The Airplane Thread

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Llarry

A couple of posts ago, I posted a photo of a 20th Fighter Wing F-16C. The 20th also is or was home to the F-16 demonstration team that went to various airshows etc. to demonstrate the capabilities of the F-16C and for the demo team, they came up with a special paint scheme for the F-16 Viper. The formal nickname for the F-16 is Fighting Falcon, but nobody uses that... it's the Viper!

Anyway, here's the Viper paint scheme.

Fun trivia: Why is the F-16 called the Viper?

When the F-16 was first going operational, the original Battlestar Galactica was on TV with the "fighters in space" idea. The pilots started wearing "viper" patches. Senior leadership went nuts, so of course the name stuck. I remember as a kid thinking that the TV Vipers and the F-16 "sort of" looked vaguely similar (if you looked sideways and squinted), so it made sense to me. I don't think I've ever met a Viper Driver who's called it the Fighting Falcon.

Hardly any airplanes that I can think of are called by their "official" name. Nobody goes around going "That's the C-17 Globemaster III". Nope-- it's either "Buddha" (everyone sits around and worships it) or "Barney" (Fred's short, fat friend. This one makes more sense if you understand that the C-5 is called "Fred").

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Hardly any airplanes that I can think of are called by their "official" name.

That's a great idea for a post; equate official nickname and the actual nickname for a whole list of aircraft.

[Jbrown7403]

…

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Llarry

That's a great idea for a post; equate official nickname and the actual nickname for a whole list of aircraft.

It's been done (although a little outdated):

