Nicknames that stuck

How about totally unofficial names given by enthusiasts?

For example, the Fouga CM175 Zéphyr (the carrier variant of the CM170 Magister, as used by the French Navy) was generally known as ‘Zeepier’ (=sea worm) amongst Dutch planespotters. The Starfighter was either known as ‘Staf’ (=wand) or ‘staaf’ (bar), both references to the F-104’s official name and it’s shape.

The tornado’s know as “the fin” and tonka in the RAF

The Buccaneer was better known as the Brick

F-8E (FN) Crusader => “Crouze” in the French Navy.
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Vapor genie vaporizer

‘Vlamgat’ – Mirage F-1 in South African Air Force service. The translation from Afrikaans to English is ‘ Flame Arse ‘, ‘ Fire Arse ‘ or similar.

I am currently watching the “Clash of Vings” video episode “Round The Clock Bombing”. The narrator says the Handley Page Hampden was nicknamed the Frying Pan because of it’s shape with the tail boom looking like a handle, Great name.

Incidentally the piece of footage it shows of a Hampden, taxying on a grass strip to take off, must be rare, it’s wearing German markings!

😀 T-37 Tweetybird or Tweet but aka ‘the fuel to noise converter’

A bit like the ‘JP’ Jet Provost throttle, I once heard referred to as the “constant power, variable noise” lever!

How about the Antonov AN-22 Antheus (=Russian name)? You know what the NATO name is??? C O C K! And a big one it is too!! 😀

Tillerman.

😀 T-37 Tweetybird or Tweet but aka ‘the fuel to noise converter’

A rather interesting paragraph from this website on the Sunderland highlighting why one should be suspicious of propoganda ‘enemy-given’ nicknames:

The story that the Germans named the Sunderland the “Flying Porcupine” puzzled me slightly for a time. There are no porcupines in Germany, only hedgehogs, which are much smaller than porcupines, only superficially similar in appearance, and almost completely unrelated. I suspected that the term “Stachelsweine” meant a hedgehog. I posed this question in the first version of this document, and got a response that the German word for hedgehog is “Igel”, and they are regarded as cute and endearing creatures. “Stachelsweine” is indeed a porcupine, which the Germans apparently knew from their colonies in southern Africa. African porcupines are not all that closely related to the porcupines we Americans know, but they are unmistakeably similar in appearance, being both fairly nasty-looking and intimidating creatures.

Of course, then I became aware that aircraft nicknames are often fabrications created by propagandists or overly-imaginative writers, and wondered whether the Germans actually did call the Sunderland the Flying Porcupine. After all this time that may be difficult to prove one way or another, and not particularly worth the effort.

And just a gloss on some of the comments from the USA here. As I understand it, a ‘name’ is the official given name for an aircraft. a ‘nickname’ is an unofficial name given to the aircraft, and never an official one. So a Grumman TBM / TBF was named ‘Tarpon’ :rolleyes: by the imaginatively crippled Lordships of the Admiralty, and then named ‘Avenger’ in US and later Commonwealth service; but it’s nickname (among others) was ‘Turkeycat’.

However the understanding and use of names, manufacturers and designators is rather different in the USA to how I understand it – ‘Vought Kingfisher’ is good enough for me while referring to it as an ‘OS2U’ just looks like my finger got stuck it the keyboard. 😀 It’s clearly a case of different uses, not right and wrong! 😉

Cheers

Some favorites…

C-124 Globemaster II – “Old Shakey”

F/A-18A-D Hornet – “The Bug”

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet – “Super Bug”

CH-47 Chinook – “Sh*thook”

UH-60 Blackhawk – “CrashHawk”

A3D Skywarrior – “All 3 Dead” (re: lack of ejection seats and perceived likelihood of the crew safely bailing out).

B-26 Marauder – “The Baltimore Whore” – built by Martin (HQ’ed in Baltimore, Maryland USA), refers to the B-26’s small wing area i.e. “no visible means of support.”

