Jet Nicknames

[Old72s]

B-26 Whore from Baltimore (short wings made it look like it had no visible means of support). :)

[svaz]

MiG-21 : Balalaika - a triangular shaped folk music instrument

MiG-23 : Crocodile & Chiborashka - a Russian cartoon character that was always tripping over itself

MiG-25 : Flying Liquor Store - because of the large amount of high grade alcohol used throughout the hydraulic systems

MiG-27 : Utkonos - "duck nose"

MiG-29 : Fulcrum - Russian pilots actually like that name, I've read.

Su-25 : Gratch - Rook

Su-27 : Zhuravlik (Crane) & Flanker - another Russian pilot fav.

Su-37 : Terminator & Super Flanker

Tu-22 : spiritnotsets - Liquor carrier, a play off it's official designation of missile carrier, also because, like the MiG-25, it used stupid amounts of alcohol for the hydraulics.

My favorite, though not a fighter nor jet, is the An-22, "Antheus", a greek mythology hero, son of Poseidon and Gaia, who lost his powers when lifted from the ground!

ref: http://aeroweb.lucia.it/~agretch/RAFAQ/Prozvischa.html

Edited November 1, 2005 by scalemdlr_svaz

[F4DPhantomII]

When I served in the USAF 523TFS at Clark AB PI a crew chief I knew called the F-100F the Scenic Cruiser after the Greyhound buses in the US at the time.This was July 1967.

[Karl Sander]

Su-25 : Gratch - Rook

Esteemed company, there....

Rooks

Rooks

[The 3rd Placer]

Yes....... the 104 was "The missle with a man in it" and it also "Went like a rocket and turned like one too!"......I always liked that one.

[General Grievous]

A-10 Hog

F-14 Tomgrape

F-16  Pork Falcon

AT-38 Smurf Jet

F-102 Deuce

F-104 Zipper

F-105 Thud

F-106 Six

F-111 Vark

EF-111 Spark-Vark

F-117 Black Jet, Cockroach, Stink Bug

Regards,

Murph

Oh, no authentic derogatory nickname for the F-15C Eagle? ;)

GG

Edit: just now I realised this is an old thread!

Edited November 2, 2005 by General Grievous

[hatchet]

Here in Denmark, the F-104 was sometimes referred to as a pregnant (sewing) needle.

:)

[Hippy-Ed]

Here in Denmark, the F-104 was sometimes referred to as a pregnant (sewing) needle.

:)

:huh: :D

[Hippy-Ed]

I've seen the Boeing 377-PG yrs. ago at Santa Barbara,Calif. airport It was called the Guppy but, looked like a Pregnant Guppy :)

[Craig]

Phantom-Tomb

Lighting-fright'ning

Canberra-Cranberry

Tornado-Tonka, The fin, fying flicknife (apparently)

Vickers VC10-Funbus

Tristar-Timmy

Viking, Vigilant, Valiant-Plastic V-force (gliders used to train air cadets)

I'm assured all of these are real terms but I've only ever come across the Tornado nicknames when around regs. My dad swears they were all in common use in the eighties when he was in the mob.

[Charlie Cheetah]

Washing machine for the Voodoo? What's the story behind that?

They would clean "Charlie" out

Not sure exactly what it means, maybe one of the Canadian AF guys could fill us in. I was chatting with Mark Lynam one night when he referred to it as that. I think it may have something to do with the sound it makes on start-up. :blink:

[bmccarron]

Just a couple of others from the great white north.

Lockheed 1011 Tristar - Tritanic

DH Otter with radial engine - Steam Otter

DH Twin Otter - Twotter

Tutor trainer - 3 ton dog whistle

cheers, Brian :lol:

[Old72s]

Svaz, I agree, An-22 always struck me as hillarious. Someone needs to brush up on their Greek mythology.

MiG-23 killed a whole lot of people in accidents.

[Grey Ghost 531]

This forum and a Tom Clancy book are the only places I've ever read/heard the Prowler referred to as "Queer."

The term "queer" goes back further than that and has nothing to do with anyone's "orientation". When electronics and radar were new they were described (and those who worked on them) as being "queer" in the sense of "not normal".

I think it was perpetuated in the Navy by the fact that the rating for airborn fire control radar is "AQ". The guys in that career path were always called "Aviation Queers" at NAS Memphis when I was there.

Could be where the Q in APQ for the designation of fire control radar comes from too I guess.

[Karl Sander]

This forum and a Tom Clancy book are the only places I've ever read/heard the Prowler referred to as "Queer." 

The term "queer" goes back further than that and has nothing to do with anyone's "orientation". When electronics and radar were new they were described (and those who worked on them) as being "queer" in the sense of "not normal".

That wasn't the insinuation or implication.

[Sean Bratton]

Washing machine for the Voodoo? What's the story behind that?