http://www.b737.org.uk/aircraftnicknames.htm

A7-D: SLUF(Small Little Ugly F***er - other end of the size scale to the B52 but just as ugly)
A10: Warthog
A220: Howler, Howler Jet, Howler Monkey (from the howl when the engines spool for taxi)
A318: Nanobus, Baby Bus
A319: Microbus, Baby Bus, Shorty, Short Bus (Derogatory American phrase)
A320: MiniBus, NintendoJet, ScareBus, Chainsaw, Deathjet, Freddie Kruegers wet dream, Toulouse Grasscutter, The Strimmer, Fifi, Die-by-Wire, the French Bitch, Sully's Ark, Plastic Fantastic
(What's the difference between an A320 and a beaver? 4000 trees per hour.)
A320 is known as 'The John Wayne' Because they 'Chop down trees, move mountains and kill Indians!!'
A321: Sausage
A330: Slippy, The Aircraft in Plastic, Big Bus
A340: Four-person Hair Dryer, LowRider (takes so long to get off the ground), Airway Wine Stopper (because it is slow and clogs the airways), The Galeere (Because it was unpopular with Lufthansa cabin crews due to the poor working conditions and was nicknamed the "galeere", which is the german word for the ancient type of wooden ships with oars that were worked by slaves or criminals)
A350: The Racoon, Big Sexy, XWB
A380: Double Decker Bus, Megabus, Whalejet, the Wannabe Queen, Flying Forehead, The Big Ugly
A400M Atlas: Fatlass
Alouette: Chicken chaser
AMX: Topone (Big Mouse as, seen from the front, she looks like Mickey Mouse)
Antonov 2: Bumblebee, Annochka
Antonov 124: Big Tony
Antonov 225: Mriya (Dream in Ukranian), Maria (Western name similar sounding to Mriya)
AT6 Harvard: Halfard, Yellow Peril.
ATR: All Those Relays.
Avro Shackleton: Shacklecaster, flying Cow, Old Grey Lady, 10 Thousand rivets flying in loose formation
Avro Vulcan: Tin-triangle, Flat-iron, Mechanical Hang Glider
AW62 Argosy: Whistling Wheelbarrow (two tails makes it look like a wheelbarrow), Whistling/Flying Tit (because of the front nose profile), The Agony ( painful & noisy), The 40 ton converter (turns kerosene into noise)
BAC 111:Pocket rocket, Bone Vibrator.
BAe146: Viscount 900, Smurfjet with 5 APU's, The Gas Chamber, Bumble-et, Baby Jumbo, Bring Another Engine, 1-4-Sick, submarine- low slow and out of sight, Airborne Auschwitz, Barbie Jet, Tonka Toy/Jet, 4 oil leaks connected by an electrical fault, The Quadra-Puff, Lead Sled, Mini Galaxy, Sky Dozer, Fisher Price Starlifter, "1 aeroplane, 4 engines, needs 6", The Slug, Toxic Terror, Muffler (Because all the noise is on the inside), Fruit Bat, Flying cockroach, Dungbeetle, Jump Jet, The SUV of RJs, Jumbolino, Aluminum Buffalo, four hairdryers in close formation.
BAe ATP: Advanced/Another Technical Problem, The Parrot (cos it's just a big Budgie), Ancient Technology Perpetuated, Bat Pee, Skoda, 80p, Wigwam (A TeePee).
BAe Harrier: Leaping Heap
BAe Jetstream: Junkstream, Wetdream, Soda-stream, Sweatstream, Jetscream, AreWeThereYet?stream, J-Ball.
BAe Nimrod: Never Intended for Maritime Reconnaissance Or Development.
Bristol Beaufighter: Whispering Death
Bristol Freighter: Whispering Death, 10,000 rivets in close formation
Beech 18: Flying snag, Bugsmasher
Beech 76 Duchess: Dutch Ass
Beech 99: 99-Liner
Beech Baron: Ball tearer
Beech Bonanza: Doctor killer (its reputation as such is ubiquitous)
Beech 200: Super K
Beech 1900: Flipper, Dolphin, Stonefish, Mini Guppy, Stretch King Air, Bitch 1900
Beech T-34: Radial Interceptor
Bell 206: Deathranger, Hydraulic palmtree
Bell UH-1: Huey, Hog, Dustoff
Beverly: Flying Longhouse
Bristol 188: The Mayfly
Bristol Britannia: The Whispering Giant (Was this the original WG?), Freighter version: The Whispering Warehouse
Bristol Freighter: Freightener
Boeing Stratocruiser: Stratoboozer (a reference to the bar these aircraft had on board), "The Best Three Engined Plane Crossing the Atlantic"
Boeing E4B: Doomsday Plane, The Ark, Double Humper
Boeing T43: Gator (for Navigator)
Boeing 707: Slush bucket, Water wagon
Boeing 727: 3 holer, Tri-jet, Trisaurus, Triple crome-plated stovepipe, Jurassic Jet, Ear Blaster, The Scooter
Boeing 737: Tin mouse, Maggot, Pocket Rocket Socket, FLUF (Fat Little Ugly F**cker), SUF (Short Ugly F**ker), Light Twin, Baby Boeing, Fat Freddy, Guppy, Thunder Guppy (series 1/200), Yuppy Guppy, Super Guppy (series 3/4/500), Pig, Bobby (BOeing BaBY), Rudder Rotor, Fat Albert, Dung Beatle, "La Chancha" (In Argentina means "sow" for their shape)
Boeing 737NG: Super FLUF (Fat Little Ugly F**cker).
Boeing 747: Jumbo Jet, Whale, The Valiant, Upstairs and Downstairs, Lump, Humpback, Queen of the Skies (used for many aircraft but probably mostly the 747), the Aluminum Overcast.
Boeing 747SP: Short Plane, Stupid Purchase.
Boeing 757: Stick Insect, AtariFerrari, Slippery Snake, Flying Pencil, Long Tall Sally (long legs and two great big…engines.), Greased Bullet, Seattle Rocket
Boeing 757-300: Long misery, Subway Train.
Boeing 767: Dumpster, Slug, Stumpy
Boeing 777: B737 on steroids, Cripple Seven (I.F.E. Problems??), Bigfoot (from the tripple bogey landing gear), Sasquatch, T7, Seventh Wonder, Trouble Seven, Grouper (the front end does look like one of those fish), the Light Twin
Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Tupperjet (plastic tupperware), Firebird (since several early on-board fires), Seven-Late-Seven, Bad Dream Liner, Flatliner, Sparky the Game Changer, Binliner, The microwave (cooks batteries), Scabliner, Sparky, Plastic Princess, Spuds McKenzie.
Boeing C-17 Globemaster: The Moose. Barney (Fred’s fat little friend).
B24: The Crystal Shithouse
B52: BUMF (Big Ugly Mother f***er) or BUFF. (Big Ugly Fat F****er), BFiftyTwoManyWheels
BN 2 Islander: 225 - 2 wings, 2 engines(?) 5 Wheels, Slander, Bongo, Noise inducting sound machine, with a slow flying by-product
BN 2A Trislander: Try Harder, Bloody Nice Aircraft (!), Clockwork TriStar, Poor Man's 727
Bombardier Q400: Mega-Whacker
Bombardier CRJ: BarbieJet, Canuckjet, Canuckiejet, Ken&Barbie Dreamjet, Reset Jet, Replacement Jet, Climb Restricted Jet
Buccaneer: Buccanana (due to its banana like shape)
CA-15 Winjeel: The Ginwheel
CAC Wirraway: The "Flying Chaff-cutter" (due to its clattering engine noise)
Canberra T17: Warthog (due to its warty nose)
Casa: Christ A Sh***y Aeroplane
Cessna 150: One Filthy, the buck and a half, Cesspit.
Cessna A150 Aerobat: Aerosplat
Cessna 172 Cutlass: Strutless, Gutless, Flying Chevette (due to its lack of performance and Cessna’s efforts to make their aircraft similar to the cars of the era - that 1970’s upholstery!).
Cessna 177 Cardinal: The Pontif
Cessna 185: Buck eighty-five
Cessna 207: Crowdkiller, Slug, Moneymaker
Cessna 210 Centurian: Coffin, 2-Ton
Cessna 337 Sky Master: Sky Disaster, Sky Maggot, Push-me-Pull-you, Mix Master, Bug Smasher, Push-me-Pull-me, Blow-me-Suck-me, suck & blow job, two-toed tanglefoot.
Cessna 402 Utiliner: Undyliner.
Cessna Citation: Levitation, Crustacean, Mutation, Slowtation, Nearjet, Bugjet, Twin Hoover
Cessna T-37: Tweet, Tweety, Tweety Bird or 6000 lb Dog Whistle (because of its high, shrill engine sound)
CF100: The Lead Sled, Clunk
CH-47 Chinook: Two palm trees fucking a dumpster, Hooker, Shithook, RPG Magnet, Death Banana
Concorde: Great White, The Rocket, Rockership, Pocket Rocket, Paraffin Pencil
Convair B36: Aluminium overcast
Convair F102 Delta Dagger: The Deuce
Convair 580: Mountain Master, Vomit Comet
Convair 990: Coronado, Smoky Joe
CRJ: Canadair Rookie Jet
CRJ200: Shortdart, Lawndart, barbiejet
CRJ900: Longdart
CT-4A: (which was painted bright yellow and green in Oz Air Farce service) - the Plastic Parrot
Curtis SB2C Helldiver: the Beast, SonofaBitch2ndClass, Big-Tailed Beast and the 'Two-Cee'
Curtis Commando: Flying Coffin (due to its very poor single engine performance and the inexplicable explosions that victimized the model)
DC 2: Deuce.
DC 3: Dak, Dakotasaurus Rex, Gooney Bird, Draggin' Wagon, Douglas Racer (compliments of late BC/A columnist Torch Lewis and the airplane's leisurely 140 KIAS cruise speed), Dakleton (South African built Daks as replacement for AVRO Shackletons), Dizzy Three, Dowager Dutchess, Duck, Old Lady
DC 6: Douglasaurus Rex
DC 7: Douglas Seven Seas (From DC-7C)
DC 8: DC Late, Old Smokey, Greasy8, Death Cruiser, Whiney Bird, Cigarette Jets (Long skinny fuselages and long thin engines that smoked), Santa Monica Anteater (for Douglas' HQ city and the airplane's loooong nose), The Long Beach Cable Car (If you look at the fuel panel, all those levers were connected to their respective valves by long cable runs. Same with the trim, flight controls and outflow valves)
DC 9-10/15: Pocket Rocket, Mini-Me, Baby Nine
DC 9: Greasy 9, Diesel 9, DC3-GT, Douglas Death Ship-(heard from a PSA pilot in the 1980s due the difficulties during FAA certification)
DC 10: Diesel 10, Death Contraption 10, Death Cruiser 10, Daily Crash 10, Donald's Disaster, Crowd Killer
