Nickname for RAF?

Well I always thought sailors were “killicks” and soldiers were “brown jobs”
the last of course being Glaswegian slang for something else.

Also,
RAF: “Auntie Betty’s Flying Club”
Navy: “The Grey Funnel Line”
Army : “The Grunts”

When I served in the Hairy Arms Corps we always referred to the RAF as CrabAir.

Better than us?…

And other than Crabfats I don’t know. I used to work with a former Navy “winchweight” and he was always referring to the RAF as “crabs” – any RAF, not just aircrew…

All well and good, but none of which answers the OP’s question of ‘what do RN pilots call their landlubber counterparts?’ :rolleyes:

Geoff, don’t forget Pebble Monkeys & Stone Chimps…

Hi All,
For what it’s worth though not linked directly RAF Regiment – Rock Apes.

Geoff.

The RN always used to be referred to as ‘The Andrew.’. :p

In my (23 years of) experience, “Raf tw@s”.

In the pre gay service days it used to be

Watch your rear the navies here…
Or
Join the Navy and feel a man… There are a lot of men in the Navy to feel…

They were also referred to as the Rum Bum and Baccy brigade

The Army were also referred to as Canon fodder
The Army Air Corp were known as the Teeny Weeny Airways on accounting of their size.

Had a discussion about which was best when I was serving with a Pongo and summed it up as

in the Army the Officers send the men into combat.. In the Navy the Officers sail into combat with the men….. In the RAF the men send the Officers into combat…..

Remember the Army dig in and the RAF would book in…. God it used to wind the Army up something chronic when asked on exercise in Germany where you were based on the exercise and you would reply the Airport Hilton

Always seemed like I picked the right team to fight on 🙂

Okay, my problem now is that I know the nickname for the RAF–crabs–but apparently I was wrong in thinking fish heads referred to the FAA. Is there anything equivalent to crabs for the FAA? WAFU has been mentioned, but that takes too much explaining for an American readership, which is what I’m writing for.

“The navy guide their ships using stars, the Army sleep under the stars and the RAF choose their hotels using stars…”

Everywhere the army goes, the Pong Goes Too…

Wet And Flipping Useless…

I’ve heard it referred to (internally, postwar) as The Mob.

The only nickname I have heard for the RAF is ‘Brylcream Boys’ Don’t know if the Navy used it though.

Brylcreem surely?

Fish head is a term applied to anyone in the Navy who is not in the Fleet Air Arm, the FAA includes pilots, engineers and FAA ground staff. I was an engineer in the FAA and always referred to my naval focused colleagues as fish heads. We in the FAA were known as WAFUs by our naval chums.

I think there was a book covering ths very subject. Don’t forget the Pongos either!

There are thousands of RAF-isms, though many are not for family viewing. The one that always made me laugh was ‘Betty Windsor’s Flying Circus’, referring to TQF.

The only nickname I have heard for the RAF is ‘Brylcream Boys’ Don’t know if the Navy used it though.

“Kipper fleet” or Coastal command!!

‘Fish-Heads’ is also, apparently, used by pilots of the Fleet Air Arm to describe Royal Navy officers who cannot fly; the point being that FAA pilots can, and do, command warships, but ‘fish-heads’ cannot fly!