart from just being a damn fine name.

Mustang is another example of the British requirement for a name that denotes speed and aggression for a fighter, a few here may not realise that the name Mustang was applied to the plane by the Air Ministry when it was still called the NA-73 and before the designation P-51 had been applied.

Further titbit - in 1979 it was announced that the F-16 was to be called 'Mustang II, this lasted a mere two weeks before General Dynamics announced it was still thinking about a name. Several months after this 'Fighting Falcon' was announced, which I think is infinitely worse.

At the time of the Mustang II announcement Britains P.110 design started to be referred to as the 'Spitfire II', news of collaboration with Germany led to this revised into the semi humorous 'Spitwulf 190'. All three of them now long since forgotten except by nutters like me

[edit on 28-10-2005 by waynos]

Regarding the F-111, I reckon Aardvark is a suitable name, since it usually has it's nose in the ground when using it's terrain following radar, day or night.

Originally posted by Xar Ke Zeth
Regarding the F-111, I reckon Aardvark is a suitable name, since it usually has it's nose in the ground when using it's terrain following radar, day or night.

Also the crews also said that the nose of the plane resembled something of an ardvarks. Ill try and get more info or find my source in a bit.

To refer to an earlier post; all US military rotorcraft officially carry the name of a Native American (Indian) tribe.

"Little Bird" is what we nicknamed the Cayuse (OH-6A), which began life as the Boeing MD-500. Hughes develped the aircraft for military use.

Nicknamed 'Aardvark' because of its long, slightly upturned nose, the F-111 evolved in response to a joint services requirement in the 1960s for a long range interceptor (US Navy) and deep-strike interdictor (USAF).

there yah go. its all in the nose.

Greetings,

I have to say that my favourite is "The Whispering Death", That was the nickname that the Japanese, durning WW2 gave to the Bistrol Beaufighter, I think the nickname is more fitting.

The reason the aircraft was the fact that they would strike from lowlevel around dusk or dawn with barely a sound from the aircraft, they did this with dampers and using the weather reports to fly into the wind to the target to try and avoid some of the japanese AAA.

Originally posted by gooseuk
The reason the aircraft was the fact that they would strike from lowlevel around dusk or dawn with barely a sound from the aircraft, they did this with dampers and using the weather reports to fly into the wind to the target to try and avoid some of the japanese AAA.

What exactly are dampers? I agree whispering death is an awesome name.

As I understand them, dampers were a sort of shroud fitted over the exhaust stubs which were basically silencers and also hid the sparks that were given out by them, thus reducing the audible and visible signatures of the aircraft, an early form of stealth.

Originally posted by snafu7700
if we're talking sex appeal, then i have to revert to WWII:

the spitfire has got to be the sexiest plane ever built....its the porche of WWII fighters.

Good God, no.

The Spitfire is the Lotus Elan of WWII fighters (or if you're into obscure cars, it's the Marcos LM600 of WWII fighters). (I'd go Lamborghini Miura).

Which would make the mustang the AC Cobra of WWII fighters, only in reverse.

Even British car manufacturers took their lead from the Air Ministry: Elan, Elise, Esprit, Excige, Europa...

These days Bristol name their cars after the old planes, Blenheim etc...

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV

Originally posted by snafu7700
if we're talking sex appeal, then i have to revert to WWII:

the spitfire has got to be the sexiest plane ever built....its the porche of WWII fighters.

Good God, no.

The Spitfire is the Lotus Elan of WWII fighters (or if you're into obscure cars, it's the Marcos LM600 of WWII fighters). (I'd go Lamborghini Miura).

Which would make the mustang the AC Cobra of WWII fighters, only in reverse.

Even British car manufacturers took their lead from the Air Ministry: Elan, Elise, Esprit, Excige, Europa...

These days Bristol name their cars after the old planes, Blenheim etc...

lmao....fair enough.

A couple that you may not be aware of...

Going way back to this likes of the Gnatsnapper, etc. These names for inter-war British aircraft were issued by the ministry, in a pattern of birds for some companies, other creatures for other companies, etc., so the companies didn't get much say in what they were going to be called.

The NATO code names for Soviet aircraft were devised on a coding system, of course, with the initial letter denoting the role of the aircraft, such as F for fighter, C for transport, H for helicopter, etc. The names allocated were intentionally made innocuous or in fact outright demeaning. Also single syllable names denote prop driven aircraft, eg 'Bear', 'Moose' while two syllable names denote jets, eg 'Fish-bed', 'Flank-er', 'Bi-son', 'Fa-got' etc.

Unofficial name for the F-111 (at least in the RAAF) - the PIG.

I think one of the best unofficial names asscribed to a plane was “La Muerte Negra” or "the black death" given by Argentine pilots in the Falklands war to the sea Harrier Frs.1




Because of its leathlity and its (although hard to tell in this pic) overall dark sea gray paint job.

As an interesting aside when the paint was applied to HMS Hermes Harriers it had to be done by hand because it lacked modern air con at the time

Ah, I'd forgotten about this old semi humourous thread of mine. Here's a couple more snippets of information.

The BAC TSR 2 was going to enter RAF service with the moniker 'BAC Eagle GR.1', which begs the question of what was the second choice name for the F-15?

Also, the death of the TSR 2 brought the F-111 as close as it would ever come to acquiring an official name because the MoD and RAF both agreed that the plane you see below was to be known in the RAF as the 'General Dynamics Merlin GR.1'