MD 11: The Diva, More Death 2, Scud (once you launched it, you were not sure were it was going to land), Marriage-Divorce 11 (on the KLM Caribbean fun fleet), MeDonze (A combination of' "medo"and "onze". Medo in Portuguese is "fear" and onze is "eleven.")
DH 82 Tiger Moth: Terror Moth.
DH Comet: Vomit
DH Vampire: The whistling pisscan.
DHC 1 Chipmonk: Chippie, Chukmonk.
DHC 3 Otter: Swine, Steam Otter.
DHC 4 Caribou: The Gravel Truck ("The only aircraft known to man that could suffer a birdstrike from behind".)
DHC 5 Buffalo: Barfalo, Dump truck (because it has the rear ramp and its pilots taxi the aircraft in reverse)
DHC 6 Twin Otter: Tin Otter, Twin Rotter, Twotter, Stoneboat, Twottercopter, noise powered aeroplane, Double Udder
DHC 7 Dash Seven: Quad Otter, Pogo Stick
DHC 8 Dash Eight: Dash Late, Crashbait, DashTrash, Trash8, Crash8, Trauma Tube, Dashidy Trashidy Boom, The Sausage
DO 17: Flying Pencil
DO 228: Doorknob, Gonzo (everything forward of the wing leading edge looks like a certain Muppet's head)
DO 328: Dork
DO 328J: Dorkjet
Douglas Maurader: Flying Prostitute
Douglas A1D Skyraider: The Spad
Douglas A4 Skyhawk: Bantam Bomber, Scooter
Douglas AC47 (DC3 Gunship): Spooky, Puff the Magic Dragon, Fantasma, Dragon Dak
Douglas C54 Skymaster: Buscuit Bomber (from Berlin Airlift days)
Douglas C124 Globemaster: Shakey Bird, "Old Shaky" due to its tendency to do a lot of that in flight, and "the Aluminium Cloud" because it was, with four props and a double high fuselage basically built on DC-6 / C-118 wings, the hugest return on anyone's radar
Douglas Skywarrior: 'All Three Dead' a mixture of its awful early safety record, three crew, and its US Navy designation of A-3D
EMB110 Bandierante: Bandit, Randy Banty
EMB120 Brasillia: Garbage Can, Brakillya, Mexican King Air, The Bro, The Braz
EMB135: Scopebuster
EMB145: Jungle Jet, Barbie Jet, The Windows 98 Plane (seems like you spend more time rebooting the aircraft than actually flying it), Bendy Jet, Emb180 (taxi to the runway, then 180 for taxi back to ramp), WiSCOD (Whistling Shitcan of Death)
EMB 175: The Electric Jet (It is so computerised)
EMB ERJ: Brazillian Tube of Death, Jungle Jet, Brasilia Jet (Really p***es off the pilots...)
Ercoupe: Scarecoupe, Air Scoop
Fokker 27: The Dutch Dog Whistle, The Egg Beater, Whistle Pig, The Converter - (ie, it converted fuel into noise), Alligator
Fokker 28: WhisperJet, She Who's Afraid of Snow
Fokker 50: F**kin' Fifty, Little Fokker, Pinocchio
Fokker 100: The Scud Because they point them at Europe and they don't come back!, Dutch Oven (lousy air conditioning), Runway Hog, The Mother Fokker (as it is the largest Fokker, but also because it sucks like a bitch)
FA 18: Bug, Rhino
Fairey Gannet: Converter of Kerosene to Noise
Fairey Swordfish: Stringbag
F-4 Phantom: Grey Geese, Double Ugly, Rhino, "Luftwaffen-Diesel" (due to the noticeable smoke trails), Fliegender Ziegelstein ("Flying Brick"), Luftverteidigungsdiesel ("Air Defense Diesel")
F-15A Eagle Steam Driven Eagle (for the old avionics compared to new C-models)
F-15E Eagle Mud Hen (self-explanatory)
F-16 Electric Lawn Dart, Viper
F-86 Sabre Sword, Kappone (by the Italians)
F-100 Hun
F-102 Deuce
F-104 Starfighter Flying coffin, Widowmaker, Manned missile, Zipper, The Pregnant Hatpin, Erdnagel (literally "earth nail"), from the military term for "tent peg", Spillone (big pin in Italian)
F-105 The Thud
F-106 Cadillac (smooth flyer, lots of power, fast, huge cockpit)
F-111: Aardvark, The Pig
F-117: Cockroach (because they only came out at night)
Fiat G91: Gina (Beware: nickname used only by Germans...)
Fiat G91T: Virus
Fouga: Dog-whistle, Converter, Whistling Turtle
HS121 Trident: Rodent, Ground Gripper
HS125: Pocket rocket
HS748: Paraffin Budgie, the Draggie, The Twenty Ton Dog Whistle.
GAF Nomad: Go-mad, Gonad
Gazelle: Chicken leg
Gloster Javellin: Flying Trowel, Harmonious drag master, Flat Iron
Gloster Meteor: Meatbox
Gulfstream I: G-String, G-Once
Gulfstream IV: Fourskin
Handley Page Hampden: Flying Suitcase
Hawker Hunter: Haunter
HP Halifax: Halibag
IAI Westwind: Lead Sled, Jew Canoe, Heebjet, Bagel Bomber, Yom Kippur Clipper
Jaguar: Septic Cat
Jet Provost: JP, The variable noise machine
Katana DA20: Flying sperm
Lake Amphibian: Doctor Killer
LearJet: FearJet, Noisemaker
Lockheed Constellation: Connie, Cancellation, “the best tri-motor ever” so good that sometimes the 4th engine works!
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy: Cumulus Aluminus, FRED (F*cking Ridiculous Economic Disaster)
Lockheed C130 Hercules: Fat Albert, Trash hauler, Herkybird, Cessna 130
Lockheed C141 Starlifter: Lizard
Lockheed Jetstar: Lawn Dart
Lockheed 1011 TriStar: Bistar (Had so many RB211-22B failures), El-10-Elemon, FrightStar, Tritanic, Swamp Eater, Swamp Buggy
Lockheed P38 Lightning: The Fork-Tailed Devil, Two planes, one pilot
Lockheed SR71: Blackbird, was also often called "Habu" because of its frequent deployment to Okinawa (where the habu is a nasty pit viper).
Lockheed T-33: T Bird, Lockheed Racer (because it was anything but fast)
Lockheed YF12: The Thing!
MD 11: Mad Dog, Mega Dog, Mechanical Disaster 11, More Death 11, MD-911, She Who Won't Land, She Who Won't Sell
MD 80: Mad Dog 80, Stupid 80 (They call them Super 80's), Minimum Delay 80 (Minutes), Super Tube, Super Slug, Douglas Death Tube, Long Beach Sewer Pipe, Lead sled (becuase it was underpowered)
MD 95: John Holmes condom
MD Demon: Screamin Demon
Mitsubishi Zero: type one lighter ( due to its ability to readily catch fire when attacked!)
Mitsubishi MU-2: Widow Maker, Hiroshima Screamer, Rice Rocket, Kill You - 2
Mohawk 298/Nord 262: Pteradactyl
Northrop T38: White Rocket
OH-58D Kiowa: Remote-Controlled Upside-Down Lawnmower, Kenny (the sight system looks like the South Park character)
Partenavia: Part-of-Mafia, Partial Aviator, Part Banana
PA-20 Pacer: The sled
PA-22 Tri Pacer: Pie Chaser, Fly Paper, Milk stool
PA-23 Aztec: Az-Truck, Azwreck, Flying Potato
PA-28 Arrow: Sparrow
PA-28 Cherokee: Cherry Tree, Chickopee
PA-28 Warrior: Worrier
PA-30 Twin Comanche: Twinkle
PA-31 Navajo: Never-go, Have-a-go, The Ho
PA-34 Seneca: Senekiller
PA-38 Tomahawk: Traumahawk, Terrahawk, SpinMaster, Ratshit Hatchet
PA-44 Seminole: Semenhole
PA-60: ScareOstar, Death Star.
PC12: Platypus.
PBY 5 Catalina: Pigboat, Dumbo.
Piaggio PD808: Vespa Jet.
Piaggio 180: Lawnmower (because it sounded like one).
Puma: Plastic pig, Percy.
Republic Thunderchief: Thud
RJ70/100: Real Jet
Robinson R22: The Happy Hopping Easter Egg (they're cute and colorful...and look like toys.)
SA 227 Metroliner: San-Antonio sewerpipe, Texas Sewer Pipe, Death pencil, The Screamin Weenie, Texas Lawn Dart, Swetro (It got very hot in the summer), Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support, skinny lil 'ol wings), Terror Tube, "That noisy fucking thing", Widow maker, Kerosene Crowbar, Fear tube, Necroliner, Buzzbomb, Metrowhiner, Death Tube, Turbo Dildo, San Antonio Sewer Rocket.... With Garrett Grenades.
SAAB: Slaab, Swedes Aren't Airplane Builders, S.O.B
SAAB 35 Draken: Flying Trowel
SAAB J29: Flying Barrel
S3 Viking: Hoover
Shorts Belfast: Belslug, Belslow (because it was so slow), in the early days they were called 'Dragmasters' because they were so slow and after Shorts fixed them with the strakes either side of the rear ramp they were called 'Fastbacks'
Shorts Sandringham: The Triple Decker Bus
Shorts Skyvan: The Whispering Nissan Hut
Shorts 330: The Two Tailed Shed, Horse Float, Milk Carton, Winnebago, Box Car, Short Van
Shorts 360: Box, Shoe Box, Barn, Shed, Long Short, The box that the Skyvan came in, Winnabego with Wings, The Irish Concorde
Sikorsky S61N: "Miss Piggy", (fat and ugly)
Socata Rallye: "tin parachute" for its near vertical descent into short fields, "tin parasol"-- for their reluctance to stall (with leading edge slats)--they just descend almost vertically
Sopwith Triplane: Tripehound
Strikemaster: Constant speed - variable noise machine.
Supermarine Scimitar: The Beast.
Supermarine Stranraer: Whistling Shithouse
Supermarine Walrus: Shagbat
T-21 Sedburgh: The Barge
TB-10 Tobago: Toboggan - because they only perform downhill!
Tornado: Tonka
TSR-2: Throw Some Rocks Two, Teararse
Tu144: Concordski
UH-60 Black Hawk: Lawn Dart, Crash Hawk
VC-9 Vanguard: Vickers Vibrator
VC-9 Vanguard Merchantman: The Guards Van, Whispering Warehouse, Shuddering Shithouse (because the crude crew toilet was in the entrance which was the forward service door on the original Vanguard. When the entrance door was open on the ground the whole world could see you having a pee!)
VC-10: Iron Duck, Vickers Knickers, The flying chandelier
Vickers Varsity: Flying pig
Vickers Wellington: Wimpey
Vultee BT13: Vultee Vibrator (due to shaking in a spin)
Westland Wessex: Walter Wessex or Wobbly Wessex

