Aircraft Nicknames
By Chris Smith
I've always been facinated by the nicknames bestowed upon aircraft by the enthusiast community and industry workers alike, and they are usually of a comedic nature. Some are well known, some have a multitude of nicknames, here we look at the common ones - with perhaps a few not-so-common examples thrown in the mix as well if they are particularly funny!
Some of the below nicknames are rude and/or crude - to censor
them fully would lessen the impact.
A/C TYPE | NICKNAME | NOTES |
Airbus | ||
Aérospatiale Gazelle | Chicken leg | |
Airbus A318-100 | Baby Bus / Minibus | |
Airbus A340-300 | Hairdryers | (engines only) |
Airbus A380-800 | Whale | |
BAe Systems | ||
BAC 1-11 | Pocket Rocket | also applied to DC-9/HS125 |
British Aerospace 146 / Avro RJ | Whisperjet | G-BKHT "Hatfield Trash", G-BKMN "Mechanical Nightmare" |
Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon | Tiff / Tiffy / Typhoid | |
Handley Page/British Aerospace Jetstream | Junkstream / Jetscream | |
Hawker Hunter | Haunter | |
Hawker Siddeley/British Aerospace 125 | Pocket rocket | |
Hawker Siddeley/British Aerospace Harrier | Jump Jet | |
Hawker Siddeley HS748 | Budgie | |
Panavia PA-200 Tornado | Tonka | |
Vickers Vanguard | Vickers Vibrator | |
Vickers VC-10 | Victor Charles | |
Boeing | ||
Boeing 727 | 3-holer / Tri-jet | |
Boeing 737 | Pig | |
Boeing 747 | Lump / Queen of the Skies | |
Boeing 747SP | Stupid Purchase | |
Boeing 757 | Flying Pencil | |
Boeing 777 | Cripple Seven | |
Boeing 787 Dreamliner | Seven-Late-Seven | |
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress | BUFF | Big Ugly Fat F**ker |
Boeing Vertol CH-47 Chinook | Wokka | |
Bombardier | ||
CRJ-100/200 | Barbie Jet / Bullet | |
Cessna | ||
Cessna A150/A152 Aerobat | Aerosplat | |
Cessna 337 Skymaster | Suck-and-blow | |
Cessna 500 Citation | Nearjet / Slowtation | |
De Havilland | ||
De Havilland DH106 Comet | Vomit Comet | |
De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou | N/A | "The only aircraft known to man that could suffer a bird strike from behind!" |
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter | Twotter | |
De Havilland Canada/Bombardier DHC-8 | Dash 8 / Crash 8 | |
Embraer | ||
Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante | Bandit | |
Embraer ERJ-135/140/145 | Jungle Jet / Dart / WiSCOD | Whistling S**tcan of Death |
Embraer ERJ-170/175/190/195 | Jungle Jet / Womble | |
Fairchild | ||
Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II | Warthog / Hog | |
Fairchild Swearingen SA-227 Metro | San Antonio Sewer Pipe / Death pencil | |
Lockheed Martin | ||
Lockheed C-5 Galaxy | FRED | F**king Ridiculous Economic Disaster |
Lockheed C-130 Hercules | Fat Albert | |
Lockheed Constellation | Connie | |
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | Flying coffin / Widowmaker | |
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar | Death Star | |
Lockheed JetStar | Lawn Dart | |
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II | DAVE | Delayed And Very Expensive |
McDonnell Douglas | ||
Douglas A-26 Invader | Flying Prostitute | Possible confusion with the Martin B-26 Marauder |
Douglas DC-8 | DC Late | |
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 | Pocket rocket | |
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 | Crowd killer (!!) | |
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 | Scud | As well as resemblance, once launched you were never sure where it would land! |
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 | Mad Dog | |
McDonnell Douglas MD-95 | John Holmes condom | What on earth?! |
Short Brothers | ||
Short 330 | Shed | |
Short 360 | Box / Shed | |
Everything Else | ||
Consolidated B-24 Liberator | The Crystal S**thouse (!!) | Chance this could be in reference to the Blackburn B-24 Skua |
Gloster Javelin | Flat Iron | |
Piper PA-38-112 Tomahawk | Traumahawk | |
Rockwell B-1 Lancer | Bone | |
Tupolev Tu-144 | Concordski | |
Westland Wasp/Scout | Whistling S**thouse | |
Helicopters | Whisk / Whirly |