Aeroplane Nicknames

Don’t know if this ones been said:

Bucaneer – Banana Jet

Dunno, a Buck’s a Buck…..

Vultee Vindicator=Vultee Vibrator-as far as I’ve managed to assertain it was due to the ammount of engine vibration especially when diving.

I seem to recall that the F wasnt for fellow……

Don’t know if this ones been said:

Bucaneer – Banana Jet

Surely the Buccaneer was known as the ‘Brick’, certainly among enthusiasts.

Another one that hasn’t appeared here yet (I think) is…

‘S.L.U.F’ for the A-7. Stands for ‘Short-Little-Ugly’Fellow’ (or something like that!). Same idea as B.U.F.F. for the B52

I’ve also heard the ground-attack ‘E’ variant of the F-15 Eagle known as the ‘Beagle’, as in Bomber-Eagle.

Willow

T-21 “The Barge”
ATP Advanced Technical Problem.

A few I haven’t seen here yet.
Ju 52 “Tante Ju”
Me 323 “The sticking plaster bomber”
C130 “Fat Albert”

Okay…let’s see if anyone has a memory…and will help me solve a mystery that’s been rattling around my brain for too long.

In the 80s Air International had a story about Hercules ops in South America…or about a South American air arm.

They called their Herks “The little horse of the Andes”.
Which air force was it…or am I dreaming this?

Don’t know if this ones been said:

Bucaneer – Banana Jet

Lockheed Hercules- a Poirot

Harrier- Bona Jet

I’d never heard that one. I think there are probably plenty more out there if only we can remember them.

Another one came to mind the other day. Again, not sure where it came from.
HP Hampden known as the flying suitcase.

…and it’s contemporary the AW Whitley – the Flying Barndoor

Roger Smith.

Another one came to mind the other day. Again, not sure where it came from.
HP Hampden known as the flying suitcase.

Any bloke who was on Shacks or even had dealings with them and didn’t know the term Shacklepin must have been in a different Air Force

That will be me then – ages spent talking to ‘Anyface’ Shacks, occasionally known as Shackelbombers – wonder who’s Air Force I was in? Just because we never called the Phantom anything else but an F-4 doesn’t mean other people didn’t use ‘Toom or whatever was hip and happening at the time

i think i’m kind of with you on this one, there are nicknames you use when you work on aircraft, but then you’d read a magazine article and find they are called something flash, that nobody who works on them has ever heard them called!.
some people from ‘outside’ use the nicknames to make it sound as if they are in the know.

there are some nicknames listed on here for aircraft i’ve been involved with for many years, yet i’ve never heard of them!

just because it rhymes and is a bit funny, it doesn’t make it a nickname!

Yes but who specifies what a nickname is,I think they are very time related and may change with every generation,I absolutely agree that the everyday nickname is unlikely to be much more than a single word ie a Tornado is usually a ‘Tonka’ or ‘Tornrsole’ etc and an Alpha Jet may be an ‘Awful Jet’ for instance.
I never get too tied up in this sort of stuff… it is just a bit of a giggle sometimes:D

Hi Baz, yes, I’ve seen that as well. I think it’s a variation on ‘Steam Pigeon’.

A general observation; there’s the nicknames which an aircraft is known by it’s users – the Blunty in the RNZAF, the Meatbox by most users and so on.

Names like ‘Heineman’s Hotrod’ make good copy in magazines, but aren’t what the crews, air or ground, use, and thus I tend to suspect are just viral myths living in threads like this and publications. They might have a brief or introductory use, but are vastly over-rated in discussions like this. “Oh, that’s the ensign eliminator” might be said by one airman introducing a type to another, but less likely to be used in everyday parlance. In that case, anything over a single word length is unlikely.

Commonwealth forces tend to be derogatory – affectionately or otherwise.

Cheers,

i think i’m kind of with you on this one, there are nicknames you use when you work on aircraft, but then you’d read a magazine article and find they are called something flash, that nobody who works on them has ever heard them called!.
some people from ‘outside’ use the nicknames to make it sound as if they are in the know.

there are some nicknames listed on here for aircraft i’ve been involved with for many years, yet i’ve never heard of them!

just because it rhymes and is a bit funny, it doesn’t make it a nickname!

Ex-USAF chap in the AAM at Duxford said the ECM F-111 was called the “Sparkvark” by those in the know.

Some aircraft nicknames I’ve heard used by Service personnel (USAF and RAF)

Tornado GR1/4 – Tonka, Fin, Swing Wing Jaguar and Electric pig.
F-111F – Electric pig (first heard the term from a USAF guy from Lakenheath)
Harrier (all types) Leaping Heap, RAF Harrier II’s – single man,single fan Carbon Fibre death provider
Phantom – Toom
Lightning – Frightning
Vulcan – Tin Triangle
Tornado F3 – Electric Flick knife, Flicker.
Chinnok – Wokka, Twin fan / Rotary Death Banana

Yes the USAF do give offical names to aircraft, the F-111E/F was offically named the Ardvark, the day the USAF phased the type out of service.

Came across a new one.

Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck:

Known as “Clunk” due to nosegear reteaction noice.

I’m not cockney either (I’m danish), but you don’t need to be to hear it.

R-E EIGHT = A-E ate = Harry tate…..:cool:

I can actually belive, that this name was in everyday use. Easier than the original name, and somewhat humourous.

I’m glad someone else can see it. I never claimed that it was cockney if for no other reason than the Cockneys don’t have a monopoly on rhyming slang.:D They’d have you believe otherwise though.

Harry Tate was a famous music hall comedian during the early part of the 20th century. I think that makes it sort of rhyming slang but not cockney.

Thank you for the explanation. Thanks also to the folks who brought up Flatiron for the Javelin, nice to know the memory still works sometimes.:D Another one, no idea where it came from. Cessna Bobcat = Bamboo Bomber