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

It's been done (although a little outdated):

http://www.b737.org.uk/aircraftnicknames.htm

A7-D: SLUF(Small Little Ugly F***er - other end of the size scale to the B52 but just as ugly)
A10: Warthog
A220: Howler, Howler Jet, Howler Monkey (from the howl when the engines spool for taxi)
A318: Nanobus, Baby Bus
A319: Microbus, Baby Bus, Shorty, Short Bus (Derogatory American phrase)
A320: MiniBus, NintendoJet, ScareBus, Chainsaw, Deathjet, Freddie Kruegers wet dream, Toulouse Grasscutter, The Strimmer, Fifi, Die-by-Wire, the French Bitch, Sully's Ark, Plastic Fantastic
(What's the difference between an A320 and a beaver? 4000 trees per hour.)
A320 is known as 'The John Wayne' Because they 'Chop down trees, move mountains and kill Indians!!'
A321: Sausage
A330: Slippy, The Aircraft in Plastic, Big Bus
A340: Four-person Hair Dryer, LowRider (takes so long to get off the ground), Airway Wine Stopper (because it is slow and clogs the airways), The Galeere (Because it was unpopular with Lufthansa cabin crews due to the poor working conditions and was nicknamed the "galeere", which is the german word for the ancient type of wooden ships with oars that were worked by slaves or criminals)
A350: The Racoon, Big Sexy, XWB
A380: Double Decker Bus, Megabus, Whalejet, the Wannabe Queen, Flying Forehead, The Big Ugly
A400M Atlas: Fatlass
Alouette: Chicken chaser
AMX: Topone (Big Mouse as, seen from the front, she looks like Mickey Mouse)
Antonov 2: Bumblebee, Annochka
Antonov 124: Big Tony
Antonov 225: Mriya (Dream in Ukranian), Maria (Western name similar sounding to Mriya)
AT6 Harvard: Halfard, Yellow Peril.
ATR: All Those Relays.
Avro Shackleton: Shacklecaster, flying Cow, Old Grey Lady, 10 Thousand rivets flying in loose formation
Avro Vulcan: Tin-triangle, Flat-iron, Mechanical Hang Glider
AW62 Argosy: Whistling Wheelbarrow (two tails makes it look like a wheelbarrow), Whistling/Flying Tit (because of the front nose profile), The Agony ( painful & noisy), The 40 ton converter (turns kerosene into noise)
BAC 111:Pocket rocket, Bone Vibrator.
BAe146: Viscount 900, Smurfjet with 5 APU's, The Gas Chamber, Bumble-et, Baby Jumbo, Bring Another Engine, 1-4-Sick, submarine- low slow and out of sight, Airborne Auschwitz, Barbie Jet, Tonka Toy/Jet, 4 oil leaks connected by an electrical fault, The Quadra-Puff, Lead Sled, Mini Galaxy, Sky Dozer, Fisher Price Starlifter, "1 aeroplane, 4 engines, needs 6", The Slug, Toxic Terror, Muffler (Because all the noise is on the inside), Fruit Bat, Flying cockroach, Dungbeetle, Jump Jet, The SUV of RJs, Jumbolino, Aluminum Buffalo, four hairdryers in close formation.
BAe ATP: Advanced/Another Technical Problem, The Parrot (cos it's just a big Budgie), Ancient Technology Perpetuated, Bat Pee, Skoda, 80p, Wigwam (A TeePee).
BAe Harrier: Leaping Heap
BAe Jetstream: Junkstream, Wetdream, Soda-stream, Sweatstream, Jetscream, AreWeThereYet?stream, J-Ball.
BAe Nimrod: Never Intended for Maritime Reconnaissance Or Development.
Bristol Beaufighter: Whispering Death
Bristol Freighter: Whispering Death, 10,000 rivets in close formation
Beech 18: Flying snag, Bugsmasher
Beech 76 Duchess: Dutch Ass
Beech 99: 99-Liner
Beech Baron: Ball tearer
Beech Bonanza: Doctor killer (its reputation as such is ubiquitous)
Beech 200: Super K
Beech 1900: Flipper, Dolphin, Stonefish, Mini Guppy, Stretch King Air, Bitch 1900
Beech T-34: Radial Interceptor
Bell 206: Deathranger, Hydraulic palmtree
Bell UH-1: Huey, Hog, Dustoff
Beverly: Flying Longhouse
Bristol 188: The Mayfly
Bristol Britannia: The Whispering Giant (Was this the original WG?), Freighter version: The Whispering Warehouse
Bristol Freighter: Freightener
Boeing Stratocruiser: Stratoboozer (a reference to the bar these aircraft had on board), "The Best Three Engined Plane Crossing the Atlantic"
Boeing E4B: Doomsday Plane, The Ark, Double Humper
Boeing T43: Gator (for Navigator)
Boeing 707: Slush bucket, Water wagon
Boeing 727: 3 holer, Tri-jet, Trisaurus, Triple crome-plated stovepipe, Jurassic Jet, Ear Blaster, The Scooter
Boeing 737: Tin mouse, Maggot, Pocket Rocket Socket, FLUF (Fat Little Ugly F**cker), SUF (Short Ugly F**ker), Light Twin, Baby Boeing, Fat Freddy, Guppy, Thunder Guppy (series 1/200), Yuppy Guppy, Super Guppy (series 3/4/500), Pig, Bobby (BOeing BaBY), Rudder Rotor, Fat Albert, Dung Beatle, "La Chancha" (In Argentina means "sow" for their shape)
Boeing 737NG: Super FLUF (Fat Little Ugly F**cker).
Boeing 747: Jumbo Jet, Whale, The Valiant, Upstairs and Downstairs, Lump, Humpback, Queen of the Skies (used for many aircraft but probably mostly the 747), the Aluminum Overcast.
Boeing 747SP: Short Plane, Stupid Purchase.
Boeing 757: Stick Insect, AtariFerrari, Slippery Snake, Flying Pencil, Long Tall Sally (long legs and two great big…engines.), Greased Bullet, Seattle Rocket
Boeing 757-300: Long misery, Subway Train.
Boeing 767: Dumpster, Slug, Stumpy
Boeing 777: B737 on steroids, Cripple Seven (I.F.E. Problems??), Bigfoot (from the tripple bogey landing gear), Sasquatch, T7, Seventh Wonder, Trouble Seven, Grouper (the front end does look like one of those fish), the Light Twin
Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Tupperjet (plastic tupperware), Firebird (since several early on-board fires), Seven-Late-Seven, Bad Dream Liner, Flatliner, Sparky the Game Changer, Binliner, The microwave (cooks batteries), Scabliner, Sparky, Plastic Princess, Spuds McKenzie.
Boeing C-17 Globemaster: The Moose. Barney (Fred’s fat little friend).
B24: The Crystal Shithouse
B52: BUMF (Big Ugly Mother f***er) or BUFF. (Big Ugly Fat F****er), BFiftyTwoManyWheels
BN 2 Islander: 225 - 2 wings, 2 engines(?) 5 Wheels, Slander, Bongo, Noise inducting sound machine, with a slow flying by-product
BN 2A Trislander: Try Harder, Bloody Nice Aircraft (!), Clockwork TriStar, Poor Man's 727
