I just discovered b737.org.uk a few days ago (you can probably guess how/why,) and cannot insist enough that everybody here pay at least a short exploratory visit, there.
The first page I want to share directly, though… has got to be this index of “nicknames”.
- A7-D: SLUF(Small Little Ugly F***er - other end of the size scale to the B52 but just as ugly)
- A10: Warthog
- A220: Howler, Howler Jet, Wookie Jet, Howler Monkey (from the howl when the engines spool for taxi), Canna-bus (Canadian airbus)
- A318: Nanobus, Baby Bus
- A319: Microbus, Baby Bus, Shorty, Short Bus (Derogatory American phrase)
- A320: MiniBus, NintendoJet, ScareBus, Chainsaw, Deathjet, Freddie Kruegers wet dream, Toulouse Grasscutter, The Strimmer, Fifi, Die-by-Wire, the French Bitch, Sully’s Ark, Plastic Fantastic
- (What’s the difference between an A320 and a beaver? 4000 trees per hour.)
- A320 is known as ‘The John Wayne’ Because they ‘Chop down trees, move mountains and kill Indians!!’
- A321: Sausage
- A330: Slippy, The Aircraft in Plastic, Big Bus
- A340: Four-person Hair Dryer, LowRider (takes so long to get off the ground), Airway Wine Stopper (because it is slow and clogs the airways), The Galeere (Because it was unpopular with Lufthansa cabin crews due to the poor working conditions and was nicknamed the “galeere”, which is the german word for the ancient type of wooden ships with oars that were worked by slaves or criminals)
- A350: The Racoon, Big Sexy, XWB
- A380: Double Decker Bus, Megabus, Whalejet, the Wannabe Queen, Flying Forehead, The Big Ugly
- A400M Atlas: Fatlass
- Alouette: Chicken chaser
- AMX: Topone (Big Mouse as, seen from the front, she looks like Mickey Mouse)
- Antonov 2: Bumblebee, Annochka
- Antonov 124: Big Tony
- Antonov 225: Mriya (Dream in Ukranian), Maria (Western name similar sounding to Mriya)
- AT6 Harvard: Halfard, Yellow Peril.
- ATR: All Those Relays.
- Avro Shackleton: Shacklecaster, flying Cow, Old Grey Lady, 10 Thousand rivets flying in loose formation
- Avro Vulcan: Tin-triangle, Flat-iron, Mechanical Hang Glider
- AW62 Argosy: Whistling Wheelbarrow (two tails makes it look like a wheelbarrow), Whistling/Flying Tit (because of the front nose profile), The Agony ( painful & noisy), The 40 ton converter (turns kerosene into noise)
- BAC 111:Pocket rocket, Bone Vibrator.
- BAe146: Viscount 900, Smurfjet with 5 APU’s, The Gas Chamber, Bumble-et, Baby Jumbo, Bring Another Engine, 1-4-Sick, submarine- low slow and out of sight, Airborne Auschwitz, Barbie Jet, Tonka Toy/Jet, 4 oil leaks connected by an electrical fault, The Quadra-Puff, Lead Sled, Mini Galaxy, Sky Dozer, Fisher Price Starlifter, “1 aeroplane, 4 engines, needs 6”, The Slug, Toxic Terror, Muffler (Because all the noise is on the inside), Fruit Bat, Flying cockroach, Dungbeetle, Jump Jet, The SUV of RJs, Jumbolino, Aluminum Buffalo, four hairdryers in close formation.
- BAe ATP: Advanced/Another Technical Problem, The Parrot (cos it’s just a big Budgie), Ancient Technology Perpetuated, Bat Pee, Skoda, 80p, Wigwam (A TeePee).
- BAe Harrier: Leaping Heap
- BAe Jetstream: Junkstream, Wetdream, Soda-stream, Sweatstream, Jetscream, AreWeThereYet?stream, J-Ball.
- BAe Nimrod: Never Intended for Maritime Reconnaissance Or Development.
