Aircraft names. Of Beaks, Bones, Sluffs and Stoofs.

[3/7charlie]

I think we've about nailed it down So, heres my list and explinations. Feel free to pick it apart,but I think my sources are pretty solid.
Like I said. Lots of overlap, so I've gonewith the most commom usages. Who posts the Next list?

1- SLUFF -A-7 - Short little ugly fracker
2- BUFF - B-52 - Big ugly fat fracker
3- Malfunction Junction - WV-1" Warning Star"- for the load of often broken electronics.Early radar systems had an alarmingly low MTBF
4- BONE - B-ONE
5- Beak - B-2 aledgedly for the beak like profile of the nose
6- Ford - F4D Skyray F FOUR D
7- Banana - Buccaneer for its curvy, bent looking form. Also the Piaseki Horse.
8- Stoof - S TWO F
9- Hiss - ASW Seabats and early Seakings. from Helecopter, Sikorsky, Antisubmarine(HSS)
10- 'Vark - Ardvark- F-111
11- Sparkvark- EF-111
12- Aluminium death tube - The F-104
13- Ensign eliminator- Most common-the F4U
14- Led Sled- F-84- for its slow acceleration, and inability to slow down once it got going. Latter, the SR-71
15- Zip tube - F-104
16- Vibrator-Most common, the Vultee Vindicator, some times the Vultee Vengance.Also the 'Wind indicator'
17- All three dead- A3D. No ejection seats
18- Willy Fudd- WF1 AEW version of the S-2. See STOOF with a ROOF
19- Hog - F-84
20- Pig - F-111- Austrailia
21- Hummer- E-2C
22- 'Sader - F-8
23- Thud - F-105 early engine troubles,no wing. corruption of Thunderchief.'What does an engine failure sound like in a '105? THUD.'
24- Clunk- CF-100 'Canuck' early engine trouble/icing. What sound does a CF-100 make? CLUNK
25- Drut- F3D, Vietnam. Reference to the age and condition of the aircraft. Mirror of TURD
26- Zipper- F-104
27- Hose nose- F4U
28- Scooter- A-4
29- Wimpy - Vickers Wellington. From popeye's hungry freind- J. Wellington Wimpy
30- Shagbat- Supermarine Walrus
31- Middle River Stump-Jummper- A B-26 modified by Martin to test bicycle landing gear. The factory was in Middle River, Maryland.
32- Hoover/ War-Hoover- S-3 for its hoover like sound and propensity for vacuuming up FOD
33- Awl- Tu-22 From the 'AWL' like shape of the aircraft
34- Spad- Skyraider
35- Deuce- F-102
36- Tweet -T-37
37- Hun- F-100- F-one HUNdred
38- Bug-F-18
39- Beast- SB2C
40- Sonofabitch 2nd class-SB2c
41- Dak- Dakota(C-47) UK/ commonwealth.
42- Hallibag- Halifax
42- Turkey- TBM, F-14
43- Maytag Messerschmit- P-51's Maytag produced merlins under licence, and the aircraft was thought to resemble the Me-109
So much so that early machines in RAF service carried white ID bands on wings and fues.
44- Dumbo- Rescue B-17's and PBY's
45- Jolly Green Giant- SAR CH-53's Veitnam.

I have never heard a 104 driver call his mount a Widowmaker.

3/7charlie

 

[centuryseries]

My favourite has to be the A-3D - whoever came up with All 3 Dead!!!!!

 

[3/7charlie]

My favourite has to be the A-3D - whoever came up with All 3 Dead!!!!!

Black humor on the part of the air crews. No bang seats means that a cold cat or somrthing bad happening means ALL 3 DEAD. In fairness to Ed Heinnemann, the bang seats were heavy and not very effective at zero/zero in 1947 when the program started, and weight was paramount. He gave the navy a 65000 lb airplane that could carry a 10,000lb nuke off a 27charlie Essex, when the other manufacturers were trying to sell 168000lb( sea-going B-47's) that could only operate off ships that, at the time, were 10 years away and may never get built. Indeed, the USS United States, a predicessor of the Forrestal, was cancelled a week after its keel laying.
3/7charlie

 

[Bjoern]

I have never heard a 104 driver call his mount a Widowmaker.

Obviously never met a german Zipper driver then. :d

BTW, I have heard reference of the 104 being called the "lawn dart."

Yep. Also a nickname.


By the way, what's the best way to get hold of a Starfighter?
- Buy a patch of land and wait.

Indeed, the USS United States, a predicessor of the Forrestal, was cancelled a week after its keel laying.