Bombardier Q400: Mega-Whacker
Bombardier CRJ: BarbieJet, Canuckjet, Canuckiejet, Ken&Barbie Dreamjet, Reset Jet, Replacement Jet, Climb Restricted Jet
Buccaneer: Buccanana (due to its banana like shape)
CA-15 Winjeel: The Ginwheel
CAC Wirraway: The "Flying Chaff-cutter" (due to its clattering engine noise)
Canberra T17: Warthog (due to its warty nose)
Casa: Christ A Sh***y Aeroplane
Cessna 150: One Filthy, the buck and a half, Cesspit.
Cessna A150 Aerobat: Aerosplat
Cessna 172 Cutlass: Strutless, Gutless, Flying Chevette (due to its lack of performance and Cessna’s efforts to make their aircraft similar to the cars of the era - that 1970’s upholstery!).
Cessna 177 Cardinal: The Pontif
Cessna 185: Buck eighty-five
Cessna 207: Crowdkiller, Slug, Moneymaker
Cessna 210 Centurian: Coffin, 2-Ton
Cessna 337 Sky Master: Sky Disaster, Sky Maggot, Push-me-Pull-you, Mix Master, Bug Smasher, Push-me-Pull-me, Blow-me-Suck-me, suck & blow job, two-toed tanglefoot.
Cessna 402 Utiliner: Undyliner.
Cessna Citation: Levitation, Crustacean, Mutation, Slowtation, Nearjet, Bugjet, Twin Hoover
Cessna T-37: Tweet, Tweety, Tweety Bird or 6000 lb Dog Whistle (because of its high, shrill engine sound)
CF100: The Lead Sled, Clunk
CH-47 Chinook: Two palm trees fucking a dumpster, Hooker, Shithook, RPG Magnet, Death Banana
Concorde: Great White, The Rocket, Rockership, Pocket Rocket, Paraffin Pencil
Convair B36: Aluminium overcast
Convair F102 Delta Dagger: The Deuce
Convair 580: Mountain Master, Vomit Comet
Convair 990: Coronado, Smoky Joe
CRJ: Canadair Rookie Jet
CRJ200: Shortdart, Lawndart, barbiejet
CRJ900: Longdart
CT-4A: (which was painted bright yellow and green in Oz Air Farce service) - the Plastic Parrot
Curtis SB2C Helldiver: the Beast, SonofaBitch2ndClass, Big-Tailed Beast and the 'Two-Cee'
Curtis Commando: Flying Coffin (due to its very poor single engine performance and the inexplicable explosions that victimized the model)
DC 2: Deuce.
DC 3: Dak, Dakotasaurus Rex, Gooney Bird, Draggin' Wagon, Douglas Racer (compliments of late BC/A columnist Torch Lewis and the airplane's leisurely 140 KIAS cruise speed), Dakleton (South African built Daks as replacement for AVRO Shackletons), Dizzy Three, Dowager Dutchess, Duck, Old Lady
DC 6: Douglasaurus Rex
DC 7: Douglas Seven Seas (From DC-7C)
DC 8: DC Late, Old Smokey, Greasy8, Death Cruiser, Whiney Bird, Cigarette Jets (Long skinny fuselages and long thin engines that smoked), Santa Monica Anteater (for Douglas' HQ city and the airplane's loooong nose), The Long Beach Cable Car (If you look at the fuel panel, all those levers were connected to their respective valves by long cable runs. Same with the trim, flight controls and outflow valves)
DC 9-10/15: Pocket Rocket, Mini-Me, Baby Nine
DC 9: Greasy 9, Diesel 9, DC3-GT, Douglas Death Ship-(heard from a PSA pilot in the 1980s due the difficulties during FAA certification)
DC 10: Diesel 10, Death Contraption 10, Death Cruiser 10, Daily Crash 10, Donald's Disaster, Crowd Killer
MD 11: The Diva, More Death 2, Scud (once you launched it, you were not sure were it was going to land), Marriage-Divorce 11 (on the KLM Caribbean fun fleet), MeDonze (A combination of' "medo"and "onze". Medo in Portuguese is "fear" and onze is "eleven.")
DH 82 Tiger Moth: Terror Moth.
DH Comet: Vomit
DH Vampire: The whistling pisscan.
DHC 1 Chipmonk: Chippie, Chukmonk.
DHC 3 Otter: Swine, Steam Otter.
DHC 4 Caribou: The Gravel Truck ("The only aircraft known to man that could suffer a birdstrike from behind".)
DHC 5 Buffalo: Barfalo, Dump truck (because it has the rear ramp and its pilots taxi the aircraft in reverse)
DHC 6 Twin Otter: Tin Otter, Twin Rotter, Twotter, Stoneboat, Twottercopter, noise powered aeroplane, Double Udder
DHC 7 Dash Seven: Quad Otter, Pogo Stick
DHC 8 Dash Eight: Dash Late, Crashbait, DashTrash, Trash8, Crash8, Trauma Tube, Dashidy Trashidy Boom, The Sausage
DO 17: Flying Pencil
DO 228: Doorknob, Gonzo (everything forward of the wing leading edge looks like a certain Muppet's head)
DO 328: Dork
DO 328J: Dorkjet
Douglas Maurader: Flying Prostitute
Douglas A1D Skyraider: The Spad
Douglas A4 Skyhawk: Bantam Bomber, Scooter
Douglas AC47 (DC3 Gunship): Spooky, Puff the Magic Dragon, Fantasma, Dragon Dak
Douglas C54 Skymaster: Buscuit Bomber (from Berlin Airlift days)
Douglas C124 Globemaster: Shakey Bird, "Old Shaky" due to its tendency to do a lot of that in flight, and "the Aluminium Cloud" because it was, with four props and a double high fuselage basically built on DC-6 / C-118 wings, the hugest return on anyone's radar
Douglas Skywarrior: 'All Three Dead' a mixture of its awful early safety record, three crew, and its US Navy designation of A-3D
EMB110 Bandierante: Bandit, Randy Banty
EMB120 Brasillia: Garbage Can, Brakillya, Mexican King Air, The Bro, The Braz
EMB135: Scopebuster
EMB145: Jungle Jet, Barbie Jet, The Windows 98 Plane (seems like you spend more time rebooting the aircraft than actually flying it), Bendy Jet, Emb180 (taxi to the runway, then 180 for taxi back to ramp), WiSCOD (Whistling Shitcan of Death)
EMB 175: The Electric Jet (It is so computerised)
EMB ERJ: Brazillian Tube of Death, Jungle Jet, Brasilia Jet (Really p***es off the pilots...)
Ercoupe: Scarecoupe, Air Scoop
Fokker 27: The Dutch Dog Whistle, The Egg Beater, Whistle Pig, The Converter - (ie, it converted fuel into noise), Alligator
Fokker 28: WhisperJet, She Who's Afraid of Snow
Fokker 50: F**kin' Fifty, Little Fokker, Pinocchio
Fokker 100: The Scud Because they point them at Europe and they don't come back!, Dutch Oven (lousy air conditioning), Runway Hog, The Mother Fokker (as it is the largest Fokker, but also because it sucks like a bitch)
FA 18: Bug, Rhino
Fairey Gannet: Converter of Kerosene to Noise
Fairey Swordfish: Stringbag
F-4 Phantom: Grey Geese, Double Ugly, Rhino, "Luftwaffen-Diesel" (due to the noticeable smoke trails), Fliegender Ziegelstein ("Flying Brick"), Luftverteidigungsdiesel ("Air Defense Diesel")
