Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII

[electric indigo]

It's about american bombs stored in Germany. The Luftwaffe needs a replacement for their Tornados and the F-18s are a viable option for their role. NB that the political opposition wants to get rid of the bombs and the need for the F-18s altogether.

[Shadow]

So Eagle Dynamics is offering a full month free for all of their modules plus 50% off. The AJS-37 Viggen and F-14B are unfortunately the exception as Heatblur chose to opt-out. Still very much worth checking out.

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Shadow

[Dobber]

Nice video. The graphics are amazing.

Chris

[renegadeleader1]

So I'm sure you guys have heard the news the last couple of days about the DoD and Navy confirming the authenticity of three hud videos supposedly capturing UFO's on film. I have a pretty good idea of what a couple of them actually are, but I want your guys take.

 

 

[Thom]

Some of those vids are so 'old' they've already been on Ancient Aliens.

[mechaninac]

Just awesome...

[Thom]

That is very cool!

[Jaustin89]

That's probably about as close to my dream airshow routine (Angels vs. T-Birds; opposed formation takeoff, mock dogfight, massed joint formation) as we'll ever see.

[kajnrig]

That is beautiful stuff. It occurs to me now that I've never been airborne, ever. Gonna need to rectify that right quick...

[Dobber]

Epic! So beautiful.

Chris

[renegadeleader1]

Last time I had seen them together was when I was very young. The Blue Angels still had the A-4 Skyhawks and the Thunderbirds had already transitioned to the F-16.

[Dobber]

Mover reading Fighter pilot memes and explaining them if need be. He has a cool channel if you’ve never seen it but this video is pretty funny for those of us that love the pointy fast movers

 

[M'Kyuun]

I worked heavies most of my career, so most of the fighter jargon was over my head. The vid with the Spanish pilot was funny, though. 

I did a full 20 in aircraft maintenance, and was stationed on a base with F-16s for a few years, and never once heard them called 'vipers'. Anybody shed some light on where the nickname originated?

Funny how much fighter pilots like to pick on the A-10. Different roles to play, and nothing does the job like the Warthog. The F-35 is supposed to replace them, but, um, no.

[F-ZeroOne]

The "Viper" name was very likely inspired by the "Colonial Viper" space fighters from the original "Battlestar Galactica" T.V. series. The F-16 at the time would have seemed suitably futuristic.

Edit: Wikipedia also seems to think there is a resemblance with the snake as well.

Edited May 2, 2020 by F-ZeroOne

[Sildani]

I’ve mostly heard the Galactica expression. While I was at Aviano though, in ‘00-‘01, most everyone called them Falcons or F-16s. 

[renegadeleader1]

I'm almost certain the "Viper" nickname rose with the release of the reimagined Galactica series. My dad was a 20 year air force veteran and I used to go on base with him alot growing up in 80s and no one ever called it a viper, it was always the falcon or occasionally from the maintainence crews the "electric jet" or "electrojet".

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

My USAF mechanic buddy just called them lawn darts.

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

My USAF mechanic buddy just called them lawn darts.

Guilty!   That unfortunate moniker was earned from the high rate of crashes in its early days from mechanical issues, flameouts, or pilot error.  Fly-by-wire's great until there's a computer glitch or a crossed wire. In an inherently unstable aircraft, the pilot's completely dependent on it to maintain control. Similar issues cropped up with the F-114. Pilot's in the early days called it the "Wobbly Goblin".

[ErikElvis]

I’ve never heard a F16 called a viper. Just fighting falcon. 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

1 hour ago, M'Kyuun said:

Guilty!   That unfortunate moniker was earned from the high rate of crashes in its early days from mechanical issues, flameouts, or pilot error.  Fly-by-wire's great until there's a computer glitch or a crossed wire. In an inherently unstable aircraft, the pilot's completely dependent on it to maintain control. Similar issues cropped up with the F-114. Pilot's in the early days called it the "Wobbly Goblin".

Yeah, he still has unsavory attitude towards the F-16.

 

Well, per this website:

Lt. Col. Pat "Gums" McAdoo, USAF Ret., one of the first F-16 pilots at Hill AFB, recalls the origin of the name "F-16 Viper":

At end of runway, the F-16 did resemble a cobra or something as it approached you. However, I think Northrop had already taken that name for the YF-17.

We all voted, and Viper came in really high. Seems there was a series on TV that had 'colonial Vipers' flying off of Battlestar Galactica (a term later used for the Eagle).

In any case, the Generals didn't want a plane 'named after some snake'!

Falcon was a good name, and it fit in with the motif that the Eagle had created. Sort of a little brother, but still a 'Bird of Prey'. In fact, GD had a great promo out in late 70's called "Bird of Prey", and it used the Falcon as the real world model.

 

Even when F-16 Fighting Falcon became the official name, Viper stuck around and became the unofficial nickname for the F-16. The name "Viper" is even officially used for the Joe Bill Dreyden "Semper Viper" award, which is awarded for excellent airmanship by F-16 pilots.

[Shadow]

I never heard the nickname "Viper" until sometime in the 2000s. The names I only knew it by was Falcon or my dad jokingly calling it, "Lawn Dart".

The F-35 already has the nickname "Panther".

Edited May 3, 2020 by Shadow

[F-ZeroOne]

In US service... I can't confirm this, but apparently in UK service the F-35 is known as "Dave". There could be a number of origins for this (theres a UK TV channel that plays largely classic UK TV shows of that name) but the most likely one is probably also the same source for the TV channel name, the incredibly popular UK sitcom from a little while back called "Only Fools and Horses":

(The joke being the character being referred to is actually named "Rodney". And yes, that is the creator of the revamped Cybermen from the 10th Doctors run...!).

