Hell Hath No Fury...

[Brett327]

How about Mongoose? It kinda looks like a goose so the nick-name may actually be included in the name.

We tried for Mongoose for the G model Hornet - kind of a linkage to the wild weasel motif. Didn't work out too well.

Brett

 

[AllAmerican75]

We tried for Mongoose for the G model Hornet - kind of a linkage to the wild weasel motif. Didn't work out too well.

Brett

Brett, has Shocker been officially presented to the naming board?

 

[Coota0]

Saw this on the Dallas Morning News site:

Name for F-35 will soon take flight

Air Force to choose moniker by June 30; Lightning II is favorite

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, May 30, 2006
By RICHARD WHITTLE / The Dallas Morning News

The Air Force chief of staff will name the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by June 30, choosing from six monikers that range from the historic to the arcane, military and industry officials say.

Officials at Lockheed Martin Corp., which largely builds the new multiservice stealth aircraft in Fort Worth, hope President Bush will announce the winning name in a visit to the factory proposed for July 7.

The six finalists being considered by Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, include two based on famed World War II fighters: Lightning II – the odds-on favorite – and Spitfire II.

The P-38 Lightning was built by Lockheed and flown by Richard Bong, the leading American ace of World War II with 40 kills of enemy aircraft.

The Spitfire was the British fighter credited with winning the 1940 Battle of Britain by taking on German fighters and bombers.

The F-35, which got its numerical designation after Lockheed won the contract five years ago, is to make its first flight this fall.

The plane is to be built in three versions, including an F-35B that can take off and land vertically, for three U.S. services and eight allies, including Britain.

The Air Force and Navy both proposed Lightning II, while the Marine Corps advocated Spitfire II, said a U.S. officer familiar with the deliberations.

The Air Force also submitted finalists Cyclone and Reaper, this officer said.

The finalists also include two more curious suggestions – Black Mamba and Piasa.

They were among several submitted by some of the allies that are partners in developing the F-35, industry and military officials said.

Black Mamba

The Black Mamba is one of the longest venomous snakes in the world and one of Africa's most feared. Col. Jaap Reijling, air attaché for the Embassy of the Netherlands in Washington, said his country proposed Black Mamba because the snake and the F-35 have much in common.

Among their shared features, according to a statement from the Dutch F-35 office: "Both can target a prey without being discovered. Both are very fast and lethal but not aggressive by nature."

"I think that is a definite Dutch feature: 'fast and lethal but not aggressive by nature,' " Col. Reijling said with a laugh.

Far less clear, those familiar with the list said, was why Denmark proposed Piasa, the name of a mythical man-devouring bird that appears in the lore of the Illini Indians of Illinois. A call to Denmark's representative for the F-35 program went unanswered.

The Piasa – pronounced "pie-a-saw" – was described in a diary kept by Father Jacques Marquette in 1673, as he and Louis Joliet explored the area near today's Mississippi River town of Alton, Ill.

Winnowed out

A review by Air Force lawyers for potential trademark violations and other objections has winnowed out names proposed by other allies, the U.S. officer said.

Britain proposed Fury, a favorite of many Lockheed and military officials but a name that risked a trademark conflict with the Plymouth Fury auto, this officer said.

Other rejects and the countries or services that offered them include Phantom, Australia; Scorpion, Canada and the Marine Corps; Mustang, Marine Corps; and Skyruler, Turkey.

However they managed to become finalists, Black Mamba and Piasa appear to have little chance of passing Gen. Moseley's muster.

"I don't want to speculate on what he will choose, but Gen. Moseley is a huge military history buff," offered Maj. Glen Roberts, the chief of staff's spokesman.

Given Gen. Moseley's love of military history and the proximity of the Grand Prairie native's hometown to the Lockheed plant, the smart money among those privy to the final list is Lightning II.

That's the name Lockheed originally wanted for its F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's newest stealth fighter.

The Air Force ultimately rejected Lightning II for the F-22, a decision made by one of Gen. Moseley's predecessors, and instead chose Raptor, a name in keeping with the service's late 20th century tradition of naming fighter planes for birds of prey.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-15 Eagle were the F-22's immediate predecessors.

Importance of heritage

In naming planes, the Air Force takes into account "a lot of different things," Maj. Roberts said, but especially heritage.

"That's a hugely important aspect of where we're going," he said.

Bill Sweetman, technology editor for the defense publishing company Jane's Information Group and author of several books on aircraft, said there were "a lot of different traditions" in naming planes.

The Army traditionally names its helicopters after Indian nations, he noted.

Army pilots fly the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and the AH-64 Apache, for example.

During the early history of fighter planes, the companies that built the aircraft usually named them.

"The former Grumman Co., its fighters all had cat names, going back to the 1940s," he noted.