F-15A Eagle Steam Driven Eagle (for the old avionics compared to new C-models)
F-15E Eagle Mud Hen (self-explanatory)
F-16 Electric Lawn Dart, Viper
F-86 Sabre Sword, Kappone (by the Italians)
F-100 Hun
F-102 Deuce
F-104 Starfighter Flying coffin, Widowmaker, Manned missile, Zipper, The Pregnant Hatpin, Erdnagel (literally "earth nail"), from the military term for "tent peg", Spillone (big pin in Italian)
F-105 The Thud
F-106 Cadillac (smooth flyer, lots of power, fast, huge cockpit)
F-111: Aardvark, The Pig
F-117: Cockroach (because they only came out at night)
Fiat G91: Gina (Beware: nickname used only by Germans...)
Fiat G91T: Virus
Fouga: Dog-whistle, Converter, Whistling Turtle
HS121 Trident: Rodent, Ground Gripper
HS125: Pocket rocket
HS748: Paraffin Budgie, the Draggie, The Twenty Ton Dog Whistle.
GAF Nomad: Go-mad, Gonad
Gazelle: Chicken leg
Gloster Javellin: Flying Trowel, Harmonious drag master, Flat Iron
Gloster Meteor: Meatbox
Gulfstream I: G-String, G-Once
Gulfstream IV: Fourskin
Handley Page Hampden: Flying Suitcase
Hawker Hunter: Haunter
HP Halifax: Halibag
IAI Westwind: Lead Sled, Jew Canoe, Heebjet, Bagel Bomber, Yom Kippur Clipper
Jaguar: Septic Cat
Jet Provost: JP, The variable noise machine
Katana DA20: Flying sperm
Lake Amphibian: Doctor Killer
LearJet: FearJet, Noisemaker
Lockheed Constellation: Connie, Cancellation, “the best tri-motor ever” so good that sometimes the 4th engine works!
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy: Cumulus Aluminus, FRED (F*cking Ridiculous Economic Disaster)
Lockheed C130 Hercules: Fat Albert, Trash hauler, Herkybird, Cessna 130
Lockheed C141 Starlifter: Lizard
Lockheed Jetstar: Lawn Dart
Lockheed 1011 TriStar: Bistar (Had so many RB211-22B failures), El-10-Elemon, FrightStar, Tritanic, Swamp Eater, Swamp Buggy
Lockheed P38 Lightning: The Fork-Tailed Devil, Two planes, one pilot
Lockheed SR71: Blackbird, was also often called "Habu" because of its frequent deployment to Okinawa (where the habu is a nasty pit viper).
Lockheed T-33: T Bird, Lockheed Racer (because it was anything but fast)
Lockheed YF12: The Thing!
MD 11: Mad Dog, Mega Dog, Mechanical Disaster 11, More Death 11, MD-911, She Who Won't Land, She Who Won't Sell
MD 80: Mad Dog 80, Stupid 80 (They call them Super 80's), Minimum Delay 80 (Minutes), Super Tube, Super Slug, Douglas Death Tube, Long Beach Sewer Pipe, Lead sled (becuase it was underpowered)
MD 95: John Holmes condom
MD Demon: Screamin Demon
Mitsubishi Zero: type one lighter ( due to its ability to readily catch fire when attacked!)
Mitsubishi MU-2: Widow Maker, Hiroshima Screamer, Rice Rocket, Kill You - 2
Mohawk 298/Nord 262: Pteradactyl
Northrop T38: White Rocket
OH-58D Kiowa: Remote-Controlled Upside-Down Lawnmower, Kenny (the sight system looks like the South Park character)
Partenavia: Part-of-Mafia, Partial Aviator, Part Banana
PA-20 Pacer: The sled
PA-22 Tri Pacer: Pie Chaser, Fly Paper, Milk stool
PA-23 Aztec: Az-Truck, Azwreck, Flying Potato
PA-28 Arrow: Sparrow
PA-28 Cherokee: Cherry Tree, Chickopee
PA-28 Warrior: Worrier
PA-30 Twin Comanche: Twinkle
PA-31 Navajo: Never-go, Have-a-go, The Ho
PA-34 Seneca: Senekiller
PA-38 Tomahawk: Traumahawk, Terrahawk, SpinMaster, Ratshit Hatchet
PA-44 Seminole: Semenhole
PA-60: ScareOstar, Death Star.
PC12: Platypus.
PBY 5 Catalina: Pigboat, Dumbo.
Piaggio PD808: Vespa Jet.
Piaggio 180: Lawnmower (because it sounded like one).
Puma: Plastic pig, Percy.
Republic Thunderchief: Thud
RJ70/100: Real Jet
Robinson R22: The Happy Hopping Easter Egg (they're cute and colorful...and look like toys.)
SA 227 Metroliner: San-Antonio sewerpipe, Texas Sewer Pipe, Death pencil, The Screamin Weenie, Texas Lawn Dart, Swetro (It got very hot in the summer), Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support, skinny lil 'ol wings), Terror Tube, "That noisy fucking thing", Widow maker, Kerosene Crowbar, Fear tube, Necroliner, Buzzbomb, Metrowhiner, Death Tube, Turbo Dildo, San Antonio Sewer Rocket.... With Garrett Grenades.
SAAB: Slaab, Swedes Aren't Airplane Builders, S.O.B
SAAB 35 Draken: Flying Trowel
SAAB J29: Flying Barrel
S3 Viking: Hoover
Shorts Belfast: Belslug, Belslow (because it was so slow), in the early days they were called 'Dragmasters' because they were so slow and after Shorts fixed them with the strakes either side of the rear ramp they were called 'Fastbacks'
Shorts Sandringham: The Triple Decker Bus
Shorts Skyvan: The Whispering Nissan Hut
Shorts 330: The Two Tailed Shed, Horse Float, Milk Carton, Winnebago, Box Car, Short Van
Shorts 360: Box, Shoe Box, Barn, Shed, Long Short, The box that the Skyvan came in, Winnabego with Wings, The Irish Concorde
Sikorsky S61N: "Miss Piggy", (fat and ugly)
Socata Rallye: "tin parachute" for its near vertical descent into short fields, "tin parasol"-- for their reluctance to stall (with leading edge slats)--they just descend almost vertically
Sopwith Triplane: Tripehound
Strikemaster: Constant speed - variable noise machine.
Supermarine Scimitar: The Beast.
Supermarine Stranraer: Whistling Shithouse
Supermarine Walrus: Shagbat
T-21 Sedburgh: The Barge
TB-10 Tobago: Toboggan - because they only perform downhill!
Tornado: Tonka
TSR-2: Throw Some Rocks Two, Teararse
Tu144: Concordski
UH-60 Black Hawk: Lawn Dart, Crash Hawk
VC-9 Vanguard: Vickers Vibrator
VC-9 Vanguard Merchantman: The Guards Van, Whispering Warehouse, Shuddering Shithouse (because the crude crew toilet was in the entrance which was the forward service door on the original Vanguard. When the entrance door was open on the ground the whole world could see you having a pee!)
VC-10: Iron Duck, Vickers Knickers, The flying chandelier
Vickers Varsity: Flying pig
Vickers Wellington: Wimpey
Vultee BT13: Vultee Vibrator (due to shaking in a spin)
Westland Wessex: Walter Wessex or Wobbly Wessex