[M'Kyuun]

12 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Yeah, he still has unsavory attitude towards the F-16.

 

Well, per this website:

Lt. Col. Pat "Gums" McAdoo, USAF Ret., one of the first F-16 pilots at Hill AFB, recalls the origin of the name "F-16 Viper":

At end of runway, the F-16 did resemble a cobra or something as it approached you. However, I think Northrop had already taken that name for the YF-17.

We all voted, and Viper came in really high. Seems there was a series on TV that had 'colonial Vipers' flying off of Battlestar Galactica (a term later used for the Eagle).

In any case, the Generals didn't want a plane 'named after some snake'!

Falcon was a good name, and it fit in with the motif that the Eagle had created. Sort of a little brother, but still a 'Bird of Prey'. In fact, GD had a great promo out in late 70's called "Bird of Prey", and it used the Falcon as the real world model.

 

Even when F-16 Fighting Falcon became the official name, Viper stuck around and became the unofficial nickname for the F-16. The name "Viper" is even officially used for the Joe Bill Dreyden "Semper Viper" award, which is awarded for excellent airmanship by F-16 pilots.

While I have no way to confirm or deny, all of this sounds legit to me. I can definitely attest to attitudes of the higher ups and their concern with public image. I can also understand the analogy of the Colonial Viper, since the F-16 must have seemed a rather futuristic aircraft when it was introduced. Battlestar Galactica also presented a romanticized and heroic view of fighter pilots, so a lot young pilots at the time likely made that association. It was the Top Gun of the late 70's.

As to the name 'Lawn dart', I'd use it, still do from time to time, without any real malice intended, regardless of its pejorative origin. Truth be told, my admiration of the F-16 was one of the reasons I joined the Air Force. Ironically, I never got to work on them, as in the USAF, crew chiefs do all the hydraulic maintenance on fighters, with an occasional assist from backshop. Backshop is staffed with specifically trained hydraulic technicians, which is what I was. In that capacity, I had the rare opportunity to work on the F-15 as an Airman or Airman First Class (A1C). Beyond that infrequent bit of experience at my first base, my only other experience with a fighter was, IIRC, trying to reattach a hard-to-reach cannon plug on an F-18 transient that landed at Fairchild AFB. I'm a short little guy with T-Rex arms, and I just didn't have the reach, so someone else was the hero that day. But it was cool to get up and personal with a Navy fighter, and I love the F-18, so it was cool.

[altermodes]

13 hours ago, F-ZeroOne said:

In US service... I can't confirm this, but apparently in UK service the F-35 is known as "Dave". There could be a number of origins for this (theres a UK TV channel that plays largely classic UK TV shows of that name) but the most likely one is probably also the same source for the TV channel name, the incredibly popular UK sitcom from a little while back called "Only Fools and Horses":

(The joke being the character being referred to is actually named "Rodney". And yes, that is the creator of the revamped Cybermen from the 10th Doctors run...!).

You would of think dave was a hal9000 reference from space odessey 2001 and dave is also a nickname for americans to i know australians do call them that

Edited May 4, 2020 by altermodes

[AN/ALQ128]

Big things coming for the F-35.

[F-ZeroOne]

I've lived in the UK all my life and I've never heard "Dave" used to refer to Americans; possibly it happens somewhere but given all the other... er... affectionate terms we have for our neighbours across the pond I think I'd have heard of it by now. I suppose its possible Australian exchange pilots with the RAF used the term and it got adopted that way. One other explanation that escaped me is that David Cameron was Prime Minister when the F-35s were ordered.

Regards the F-35 upgrade news - sorry, whats "Sidekick/6"? Is that the name for fitting more AMRAAMs in?

[AN/ALQ128]

4 hours ago, F-ZeroOne said:

I've lived in the UK all my life and I've never heard "Dave" used to refer to Americans; possibly it happens somewhere but given all the other... er... affectionate terms we have for our neighbours across the pond I think I'd have heard of it by now. I suppose its possible Australian exchange pilots with the RAF used the term and it got adopted that way. One other explanation that escaped me is that David Cameron was Prime Minister when the F-35s were ordered.

Regards the F-35 upgrade news - sorry, whats "Sidekick/6"? Is that the name for fitting more AMRAAMs in?

Yep, adding the capability to carry 6 of them internally.

[kalvasflam]

Nice to kind of know where the Viper monkey came from, to me the F-16 will always be the Fighting Falcon, I think that was the original name.  
 

As for the F-35, 6 internal AMRAAM, curious to see how they fit that in, perhaps we can start calling that variant the “Fat Lightning”

[F-ZeroOne]

Thanks for the answer about the AMRAAMs. Over here we could call it "Super Dave"... on that note, I wonder if this means a six Meteor fit would be possible?

[electric indigo]

I guess "Sixpack Dave" would be a tad too blunt, wouldn't it?

[F-ZeroOne]

"Six of the Best" Dave probably won't mean anything to the young pilots these days... (its a rather archaic reference to caning, a now thankfully outlawed punishment for wayward school pupils).

Edited May 4, 2020 by F-ZeroOne

[Shadow]

6 AIM-120Ds certainly would give the F-35 more punch in A2A capabilities.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

US Navy helo pork delivery:

 

[AN/ALQ128]

CF Snowbird crash in Kamloops today. No word on injuries or deaths.

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/mobile/snowbirds-plane-crashes-after-taking-off-in-kamloops-b-c-1.4943375

[renegadeleader1]

6 hours ago, AN/ALQ128 said:

CF Snowbird crash in Kamloops today. No word on injuries or deaths.

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/mobile/snowbirds-plane-crashes-after-taking-off-in-kamloops-b-c-1.4943375

They lost their public affairs officer in the crash, but the pilot managed to eject with non life threating injuries.