OK nicknames used by military for aircraft of all eras

[rwdfresno]

I love some of the nicknames they have these days

B-52 Superfortress is called a B.U.F.F. Big Ugly Fat F***ker
CH-53 Sea Stallion is called S**tter
CH-47 Chinook is called a S**t hook
H-21C Shawnee is called Flying Banana
HH-3E is called Jolly Green Giant
H-34 Sea Horse called Sea Whores by the Navy
F-105 Thunderchief called Thud
AC-47 called Spooky or Puff the Magic Dragon

Let's hear 'em

[Randy Haskin]

My favorite was the A-7 SLUF -- Short, Little, Ugly F*cker.

For modern jets:

F-15C - Rodan, or Light Gray
F-15E - Mud Hen or Dark Gray
A-10 - Hog
F-16 - Viper or LGPOS (Little Gray Piece of Sh*t) -- personally, I like to call 'em "Fighting Falcon" because that p*sses off F-16 pilots the most, as in "Kill Fighting Falcon".
F-18E/F - Super Bug
C-17 - FRED (F*cking Ridiculous Expenditure of Dollar$)
B-1 - BONE

[Swiss Mustangs]

A-1 Skyraider = Spad, Able Dog, Fat Face (A-1E)
A-3D, EA-3B Skywarrior = Whale, All 3 Dead, Whistling sugar
A-4 Skyhawk = Scooter, Mongoose, Heinemann's Hot Rod
A-6 Intruder = Drumstick, Pregnant Guppy, Whale (KA-6)
A-7 Corsair II = SLUF (Short Little Ugly F...er)
A-10 Thunderbolt II = Warthog, Hog
A-37 Dragonfly = Dog Whistle, Converter (jet fuel into noise)
B-1 Lancer = Bone (B-one), Lawn Dart
B-2 Spirit = Black Knight, Boomerang
B-52 Stratofortress = BUFF, Aluminum Overcast
C-5 Galaxy = Aluminum Overcast, Cumulus Aluminus,
Big Mac, Fat Albert,
FRED (Foolishly Ridiculous Economic Disaster)
Linda Lovelace,Queer
(every time it kneels, it blows something)
C-17 Globemaster III = Mighty Mouse, Buddha, Moose, Barney
C-124 Globemaster II = Aluminum Overcast*,Boneshaker, Old Shaky
C-130 Hercules = Herky Bird, Hercu-Slease
Vibrator, Bugsmasher
C-141 Starlifter = Lockheed Lizard (-B mod in Camo),
Tube of Pain, Quarter Pounder (see C-5),
Star Lizard
E-1 Tracer = Willie Fudd, Stoof with a Roof
E-2 Hawkeye = Hummer
E-3 Sentry, AWACS = Frisbee
EA-6B Prowler = Queer, Double Ugly, Family Truckster
EC-130H Hercules* Electric Herc
EC-130E Commando Solo = Clipper (pods give it a seaplane look)
EF-111 Raven = Sparkvark
ES-3 Shadow = Electro-Lux
F-100 Super Sabre = Hun, Super Sled
F-101 Voodoo = One-Oh-Wonder
F-102 Delta Dagger = Deuce
F-104 Starfighter = Zipper, Missile With A Man In It, Sled
Widowmaker (in the Luftwaffe)
F-105 Thunderchief = Nickel, Thud, Lead Sled
F-106 Delta Dart = Six
FB-111 (None) = Aardvark, Switchblade Edsel, Ramp Vac,
McNamara's Folly
F-117 Nighthawk = Black Jet, Goblin, Ghost, BatPlane,
Cockroach, Roach
(they only come out at night)
F-4 Phantom II = Rhino, Double Ugly, Warped Wing,
Bug Basher
F-5A, B Freedom Fighter, = Skoshi Tiger
F-8 Crusader = Mig Master, Crud
F-14 Tomcat = Turkey, Bombcat (bomb capable version)
Peeping Tom (equipped w/TARPS)
F-15A/C Eagle = Rhodan, Flying Tennis Court,
Starship, Ego Jet
F-15E Strike Eagle = Mudhen, Beagle (Bomb Eagle)
F-16 Fighting Falcon = Lawn Dart, Viper, Electric Jet
F/A-18 Hornet = Plastic Bug, Bug
KC-135 Stratotanker = Strato-Bladder, Steam Jet,
Fanbird (R version)
KC-10 Extender = Snoopy
O-2 Skymaster = Mixmaster, Pushmepullyou
OA-37 ? = Killer Tweet
S-2 Tracker = Stoof
S-3, S-3B Viking = Hoover, War Hoover
SR-71 (None) = Blackbird, Habu, Sled
T-37 ? = Tweety Bird, Tweet, Dog Whistle
T-38 Talon = White Rocket, Smurf (AT-38 )



Blackburn Buccaneer = "Brick"
Gloster Meteor = "Meatbox"
Aerospatiale C-160 Transall = "Trall"


in Switzerland

Dassault Mirage IIIS = "Miro"
Dassault Mirage IIIRS = "Amir"

Last edited by Swiss Mustangs on Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Steve Nelson]

A few from Dubya-Dubya-Two:


F4U Corsair - Whistling Death, Hose Nose, Hog Nose.