They would clean "Charlie" out

Not sure exactly what it means, maybe one of the Canadian AF guys could fill us in. I was chatting with Mark Lynam one night when he referred to it as that. I think it may have something to do with the sound it makes on start-up. :(

It had to do with the fact that others deemed the Voodoo to be large and ugly like a household appliance. But then to an F-5 driver, any airplane seems large.

I think they were just jealous.

[drhornii]

Dont they call the C17 "Barney"

I have heard the C-17A called "Moose" when I worked with the upgrade group on the early production birds.

[Barneydhc82]

I really don't know who comes up with a few of these so called "nick names". ..and having spent a life-time in the RCAF-CAF Air Traffic Control, I never once heard anyone refer to the Voodoo as the "Washing machine" nor the Tutor as the "Three ton Dog Whistle"...the latter was reserved for the "Tweetybird" T-37 a.k.a. the Cessna Pretend-a-jet.

Barney

[Old72s]

Another one for the Voodoo I heard from a former Deuce driver yesterday:

"Two meanies, two Genies, and 50,000 lbs of s#$t"

To the guy's credit, he did admit that Voodoo would outrace and outclimb his ride any day.

[Karl Sander]

I really don't know who comes up with a few of these so called "nick names"

THAT was precisely what I was trying to get at...

[C-130CrewChief]

Greetings from the biggest sand box on Earth1

We call C-130's many things I can't say here but mainly "Pigs" and straight up "one thirty" The AC-130 has been refered to as "The fabulos four engined fighter" in Vietnam when it first came out. How about the AC-47's they were Puff. I have never heard any nick names for the C-17 used. At Dyess we call B-1's IFE's (In Flight Emergencies) waiting to happen.

[ChernayaAkula]

I know this is an old thread. I found it when looking for threads on the Su-25.

I got a few more.

From a FliegerRevue extra on Russian Army Aviation in the 2nd Chechen War:

Mi-24 - Raschpil (sp?)- for grater or rasp

Mi-8MTKO - Telepusik - afaik, Telepusik is the Russian-dubbed version of the Teletubbies. Apparently, the Mi-8MTKOs (and later their crews :lol: ) got this name because of all the antennae stuck on the helo.

Su-39 - Supergratsch - for the improved version of the Su-25, which was Gratsch -for, as above, "rook".

Ka-29 - flying drums - because of the noise of the rotors. The noise would be so loud that the Chechens would keep their heads down long before the helicopters arrived. Thus, the Ka-29 was soon pulled back for lack of effectiveness

Ka-50 - Chernaya Akula - for "black shark". Two were used, but their effectiveness was limited due to fear of losing them.

[...] that just about every other aircraft in history has evidently been nicknamed "Whistling Death."

Except for the Beaufighter. That one was the "Whispering Death".

Could be, but I've seen plenty of books saying the Germans used that term.

In German, fork-tailed devil would translate to Gabelschwanzteufel. If that was a nick-name, the Germans really used, I don't know, but I've read in some English books that USAAF pilots said that the Germans referred to them as Gabelschwanzerteufel. However, that would be a spelling mistake, let alone the fact that it doesn't make sense any longer.

So, if this was really used, or just added later as "folklore" (for lack of a better word), I don't know.

Maybe the spelling mistake arrived after years and years of people hearing stories, reading books, then writing own books.

Another example. We get the dubbed version of "Rides" here on TV. There was an episode about Porsche cars. Of course, the couldn't forget bout the Schwimmwagen, the Wehrmacht's swimming jeep. Only they made it the Schwimmenwagen, adding an -en- just like the -er- as above.

[wffwii]

I didn't see these:

S-3 - Hoover

C-2 - COD

[Su-34]

Here's something that i have in my head.....

MiG-15 "Samolyot soldat" Plane soldier

MiG-21 "Balalaika"

MiG-25 "Letaiushiy restaurant" Flying restaurant (because the gronund crew drank the alcohol of the powerful radar!)

MiG-27 "Krokodil" Crocodile

MiG-31 "Letaiushiya krepast" Flying fortress

Su-24 "Chemodan" Suitcase (because of the boxy shape)

Su-25 "Gratch" Rook(?)

Su-34 "Utkonoz" Platypus (because of the platypus-like nose appearance because of the radar)

Mi-6 "Korova" Cow

Mi-8 "Zhontik/Karlson" Umbrella and a Soviet kid cartoon charecter (the one who has propeller on his back :lol: )

Mi-24 "Gorbatch" Hunchback

Mi-26 "Saraj" Barn

L-39 "Yelka" Tree (?)

B-52 Buff Big Ugly Fat Fuckah

EDIT: Ohh **** just now saw the "jet" in this topic name, but i guess this is ok.......

Edited May 20, 2007 by Su-34

[janman]

That "Flying Fortress" nick for MiG-31 was a new thing for me, but the alcohol in the MiG-25 is actually not for the radar, but used as hydraulic fluid.