Too long to read, I'll wait for the movie

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

It's been done (although a little outdated):

http://www.b737.org.uk/aircraftnicknames.htm

Fantastic contribution -- thank you very much!

I have some Navy-centric additions:

A-1 Skyraider - Pre-1962, the ECM version was designated AD-5Q and that version picked up the nickname "Queer Spad"
EF-10B Skyknight - Marine Corps ECM aircraft nicknamed Drut (reverse the letters for the aircrew's opinion of the airplane)
E-2 Hawkeye - Hummer (the only turboprop in an otherwise all-jet air wing)
F/A-18 Hornet A through D models - Bug (as your listing)
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet - Super Bug
F-14 Tomcat - Turkey (due to differential movement of horizontal stabilizers when landing on carrier)
TBF/TBM Avenger - Turkey
S-2 Tracker (formerly S2F) - Stoof
E-1 Tracer (formerly WF) - Willie Fudd or 'Stoof with a Roof'
EC-121 (formerly WV) - Willie Victor
F4D Skyray - Ford
F2H Banshee - Banjo
F2H-3/4 - Big Banjo (longer nose with radar)
A-3 Skywarrior - Whale (in addition to the All Three Dead on your listing; the A-3 took up a lot of space on carrier decks so became known as the Whale)
And a bit of background on "all three dead:" The Skywarrior first flew in 1952 and the design was under great pressure to reduce weight, as the A-3 was the largest carrier aircraft to date. The priority was to get a carrier-capable airplane operational ASAP to deliver the large and heavy nuclear bombs of the time. Given the foregoing, ejection seats were omitted. The Air Force later bought the design as the B-66 but insisted on the provision of ejection seats for the crew. The story goes that Douglas then went back to the Navy and offered to revise the design to incorporate ejection seats, as the Air Force had paid for the engineering costs. The Navy turned Douglas down. All that said, there were multiple examples of successful bailouts from the A-3 over a career than spanned decades. The method to bail out was to slide down the diagonal entryway and into the airstream. There were several versions, notably the EA-3B carrier-capable SIGINT version that had crewman where the bomber version had a bomb bay; bailout from that rear compartment was via a side opening door and was more problematic. I can't find a photo of the side door -- here's a photo of a model showing both the open outer door just behind the nose landing gear and the closed side door. Note that the four crewmembers in the rear compartment are going to be bailing out right next to the J57 engine; sounds like fun! And of course the most dangerous scenario where bailing-out might be required would be a carrier landing when the aircraft is at low altitude; not conducive to survival!

[Llarry]

Unlimited air racing has been dominated throughout by former military fighters of World War II and shortly thereafter. Aircraft designer Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites undertook the design of a modern aircraft to compete with these much older aircraft for owner Bob Pond.

The resulting aircraft was the Pond Racer; much smaller than the older competition but hopefully faster in air racing.

The Pond Racer was powered by two modified auto racing Nissan V-6 engines driving four-bladed props and first flew in 1991. Unfortunately, the aircraft was unsuccessful and crashed in its second race, killing the pilot and destroying the aircraft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled...tes_Pond_Racer

[3798j]

.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Llarry

Given all the discussion about competition between the USA and China, it is interesting to note that the U.S. Air Force plans to (or is in the process of) withdraw the two F-15C squadrons based at Kadena AB, Okinawa, Japan. That will leave Kadena, at the "crossroads of the Pacific" without combat aircraft.

There will still be fighter wings in Korea and Misawa, N. Japan. And, of course, the Republic of Korea Air Force and the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force have good capabilities in the area. Recent press reports suggest that Japan is going to very substantially increase their defense budget.

An Air Force press release from several months ago which I just saw reported the withdrawal of a first batch of F-15Cs from Okinawa. It also stated that the Air Force will be filling the requirement for fighters at Kadena by assigning aircraft from elsewhere on a temporary rotating basis. That makes me feel better about the situation, particularly given the tensions in the region.

The 18th Wing at Kadena will still have permanently assigned E-3B or E-3G AWACS and KC-135R tanker aircraft.

