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 | |