Funnily enough, the last ship to bear that name so far was a frigate in the American Civil War. :d
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_United_States

 

[3/7charlie]

Good one Bjoern! I'd forgotten that one. I know alot of old '104 drivers. Widowmaker is veiwed
as a creation of the media. But, I make no claims to being all-knowing. Most days,I don't know
what I did yesterday!
So,How 'bout a new batch?

1- Jug
2- Tante Ju
3- Stringbag
4- Fat Albert
5- whistling outhouse
6- Great Grey Shuddering outhouse
7- Cab
8- Mudguard
9- Brick
10- warthog
11- Shar
12- Pedro
13- 'Lectricjet
14- Banjo
14- Rhino
15- Gooney bird
16- Tin Trangle
17- Molot (hammer)
18- Vomit comet
19- Tin Goose
20- Mortar Magnet
21- Twotter
22- Kerosene Converter
23- Blow Job
24- Dragmaster
25- Fastback
26- Gina
27- Luftwaffenfeuerzeug
28- Whistling Wheelbarrow
29- Dora
30- Mule
31- Naehmaschine
33- Mosquito (U.S.)
34- Kukurznik
35- Bedcheck Charlie
36- Meatbox

 

[Bjoern]

Jug => P-47
Tante Ju => Ju-52
Stringbag => Swordfish
Fat Albert => C-5
Brick => F-4
warthog => A-10
'Lectricjet => EF-111
Rhino => F-4
Gooney bird => C-47
Vomit comet => CV-880 or 727 (NASA edition)
Twotter => DHC-6
Kerosene Converter => CV-880(?)
Blow Job => F-102?
Fastback => F-106?
Gina => G.91
Luftwaffenfeuerzeug => He-177
Dora => Fw-190D
Naehmaschine => Po-2
Bedcheck Charlie => AC-47 (or some other nightly Ho-Chi-Minh-Trail perforator)


This is tough....without using Google.


- Edit: By the way, the F-102's nickname is "Deuce", not "Duce". ;P

 

[3/7charlie]

Whups! Typo. Fingers frequently get way ahead of brain. But so will a snail with a good tailwind!
Good start! Though the AC-47 was SPOOKY. Think police action, 16 years or so before the AC-47. Also cameo'd in a comedy series in the '70's.

By the way, what's the best way to get hold of a Starfighter?
- Buy a patch of land and wait.
Puts me in mind of the early days of the Harrier, when it was said that you could navigate VFR by the Harrier Wrecks!-" Wisteria Cottage?
Roight. up the lane to the crashed Harrier, turn out left at the crashed Harrier, then 3 miles on. Cant Miss it. Right next to the crashed Harrier!"




3/7charlie

 

[Piglet]

Isn't Fat Albert the Blue Angels support C-130?
Bedcheck Charlie was the name given to the various Commie planes that would do nusience night raids in Korea and Nam. Usually small "absolete"
light planes, like the Po-2, or AN-2. These raids usually did little damage or casualties, but did interrupt the troops' sleep, hence the term "Bedcheck Charlie"
"Blowjob" was a term given to most early jets, like P-80, 262, etc.
Then there all of the NATO codenames, like
Foxbat
Bull
Flanker
Clod
Clanker
Fishbed....
AND there are all the names for Japanese WW2 planes.
Tony
Zeke
Betty
Jack
Frank....

 

[3/7charlie]

I read an account once of an Air America Huey crew that shot down a NVAF An-2, The Kicker hanging out the door and blagging it with an AK-47! Thats some grit!
3/7charlie

 

[Motormouse]

Shar...Sea Harrier FRS 1...from the abbreviated label stencilled on its' ground support equipment @ 1982 to avoid confusion with items intended for use with the GR3 fleet..yes really..I woz there..nuff said...

Whistling Wheelbarrow..AW Argosy..from the noise (luvverly) and twin-boom layout...
ones with a radome were the Whistling T*t

Meatbox...another brit..Gloster Meteor

here's a couple more...

Budgie=?

Skoda=?


ttfn

Pete

 

[3/7charlie]

Shar...Sea Harrier FRS 1...from the abbreviated label stencilled on its' ground support equipment @ 1982 to avoid confusion with items intended for use with the GR3 fleet..yes really..I woz there..nuff said...


Good on ya, Mate, And well done! Got run through the Scorpion course at Lulworth, Late '83. There was this stringy, pasty grey little 'Sarnt Major from the Blues and Royals. Had to be close to 50, and that little bugger ran our arses off. Could hardly keep up with him, and I was 20 years old. Damn near killed me. Toughest bugger I've ever seen!
3/7charlie

 

[pttyq]

ok, here goes one, for the record...

Pedro = Spanish He 111

 

[Marvin Carter]

StingBag!!!