Can’t confirm this wicked one, but have read it referring to the A-7 Corsair II – “Extra Chromosome Crusader”

But my favorite nickname of all is…

F-111 – “Switchblade Edsel” – the perfect combination of man & machine. “Switchblade” in obvious referece to the F-111’s swingwings. “Edsel” in reference to infamous US SecDef Robert Strange McNamara’s (the driving force behind the “TFX” program, who was also famously described as “knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing”) prior history at Ford Motor Company and Ford’s most notoriously unsuccessful car which was produced under his watch.

How about the Habu for the SR-71’s? It never had an offical name although Blackbird is the unoffical name.

And don’t forget BUFF for the B-52.

Polikarpov I-16 “Rata” Now known best by a derogatory nickname given to it by its enemies!

Jay

I always liked the tale that Soviet pilots said that the ‘LaGG’ bit of LaGG-3 stood for ‘Lakirovanny garantirovanny grob’ – Guaranteed Varnished Coffin…

I think the second part of the Argosy’s ‘Whistling Tit’ name came from the small radome on the nose.

I was told (by the son of a chap who flew Vampires) that the ‘kiddy car’ name came about because of the close proximity of the pilot to the ground and the fact that from certain angles, the aircraft looked liked one of those small cars which can be pedalled about.

In RAF service, the SA330 Puma is often referred to as ‘Percy’ while the Wessex used to be known as ‘Walter’.

My favorite nickname…albeit an official one…
“Globemaster”..as applied to the Douglas C-74, C-124 “the Globemaster II” and finally, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.

It signifies strength and ability …and in my not so HO, I find it rather poetic and majestic.

Duh oh well Whirly birds aren’t my thing but what is the Blue Canoe I know it was a US Navy Helo but can’t recall it type.

Not a helo, but the Cessna U-3 utility thingie, a military Cessna 310.

A good reference for you guys might be John Horton’s THE GRUB STREET DICTIONARY OF INTERNATIONAL AIRCRAFT NICKNAMES, VARIANTS AND COLLOQUIAL TERMS. (London, 1994). Although the book is a little more Western- (and Britain-) centred than the title implies, it’s as far as i know the only book available on this subject. It seems to be out of print, but it should still be available second-hand.

My favourite nickname still is the Letayushii Gastronom, or Flying Liquer Store for the MiG-25 (not that a Gastronom is a liquer store per se, but it’s definately the shop to go and buy your wodka). The MiG-25s intakes were cooled with alcohol, hence this groundcrew-spirit-inducing nickname.

The Swiss AF referred to the Dh-100’s as “Vämpi” – the Dh-112 as (translated) “wooden bomber” – the Mirage IIIS fighter versions were called “MIRO”, whil the Mirage IIIRS Recon Ships were named “AMIR” – The F-5E Tiger are known as “Lego-Aircraft” (from the famous plastic toy producer).

FWIW

The generally revered DH.82A Tiger Moth was referred to by my Dad (and presumably some other people at his ITW or whatever, I dunno) as “Fabric and F.A” though this was more of a comment rather than a nickname.

Gavin Lyall referred to the Vampire as the “Vamp”

And don’t forget ordnance based contractions of proper names e.g. “Torbeau”, “Hurribomber”, “Whirlibomber” etc.

Rob / Kansan

The camouflaged Argosies were known as ‘the brown bombers’.
Bristol Freighter = “Bristol Frightener”
Bristol Belvedere= “Flying Longhouse”
Gnat = “Pocket Rocket”
A-7 Corsair = SLUF (Short Little Ugly Feller) – last word may be different!!
B-52 – BUFF(Big Ugly Fat F*****)
C-5 Galaxy – ‘Aluminium Overcast’ (or should that be ‘Aluminum’?)

Re the Argosies in NZ not being known as the ‘Whistling Tit’ was because they were AW650 civil version and not the AW660 RAF version with nose radome!

Beech SNB Super Navy Bomber