Does anybody not know that the F-16 is a Viper?

nam11b · by **nam11b** » 12 May 2019, 15:09

Hey everyone. I was on a cruise this week and ran into a dude into the elevator that had a F-16 polo on. Making conversation, I said “Do you have any ties to the Viper?” He gave me a weird look and said what? I said your shirt, do you have any ties to the viper. He said “that’s a Fighting Falcon”. Assuming it was a nonner or just a fan, I said lots of people in the community call it a Viper. He proceeded to tell me he was retired USAF weapons from Mountain Home and nobody calls it a Viper.

I have been around the jet for 20 years and thought this was a prevalent nickname across services and countries. What do you guys think, does anybody not know that the F-16 is a Viper?

ygbsm · by **ygbsm** » 12 May 2019, 15:21

nam11b wrote:Hey everyone. I was on a cruise this week and ran into a dude into the elevator that had a F-16 polo on. Making conversation, I said “Do you have any ties to the Viper?” He gave me a weird look and said what? I said your shirt, do you have any ties to the viper. He said “that’s a Fighting Falcon”. Assuming it was a nonner or just a fan, i said lots of people in the community call it a Viper. He proceeded to tell me he was retired USAF weapons from Mountain Home and nobody calls it a Viper.
I have been around the jet for 20 years and thought this was a prevalent nickname across services and countries. What do you guys think, does anybody not know that the F-16 is a Viper?

Just the guy wearing the Viper shirt

nam11b · by **nam11b** » 13 May 2019, 00:04

Hah, truth.

dlaf16wssm · by **dlaf16wssm** » 15 May 2019, 04:08

ygbsm wrote:
nam11b wrote:Hey everyone. I was on a cruise this week and ran into a dude into the elevator that had a F-16 polo on. Making conversation, I said “Do you have any ties to the Viper?” He gave me a weird look and said what? I said your shirt, do you have any ties to the viper. He said “that’s a Fighting Falcon”. Assuming it was a nonner or just a fan, i said lots of people in the community call it a Viper. He proceeded to tell me he was retired USAF weapons from Mountain Home and nobody calls it a Viper.
I have been around the jet for 20 years and thought this was a prevalent nickname across services and countries. What do you guys think, does anybody not know that the F-16 is a Viper?

Just the guy wearing the Viper shirt

He's a weapons guy. That's really all you needed to know.

:roll:

Boman · by **Boman** » 16 May 2019, 13:31

All fighters and bombers pick up nicknames during their service life, some more than others.

For the F-16, you have Viper, Electric jet etc.

Some love them, some hate them and some blatantly refuse anything but the official name. For the F-16, Viper is the most used I believe?

desertdog · by **desertdog** » 16 May 2019, 23:18

The four F-16 AMU's at Nellis: THUNDERBIRDS, TOMAHAWKS, FALCON, aaaaaaaand VIPER. :doh:

dragracingmaniac · by **dragracingmaniac** » 19 May 2019, 03:03

At one time (1994) we had a Viper LTF at Edwards. Guess which aircraft we had.... :doh:

The only people I've heard call the F-16 a Fighting Falcon were the announcer dude for the Thunderbirds and the Air Force PR types. Everyone else that I know that either worked on or around the F-16 or flew the F-16 called it the Viper.

nam11b · by **nam11b** » 23 May 2019, 16:19

Thanks all, I feel validated, but makes me wonder if the dude was full of sh*t. Who would lie and claim to be weapons though!?

dragracingmaniac · by **dragracingmaniac** » 24 May 2019, 05:18

nam11b wrote:Thanks all, I feel validated, but makes me wonder if the dude was full of sh*t. Who would lie and claim to be weapons though!?

Well, to be fair, he probably needed two weapons troops standing next to him in order for him to make a coherent reply. :twisted:

Tiger05 · by **Tiger05** » 24 May 2019, 12:37

The USAF F-16 demo team is literally called the "F-16 Viper demonstration team". Even Lockheed Martin seems to have dropped the name "Fighting Falcon" in favor of "Viper" these days hence the recent "F-16V" designation for the latest version so saying nobody call it a Viper is absurd. I think you encountered a military poser, OP. Sadly they are more prevalent than we think.

911 · by **911** » 24 May 2019, 14:21

I worked for 25 years in F-16 in the Portuguese Air Force and the experience told me that the majority of the Viper's community is not familiarized with the term. Maybe in the US but not in other countries. Most of them know nothing about the aircraft's history. I'm a very lucky guy because I've been working in my aircraft's dream. For some it was a work, for me it was just pleasure.

huggy · by **huggy** » 13 Jun 2019, 19:57

What is is called in Portugal?

jacarlsen · by **jacarlsen** » 14 Jun 2019, 14:04

I've worked on that little angel for 21 years in Norway. Never called it or heard it named Viper in Norway. It's just the F-16.

mor10 · by **mor10** » 14 Jun 2019, 15:02

jacarlsen wrote:I've worked on that little angel for 21 years in Norway. Never called it or heard it named Viper in Norway. It's just the F-16.

I concur with Carlsen. In my short time working on the F-16 in Norway in the early eighties I never heard the word Viper about the F-16. We only called it "F16". The first time I heard Viper mentioned was on f-16.net, which admittedly is a long time ago now.

Davis83 · by **Davis83** » 15 Jun 2019, 02:44

Its never been anything but a Fighting Falcon to me. I never heard the term Viper till early 90's and then it seemed to be an Ops thing.

When I started working them in 1983, they all had a Falcon decal on them. All our awards, training documents and 9-G ride certificates all said "Fighting Falcon" up till the 90's.

I acknowledge that many call it a Viper - but I never have.

Its a Fighting Falcon