 

[3/7charlie]

pttyq- yep spanish 111's were pedro. Also the S-55 Sar birds in RCN service.
I was just noodling on the wartime and NATO reporting names. Odd that bombers were given female names- Betty,Nell,Val, fighters given male names. The NATO scheme, F-Fighters/Strike, B-Bombers, C-transport, M-(Misc.) Trainers, MPA's,a few Recce types (MANDRAKE) thrown in for color.H-flingwings,single syllable for pistoh(HORSE,HOUND) 2 syllables for turbine(HORMONE HELIX) with exceptions that make no sense(HIP,HIND). There is also a sylabic destinction. Jets get 2-syllable reporting names (FRESCO, BACKFIRE,CANDID) while prop driven aircraft received single syllable reporting names(BEAR,MOOSE,CLANK), and that the official direction was to not make the name 'too flattering'!
Also found it odd that IR/ICBMS are lumped in with ATGMS, naval cruise and ballistic missiles,A/S missiles,and unguided bombardment rockets(SCUD,SWATTER,SERB, SATAN,SANDBOX), with no distinction made between roles, except for FROGs(FreeRocketOverGround).
SAMS are given G names(GUIDELINE,GOA,GLADIATOR), Air to surface -K series(KIPPER, KELT,KITCHEN)
3/7charlie

 

[TARPSBird]

Banjo = F2H Banshee
Going back to the original list, I'm pretty sure "Vibrator" is most commonly associated with the Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainer.
How about "Two Turnin', One Burnin'" and "Type 1 Lighter"?

 

[viking3]

Nicknames

A few more for the mix...
Two-ton Dog Whistle =Cessna T-37
T-Bird =Lockheed T-33
Push-me Pull-you =Cessna O-2 or Cessna 337
Tin Lemon =L1011
Gonzo =CT-142 Dash8 Nav Trainer
Flying Banana =Piasecki H-21 Shawnee

 

[Bjoern]

Puts me in mind of the early days of the Harrier, when it was said that you could navigate VFR by the Harrier Wrecks!-" Wisteria Cottage?
Roight. up the lane to the crashed Harrier, turn out left at the crashed Harrier, then 3 miles on. Cant Miss it. Right next to the crashed Harrier!"

:d

Isn't Fat Albert the Blue Angels support C-130?

I've also heard it as a nick for the Galaxy.

Bedcheck Charlie was the name given to the various Commie planes that would do nusience night raids in Korea and Nam.

A tradition well preserved from WW2, eastern front.

Skoda=?

Avia S-199?

How about "Two Turnin', One Burnin'" and "Type 1 Lighter"?

A6M Zero?


Someone eager enough to create an "aircraft nickname" database?

 

[bruce448]

"Two Turnin', One Burnin'"

AJ-1 Savage

2 props, 1 jet engine

 

[Bjoern]

AJ-1 Savage

2 props, 1 jet engine

Ah, makes sense!

 

[3/7charlie]

Banjo = F2H Banshee
Going back to the original list, I'm pretty sure "Vibrator" is most commonly associated with the Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainer.
How about "Two Turnin', One Burnin'" and "Type 1 Lighter"?

Hey TARPS. Yes, I'm sure that the valliant was called by that, but it is first attributed to Marine Corps dive bomber
pilots in contempoary accounts of the battles for Wake and Midway, where they refered to their less than effacious mounts
as Vultee Vibrators,and Vultee Wind indicator. two 'turnin and one 'burnin has got to be the Savage.(Is there an fs Savage, other than Jim Jacobsons?)
Or a Tin Goose with an engine fire? Hail the mighty MUSHMOUTHS!
Push pull, yes.One of my faves is 'skymonster' The original MixMaster was the Douglas XB-42(?)43(?). Neat plane.
Type one lighter I dont know , but there have been many 'Air Force ziggaretten lighters, but
often this was a creation of the press, like 'widow maker 'an appelation that is at odds with the usual black humor favored by aircrew,
even the dour Germans! Dont jump on me!, I'm allready in it for that one from my better half, a Rhinemaiden from Hugelsheim.She grew up
with '104 drivers and maintainers of both services as neighbors,back in the day, and has heard zip, death tube, tent peg, lawndart,
and even (Black Humor) 'Self Burial Machine', and, most often, simply '104, but never widow maker. I would suggest that any one claiming
to be a '104 driver who calls his mount widow maker, has been no close to one than a photograph. For all its flaws, and the zillion and
one ways it could it could bite you in the survival pak, it was a very well loved type.
Is Banjo just allitrtation from Banshee, or is there another story. I'd heard a reference once that, you brought your banjo along so you had something to
do while waiting for the engine to spool up! Sound like the right sort of humor, but I've never been able to confirm it.
Keep 'em comming. This is loads of fun, and we're picking up some lost gems here.
cheers! 3/7charlie