
alloycowboy wrote:If the F-35A is being called the Panther and the F-35C the Reaper, what are they calling the F-35B?
https://www.popularmechanics.com/milita ... s-panther/
That article got a few things wrong:
- According to Gums, Viper did not come from Battlestar Galactica (as I always thought), but because the pilots thought it looked like a snake getting ready to strike (hope I got that right Gums)
- The article claims nobody likes a name re-tread which is why the Lighting II is hated... BUT Panther, as others have noted, was the name for the Grumman F9F... so shouldn't it be "Panther II"? If Panther is OK, but LIghtning II is not, they should have just named it the F-35 Lightning.
The P-47 was the pre-eminent fighter bomber / attack aircraft of the USAAF in Europe in WW2, so why not refer to the F-35 as Jug as a nod to the Thunderbold of yor, which also evokes lightning given that where there is thunder, there is lightning (somewhere). Or just Bolt. A play on words would be Volt. Of all these, Jug most connotes the stubbiness Gums is so fond of.
If Battlestar Galactica really did have an influence on Viper... then I'll put in a plug again for X-wing since Star Wars seems to have done in BG. Of course, I doubt that is going anywhere fast as a suggestion.
I just hope the community picks something cool. Panther is pretty cool.
I like just plain Killer Bee for the STOVL model. It's unique, hasn't been used, and evokes a certain Transformers quality. Maybe the -A could then be Optimus or just Prime.

