Off the top of my head:
Almost all fighters have been referred to as “lawn darts”
F-111_ “Switch-blade edsel”, “Aardvark”, “Pig” (because of long nose)
EF-111_“Spark Vark”
A-10_“Hawg”, “Sandy”
F-4_“Rhino”, “Double Ugly”
F-16_“Viper”, “Electric Jet”
T-37_“Tweety Bird” or “Tweet”, “6000lb Dog Whistle”, “Noise Converter” (coverts JP-4 to noise)
F-105_“Thud”
B-1B_“Bone” (BTW the second “B” stands for broke…ask a B-1 crew chief sometime)
B-52_ “BUFF” (Big Ugly Fat Fellow)
F-102_“Deuce”
F-104_“Missle With a Man in it”
F-15A/C/D_“Light Greys”
F-15E_“Dark Greys”, “Mudhen”
A-4_“Scooter”, “Heineman’s Hotrod”
A-1_“Spad”, “Flying Dumptruck”, “Sandy”
A-1E_Same as A-1 plus “Round Face”
A-7_“SLUF” (Short Little Ugly Fellow)
C-124_“Old Shakey”
C-130_“Herk”
C-130A_“Roman Nose”
HC-130_“King”
SR-71_“Habu”
AC-119_“Stinger”, “Spooky”
AC-47_“Puff The Magic Dragon”, or simply “Puff”
AC-130_“Spectre”
C-5_“FRED” (Fat Ridiculous Elongated Disaster), “Pavement Pig”
C-141B_“Leaping Lizard”
UV-18_“Twotter”
KC-135_“Toad”
CH-46E_“Phrog”
H-21_“Flying Banana”
MH-6_“Little Bird”
AH-6_“Little Bird”, “Killer Egg”
HH-3_“Jolly Green Giant”, “Jolly”
HH-53_“Super Jolly”
MH-53_“Pave Low”, “Pave Pig”
HH-43_“Husky”, “Pedro”
C-177_“Gutlass”
BTW, The F-20 was NORTHROPS biggest mistake not the USAF’s, since the USAF never bought them. Northrop’s offer to compete with the F-16 for an export fighter. Their thought was that since so many counties operated the F-5, they would offer a similar airframe with the upgrades of the F-20. Yeager liked them.
Fingers are numb now,
Sal
Few Nicknames are so well suited for their aircraft as PHROG is for the CH-46. It actually looks like a frog (especially from the front), and it “Ribbits” in flight. I have no idea why someone decided to spell it with a “PH” instead of an F. Maybe it has something to do with FAT being bad, but PHAT being good. The CH-53E has quite a few very colorful and suitable nicknames. However, I must mind my manners.
They also called the Helldiver “SoB second class” (S…B…2…C) [;)]
My dad was crew chief on Curtiss Helldivers in San Diego around 1944-45.
Mike
Surprised that nobody has mentioned Boeing’s habit of using fortresses -
B-17 - Flying fortress
B-29 - Superfortress
B-52 - Stratofortress
Exception was B-47 stratojet
The B-52 is also commonly referred to as BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fellow [edited]), and the A-7 Corsair II is referred to as SLUF (Short Little Ugly Fellow [edited]).
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois got branded Huey from very early in its career, but was referred to as “Slick” in Viet Nam. Any body know where the name “Slick” came from? rangerj
IIRC, weren’t the gunship UH-1s called Hogs and the the assault transport UH-1s called Slicks?
Also, I don’t think the nickname ‘Aardvark’ for the F-111 was ever official.
The Hokum, or Ka-50 gunship is called the Blackshark by the Russians, I believe, which is a very cool nickname. The Russians also liked the nickname Fulcrum for the MiG-29 so much, they kept it, using it whenever they’re promoting the fighter.
Halibag for the Halifax comes to mind.
Flying Brick for F4.
Rangerj: Hueys were “Slicks” if they had no guns (other than door guns). Huey gunships had various names like “Hog” or “Heavy Hog” depending on armament.
Some nicnames I like:
F4U Corsair: “Bent Wing Bird”…“Whistling Death”
P-38 Lightning: “Forked-Tailed Devil”
P-47: Jug
A-10: Warthog
A-6A-E: Intruder
EA-6B: Prowler
F6F: Hellcat
F4F: Wildcat
F9F: Cougar/Panther
CH-46: Phrogs
CH-53: will refrain for decorum
UH-1N/AH-1Ws (USMC): Skids
AH-1Ws: Snakes
AV-8B: “Arizona Lawn Dart” (bad rap a few years back)
Spitfire: enough said
Hurricane: see above
SB2C: Helldiver
P-40: Warhawk/Tomahawk
F-104: “Missile with a man in it”
Hey guys; heres some for you all,
C-5’s are called FRED ( Fargin Rediculious Econmic Deseaster)
C-17’s are called Barney (Fred’s lil Friend)
F-117’s Shaba, Ghost,
I’m sure Lockheed doesn’t know about this but during WWII folks here in the Philippines call the P-38 as Double Body.
F-102; Duece, F-106 (with a gun); Six Killer, A-4; Scooter, and my favorite T-33; T-Bird. Acft will always have nicknames other than their official names. These will always fall into good or bad based on the person driving it or the mechanic working on it. Nicknames have not always been bestowed by pilots, but most are! Does anyone remember this one: C-124 Globemaster: Old Shakey or Shakey Jake.
A couple of the posts in this thread refer to the T-37 as the “5000 lb. Dog Whistle.” How in the world did it get that nickname?
I myself like the plane nicknames referring to violent weather, such as Hurricane, Tornado, Typhoon and Lightning. That’s probably because I’m fascinated by violent weather events.
I must say, I’ve not been reading these posts for all that long but this has to be at the top of my list of all time favorites. As already written, the wealth of knowledge that you people present to this discussion is amaizing. Where else could you gather individuals from all walks of life on a common ground to provide such information for the enjoyment of others. Thank you all so very much. I would like to add to your list a few pilotless aircraft and missiles that have interesting names also.
Loon
Regulus
Polaris
Poisidon
Terrier
Talos
Tartar
Mace
Matadore
Snark
Sidewinder
Sparrow
Tomahawk
And this is to name just a few. If anyone would like to add to this list please do. Since the end of WWII we have been producing a line of pilotless and piloted aircraft and missiles that stagger the imagination. All we have to do is look at what we have right now and realize it all started with the “Wright Flier”.
Upnorth, thanks for a great topic.
Regards,
Richard
In the Century series we forgot one, no pun. The F-101, the one oh wonder.