15 Nov 2018, 20:31
Lightning is a pretty decent name, IMO. What say you that if the powers that be had just stuck with Lightning, and left the silly II off the end, that everyone would have been happy?
If memory serves, the Brits are not referring to it as the "Lightning II," but just as the "Lightning." Or so I thought I had read.
There is even US precedent for leaving off the II -- when the Chance Vought F-4U was named, it borrowed Corsair from an earlier aircraft of the same name in the 1920s. No one called the F-4U the "Corsair II" -- just the "Corsair."
Has anyone come across any recent confirmation if Panther is in fact the "unofficial" nickname for the jet?
I could see the Navy boys still going for Reaper and the UAV pilot wannabees be damned...
I still kinda like Killer Bee or just Bee for the fan jobbee. Although that one Marine General called it a Velocipraptor. That's a mouthful, though. Maybe just Vello for short?
Take an F-16, stir in A-7, dollop of F-117, gob of F-22, dash of F/A-18, sprinkle with AV-8B, stir well + bake. Whaddya get? F-35.