Those included World War II's F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat and F8F Bearcat, as well as the modern F-14 Tomcat, a swing-wing jet just retired by the Navy.

Another former fighter plane company, Republic, included thunder in the names of its planes. And in the early years of the jet age, Lockheed favored names that included star, according to aerospaceweb.org, a nonprofit Web site run by aerospace engineers and scientists.

Lacking consistency

"There's been no real consistency to it, as far as the Air Force goes," Mr. Sweetman said. The P-51 of World War II was the Mustang, he noted, and the Korean War F-86 was the Sabre.

The Army Air Corps, which became the Air Force after World War II, used P, for pursuit, to designate fighter planes.

The Air Force switched to F for fighter when it was founded in 1948.

No matter what name Gen. Moseley chooses, other services and countries could still call their F-35s by a different name, Maj. Roberts said, "but historically, that has not happened."

But like people, planes don't always go by their given names.

In the Air Force, "very few guys I know call the F-16 the Fighting Falcon," Maj. Roberts said. "It's the Viper."

And Mr. Sweetman observed that the A-10, a ground attack jet still in use, is officially the Thunderbolt II but is affectionately called the Warthog because of its clunky lines.

"It's silly business, really," Mr. Sweetman said, "because the aircraft are very seldom known by their real names."

 

[Lawman]

No matter what name Gen. Moseley chooses, other services and countries could still call their F-35s by a different name, Maj. Roberts said, "but historically, that has not happened."

Uhh bull it historically hasnt happened. Israel has had 3 seperate names for the F-16 dependent on model.

Netz - Hawk for the A/B's
Barak - Lightning for the C/D's
Sufa - Storm for the new Block 60 E's

And changed the name of the F-15 which it originally called "Baz" meaning Eagle when it recieved its first C/D models from to "Akef" meaning Buzzard. Though that might actually have been a better name for it according to some.

 

[mo7stanley]

I think Lightning II is more fitting than fury. I don't like Spitfire II though. What about Mustang II? If my history serves me right, the Mustang was the immediate precursor to jets, while the F-35 will most likely be the immediate precursor to only unmanned planes.

 

[Fly Navy]

I think Lightning II is more fitting than fury. I don't like Spitfire II though. What about Mustang II? If my history serves me right, the Mustang was the immediate precursor to jets, while the F-35 will most likely be the immediate precursor to only unmanned planes.

I imagine Lightning II or Mustang II would go the way of the "Fighting Falcon" or "Thunderbolt II"... people would make up their own nickname.

 

[paikea]

The F-35 "Goat."

 

[mo7stanley]

I got a good one. the F-35 Liger It is like my favorite animal ever!

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...?q=liger&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1

 

[Sundown]

Out of the options, Reaper is definitely the best one.

 

[AllAmerican75]

Damn, that is one huge cat. Name it the "Shocker!"

 

[mo7stanley]

If they call it lightning II it will probably end up being called the shocker. (I never understood what was so funny about that)

But, the F-35 needs a name that will strike fear and dread into the pit of the bad guy's stomachs. It needs a name that will make the bad guys spontaneously combust upon hearing it. There is only one name powerful enough. the F-35 "Chuck Norris". If the bad guys heard that we were bringing not just one but several Chuck Norrises into battle, they would immediately explode out of sheer fright.

 

[DanMa1156]

Please, God, tell me you won't let this turn into a Chuck Norris thread.

 

[Brett327]

If they call it lightning II it will probably end up being called the shocker. (I never understood what was so funny about that)

This is what's so funny about it:

Brett

 

[Coota0]

If they call it lightning II it will probably end up being called the shocker. (I never understood what was so funny about that)

But, the F-35 needs a name that will strike fear and dread into the pit of the bad guy's stomachs. It needs a name that will make the bad guys spontaneously combust upon hearing it. There is only one name powerful enough. the F-35 "Chuck Norris". If the bad guys heard that we were bringing not just one but several Chuck Norrises into battle, they would immediately explode out of sheer fright.

Wouldn't the Harmon Rabb be a better name?

 

[AllAmerican75]

But, the F-35 needs a name that will strike fear and dread into the pit of the bad guy's stomachs. It needs a name that will make the bad guys spontaneously combust upon hearing it. There is only one name powerful enough. the F-35 "Chuck Norris". If the bad guys heard that we were bringing not just one but several Chuck Norrises into battle, they would immediately explode out of sheer fright.

That'll never happen. The F-35, as cool as it is, is not cool enough, to be named the "Chuck Norris." But, perhaps one day, a plane will be designed that is worthy to bear the name of His CHuckness.

Now, scuttlebut does say that the next class of CVN on the drawing board is being named the USS Chuck Norris, but I can't confirm that.