SBD Dauntless - Slow But Deadly

SB2C Helldiver - Beast, Big Ass Bird, Son-of-a-Bitch Second Class.

B-26 Marauder - The Flying Prostitute / Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support) One-a-day in Tampa Bay (referring to high accident rates in training)

Vultee BT-13 - Vibrator

Many sources refer to the P-47 Thunderbolt as "Jug" and the P-38 Lighting as "Fork Tailed Devil," but there's some debate as to whether these were wartime nicknames, or postwar creations by author Martin Caidin.


SN

[k5083]

I have it on good authority that the Republic F-84 Thunderjet was called the Repulsive Blunderjet by its unhappy crews.

August

[Former Member]

Many sources refer to the P-47 Thunderbolt as "Jug" and the P-38 Lighting as "Fork Tailed Devil," but there's some debate as to whether these were wartime nicknames, or postwar creations by author Martin Caidin.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I was wondering if anybody could shed some light on Martin Caidin and his history with warbirds and writing books. I remember reading a bunch of his books when I was a kid and if I remember correctly he also owned/operated the JU-52 for a short while.

John

[Nathan]

I think Warhawk went good with the P-40. And Buffalo was spot on for the Brewster F2A(it looked liked a buffalo to me).

[K5DH]

The P-38 Lightning was called "Fork-tailed Devil" by the Germans.

Delaware ANG crews used to refer to their C-130's as Huskies.

Any helicopter is an "eggbeater".

Cheers!

[Jase]

Yep. The book you may be thinking of is "The saga of Iron Annie". The Ju he owned is now being flown by Lufthansa as D-AQUI. He also, around the same time, owned an Me-208.

As a friend of mine says, "Ol Marty would tell it like it was...even if it wasn't!".

Great guy, take a grain or three of salt when reading his books though. Another good book is "Everything but the Flak".

Many sources refer to the P-47 Thunderbolt as "Jug" and the P-38 Lighting as "Fork Tailed Devil," but there's some debate as to whether these were wartime nicknames, or postwar creations by author Martin Caidin.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but I was wondering if anybody could shed some light on Martin Caidin and his history with warbirds and writing books. I remember reading a bunch of his books when I was a kid and if I remember correctly he also owned/operated the JU-52 for a short while.

John

[Former Member]

Yep. The book you may be thinking of is "The saga of Iron Annie". The Ju he owned is now being flown by Lufthansa as D-AQUI. He also, around the same time, owned an Me-208.

As a friend of mine says, "Ol Marty would tell it like it was...even if it wasn't!".

Great guy, take a grain or three of salt when reading his books though. Another good book is "Everything but the Flak".

Thanks for the info Jase. Yeah...he seemed to have a larger than life image and was a bit on the eccentric side (not that there's anything wrong with that ).

John

[bdk]

C-17 - FRED (F*cking Ridiculous Expenditure of Dollar$)

Hmmm... Guess I'm overpaid!

[SaxMan]

The Israelis call their C-130s "Hippos"

I believe the Japanese called the P-38 "Two Planes, One Pilot"

[Jase]

Thanks for the info Jase. Yeah...he seemed to have a larger than life image and was a bit on the eccentric side (not that there's anything wrong with that ).

John

Someone involved in warbirds that's *eccentric*?????? Nah. Vicious lies and rumours.

Yea, Marty was for sure one of a kind.

[Richard W.]

The Luftwaffe liked to give nicknames based on the letter-variant.

Bf-109E = "Emil"
Bf-109F = "Friedrich"
Bf-109G = "Gustav"

Fw-190D = "Dora"

[Swiss Mustangs]

The radial engined FW-190's also were known as "Würger" (shrike) and "Schlächter" (butcher)

the Me-262 was called "Schwalbe" (swallow), the Bf-110 "Zerstörer" (destroyer)

the Me-163 went by the name "Kraftei" (power-egg)

Martin