[Llarry]

The Marine Corps and Navy use of the Lockheed C-130 goes back to 1960. The Marine Corps wanted a transport/refueler and the Navy wanted a small number of C-130s for use in Antarctica.

The Marines ordered three squadrons' worth of KC-130Fs and the Navy ordered four C-130BLs, later redesignated as LC-130F. The Marines used the refueling capabilities of the KC-130F to facilitate trans-Pacific flights of tactical aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom. The Navy used LC-130s for years but has turned that mission over to the Air National Guard.

These early Marine/Navy planes were based on early Air Force C-130B airframes. In later years, upgraded versions were purchased and replaced the early models. During 1965 the Navy started buying C-130s for the TACAMO mission to communicate with submerged missile submarines, discussed earlier in this thread. These TACAMO C-130s were replaced by the Boeing 707-based E-6 Mercury, as also discussed earlier. Now, in an interesting twist, there is some discussion of retiring the aging E-6Bs and replacing them with new TACAMO EC-130Js.

The current Marine Corps transport/refueler fleet consists of three active-duty transport/refueler squadrons (VMGR) with 45 KC-130Js. The Marine Corps Reserve has an additional two squadrons. Of note, the Marine KC-130Js are the short version of the -130, where almost all Air Force and Air National Guard version are the longer version. A recent study has recommended that the number of active Marine squadrons be expanded to five, so the fleet may grow. A fourth squadron is to be established in Hawaii; I'm not sure where the fifth will be.

The Marines have also developed an armament package for their KC-130Js, although the number of packages is limited. The Harvest Hawk package includes an electro-optical/infrared imaging system and AGM-114P Hellfire (pictured) and AGM-176 Griffin missiles. Ten KC-130Js have been modified to accept the package and six packages are available for installation, so relatively few Marine KC-130Js will be armed.

There is one special Marine Corps C-130J used to support the Blue Angels and called Fat Albert. This is actually a former RAF short-body C-130 that was modified in the UK to support the Blue Angels. Old-timers like me may remember the spectacular rocket-assisted takeoffs by past Fat Albert -130s at Blue Angels airshows; those unfortunately are a thing of the distant past, as the JATO units were deemed unsafe.

The U.S. Navy Reserve currently has several squadrons of C-130Ts; these are equivalent to late-production USAF C-130Hs. The USNR squadrons are scheduled to re-equip with KC-130Js, though the expansion of the Marine squadrons may delay the program. I believe that the USNR C-130Ts are currently limited by prop problems, as are Air National Guard C-130Hs. The solution is replacement of the props -- replacing the 4-blade props with 8-blade props -- but the program is not going quickly; it may be that the KC-130J ends up being the solution for the Navy Reserve.

[Llarry]

Here's a short video of the former Blue Angels Fat Albert KC-130 JATO-assisted takeoff.

[Lady Jane]

Bréguet 763.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br%C3%...763_Deux-Ponts

[Lady Jane]

Fairchild XC-120 Packplane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairch...-120_Packplane

[M-technik-3]

Raytheon continued to fly EA-3's too 2007 as test beds.

[M-technik-3]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Fun trivia: Why is the F-16 called the Viper?

When the F-16 was first going operational, the original Battlestar Galactica was on TV with the "fighters in space" idea. The pilots started wearing "viper" patches. Senior leadership went nuts, so of course the name stuck. I remember as a kid thinking that the TV Vipers and the F-16 "sort of" looked vaguely similar (if you looked sideways and squinted), so it made sense to me. I don't think I've ever met a Viper Driver who's called it the Fighting Falcon.

Hardly any airplanes that I can think of are called by their "official" name. Nobody goes around going "That's the C-17 Globemaster III". Nope-- it's either "Buddha" (everyone sits around and worships it) or "Barney" (Fred's short, fat friend. This one makes more sense if you understand that the C-5 is called "Fred").

Barney in the early days had three pallets and would take two mid-air's to fly the 3LM mission it was employed to do in the mid 90's. It's not a Strat Air Jet. It really is a improved C-130J model

I hated having to ACM to a location on them they are not people friendly. Sleeping amonst the cargp is not a good idea but is routinely employed.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

Fairchild XC-120 Packplane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairch...-120_Packplane


Attachment 3139485

Attachment 3139486

Imagine riding in that detachable pod.

I'll pass.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Fun trivia: Why is the F-16 called the Viper?

When the F-16 was first going operational, the original Battlestar Galactica was on TV with the "fighters in space" idea. The pilots started wearing "viper" patches. Senior leadership went nuts, so of course the name stuck. I remember as a kid thinking that the TV Vipers and the F-16 "sort of" looked vaguely similar (if you looked sideways and squinted), so it made sense to me. I don't think I've ever met a Viper Driver who's called it the Fighting Falcon.

Hardly any airplanes that I can think of are called by their "official" name. Nobody goes around going "That's the C-17 Globemaster III". Nope-- it's either "Buddha" (everyone sits around and worships it) or "Barney" (Fred's short, fat friend. This one makes more sense if you understand that the C-5 is called "Fred").

And BUFF for the B-52.

I'm sure most folks will figure that one out.

[Llarry]

The U.S. Navy has a number of large amphibious assault carriers that normally embark mostly Marine helicopters, along with a small detachment (4-6) of Harriers or the F-35B that is replacing the Harrier. As well as a thousand-plus Marines.

But somebody came up with the concept of making a mini aircraft carrier and putting the max number of F-35B Lightnings on the ship. They got two squadrons' worth (20 aircraft) on the ship, along with a couple of helicopters. This makes the ship into a pretty formidable strike asset.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The Marine Corps and Navy use of the Lockheed C-130 goes back to 1960. The Marine Corps wanted a transport/refueler and the Navy wanted a small number of C-130s for use in Antarctica.

I referenced the long and short versions of the C-130 in my post. The longer version adds 15 feet to the length of the aircraft. Here's an illustrationthat I think we've seen before -- the Transall C-160 on top can be ignored; it is long out of production and being replaced by Germany and France and in any event, although it looks similar to the C-130 in size, has much less payload capacity.

[Lady Jane]

Curtiss-Wright C-76 Caravan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis...t_C-76_Caravan

[asianF22]

at work this past wknd…B-24 Liberator, Diamond Lil

[Llarry]

The USAF's F-15 replacement (except for the F-15E Strike Eagle) was supposed to be the F-22A. The USAF originally wanted over 700 F-22s to ensure air dominance; under budget pressure, that goal was cut back to fewer than 400, then finally to fewer than 200. Those cuts meant that the F-15 remained active in an air superiority role alongside the F-22.

The F-15 also proved popular in the export market, bought by many nations.

Now the F-15 had been placed back in production for the USAF, but with some wrinkles. One is the powerplant: The Pratt & Whitney F100 afterburning turbofan used on all U.S. F-15s is replaced by the General Electric F110 engine on the F-15EX. The use of the F110 is not new; several foreign nations (Korea, Singapore) have specified the F110 engine for their F-15s, and the Saudis are reengining their F-15s with F110 engines.

The Israeli Air Force has reportedly ordered 25 of the new F-15EX as well.

Suffice it to say that the F-15 is alive and well some 50+ years after first flight.