Forum: F-35 Lightning II

Insert "American's don't like being reminded about the Merlin being needed for the Mustang" joke here (sorry, I kid, I kid).

I don't know, I was never a fan of the name "Merlin" for the EH-101. On one hand it's for the same reason I hope the names "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" never get recycled (instead left unique to the two aircraft that saved the country - yes I'm sappy like that, so sue me Razz

) and also because the briefly floated RAF name "Griffin" sounded so much cooler (sadly now used by the Cyprus based HAR.2 Bell 412).

Either way, Cormorant is a god awful name Smile

F-16.net Sponsor

Well the spitfire would be kind of hard to re use now anyways, I've always thought it referred to "spitting out bullets" and jets don't do that very often anymore

Last edited by Safetystick on Nov 23, 2005 - 04:52 PM; edited 1 time in total

Never under-estimate the ability of the British Tabloid Press to push for a name change on nostalgia alone! The current carriers were meant to all begin with I but there was a campaign to keep the name 'Ark Royal' in service (there was a TV show made in the 70's about the ship that seems to have affected a lot of people!)

On the origins of the name I seem to recall hearing a story (possibly on one of the Spitfire DVD) that the 'spit bullets' thing was a bit of PR to cover up the nickname really being to do with the habit of flames shooting out the exhaust! No idea the truth about that, especially given the Spit' had exhaust covers almost from the start!

Oooh. What about Mosquito? Now there's a name with heritage although the fact that it never carried self-defence weapons on its bomber version no longer meshes with the current reality (well, no gun on either, so maybe its more applicable than I thought!)

Actually Spitfire was a term for pretty young girls who were prone to sudden fits of anger and tantrums. One of the senior design/developers on Mitchell's team used to call his daughter "my little spitfire"... and Mitchell thought it befitted his new aircraft... pretty but packing a wallop!

Safety, there are Griffins in the UK aswell (HT.1 variant)... they're operated by the Defence Helicopter Flying School in a black/yellow scheme from RAF Valley, RAF Shawbury and AAC Middle Wallop.

Andy

Cheers Andy. Didn't realise there were any in the UK. I need to start paying more attention to whirlybirds I guess Smile

Beats me as to why it's being called Kestrel. Our Presidential choppers always have the tag Marine One, Army One etc..., I guess that would be its name if it is chosen for our HH-60 Pave Hawk replacement. I guess we wanted to be origonal by calling it that instead of Merlin. Plus I dunno why it didnt get the name of an Indian tribe, seeing as thats what we've named our helicopters after lately. My 2 cents.

Quote:

Let's nickname it: Lance(r) Armstrong, a real survivor and a real winner

Thats the best name on here, too bad the Bone already has it. That arbolest name was good, a well deserved round of applause to whoever posted that. LMAO

Thanks Destro, I actually thought about that one. In case you didnt know an arbalest is, here's a definition from Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbalest ): "The Arbalest was a late variation of the medieval European crossbow. A larger weapon, the arbalest had a steel prod ("bow"). Since an arbalest was much larger than earlier crossbows, and because of the greater tensile strength of steel, it had a greater force. A skilled arbalestier could shoot two bolts per minute. Arbalests were sometimes considered inhumane or unfair weapons, since an inexperienced crossbowman could use one to kill a knight who had a lifetime of training."---> So you can see why i though it would be a good name for a new stealth strike fighter, made to be easy to fly, made to be better or as good as four of the greatest strike aircraft of all time (F-16, F-18, AV-8, and A-6), be sent against high-value targets, and put bombs on target the first time, everytime. I also came up with Razorback and supported Phoenix in case you were wondering, and those seem to be quite popular.

Let's call it Robin (as in Batman & .....), because it is allways second best after the F-16

Sniper,
My bad, I saw that and thought it was Arborist, like people who buy and sell trees. I should have RTFQ'd it a little better. My apologies. Doh

Let's go fishin': Stingray, Barracuda, Catfish, Hammerhead

It's all good Destro, didnt mean to go off on you like that, just thought you were mocking me. Wasnt a good day yesterday and I kinda took it out on your post Embarassed

, I apologize.

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 25, 2003 - 10:03 PM Posts: 679

I think a silly name like gooch or wraith would work. Very Happy

Konnektor wrote:

Let's go fishin' : Stingray, Barracuda, Catfish, Hammerhead

those would only work for the navy varient

Some people here like fish, some are mocking each other, loads of people here are bashing the F-35, while it's a more capable warplane than that Viper. Let's call it: F-35 Mockingbird.
Alternative: (DoD budget) Loot-N-Shoot.

Alf from planet Melmac.

Forum: F-35 Lightning II

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter nickname poll