- Bristol Beaufighter: Whispering Death
- Bristol Freighter: Whispering Death, 10,000 rivets in close formation
- Beech 18: Flying snag, Bugsmasher
- Beech 76 Duchess: Dutch Ass
- Beech 99: 99-Liner
- Beech Baron: Ball tearer
- Beech Bonanza: Doctor killer (its reputation as such is ubiquitous)
- Beech 200: Super K
- Beech 1900: Flipper, Dolphin, Stonefish, Mini Guppy, Stretch King Air, Bitch 1900
- Beech T-34: Radial Interceptor
- Bell 206: Deathranger, Hydraulic palmtree
- Bell UH-1: Huey, Hog, Dustoff
- Beverly: Flying Longhouse
- Bristol 188: The Mayfly
- Bristol Britannia: The Whispering Giant (Was this the original WG?), Freighter version: The Whispering Warehouse
- Bristol Freighter: Freightener
- Boeing Stratocruiser: Stratoboozer (a reference to the bar these aircraft had on board), “The Best Three Engined Plane Crossing the Atlantic”
- Boeing E4B: Doomsday Plane, The Ark, Double Humper
- Boeing T43: Gator (for Navigator)
- Boeing 707: Slush bucket, Water wagon
- Boeing 727: 3 holer, Tri-jet, Trisaurus, Triple crome-plated stovepipe, Jurassic Jet, Ear Blaster, The Scooter
- Boeing 737: Tin mouse, Maggot, Pocket Rocket Socket, FLUF (Fat Little Ugly Fcker), SUF (Short Ugly Fker), Light Twin, Baby Boeing, Fat Freddy, Guppy, Thunder Guppy (series 1/200), Yuppy Guppy, Super Guppy (series 3/4/500), Pig, Bobby (BOeing BaBY), Rudder Rotor, Fat Albert, Dung Beatle, “La Chancha” (In Argentina means “sow” for their shape)
- Boeing 737NG: Super FLUF (Fat Little Ugly F**cker).
- Boeing 747: Jumbo Jet, Whale, The Valiant, Upstairs and Downstairs, Lump, Humpback, Queen of the Skies (used for many aircraft but probably mostly the 747), the Aluminum Overcast.
- Boeing 747SP: Short Plane, Stupid Purchase.
- Boeing 757: Stick Insect, AtariFerrari, Slippery Snake, Flying Pencil, Long Tall Sally (long legs and two great big…engines.), Greased Bullet, Seattle Rocket
- Boeing 757-300: Long misery, Subway Train.
- Boeing 767: Dumpster, Slug, Stumpy
- Boeing 777: B737 on steroids, Cripple Seven (I.F.E. Problems??), Bigfoot (from the tripple bogey landing gear), Sasquatch, T7, Seventh Wonder, Trouble Seven, Grouper (the front end does look like one of those fish), the Light Twin
- Boeing 787 Dreamliner: Tupperjet (plastic tupperware), Firebird (since several early on-board fires), Seven-Late-Seven, Bad Dream Liner, Flatliner, Sparky the Game Changer, Binliner, The microwave (cooks batteries), Scabliner, Sparky, Plastic Princess, Spuds McKenzie.
- Boeing C-17 Globemaster: The Moose. Barney (Fred’s fat little friend).
- B24: The Crystal Shithouse
- B52: BUMF (Big Ugly Mother fer) or BUFF. (Big Ugly Fat F*er), BFiftyTwoManyWheels
- BN 2 Islander: 225 - 2 wings, 2 engines(?) 5 Wheels, Slander, Bongo, Noise inducting sound machine, with a slow flying by-product
- BN 2A Trislander: Try Harder, Bloody Nice Aircraft (!), Clockwork TriStar, Poor Man’s 727
- Bombardier Q400: Mega-Whacker
- Bombardier CRJ: BarbieJet, Canuckjet, Canuckiejet, Ken&Barbie Dreamjet, Reset Jet, Replacement Jet, Climb Restricted Jet
- Buccaneer: Buccanana (due to its banana like shape)
- CA-15 Winjeel: The Ginwheel
- CAC Wirraway: The “Flying Chaff-cutter” (due to its clattering engine noise)
- Canberra T17: Warthog (due to its warty nose)
- Casa: Christ A Sh***y Aeroplane
- Cessna 150: One Filthy, the buck and a half, Cesspit.
- Cessna A150 Aerobat: Aerosplat
- Cessna 172 Cutlass: Strutless, Gutless, Flying Chevette (due to its lack of performance and Cessna’s efforts to make their aircraft similar to the cars of the era - that 1970’s upholstery!).
- Cessna 177 Cardinal: The Pontif
- Cessna 185: Buck eighty-five
- Cessna 207: Crowdkiller, Slug, Moneymaker
- Cessna 210 Centurian: Coffin, 2-Ton
- Cessna 337 Sky Master: Sky Disaster, Sky Maggot, Push-me-Pull-you, Mix Master, Bug Smasher, Push-me-Pull-me, Blow-me-Suck-me, suck & blow job, two-toed tanglefoot.
- Cessna 402 Utiliner: Undyliner.
- Cessna Citation: Levitation, Crustacean, Mutation, Slowtation, Nearjet, Bugjet, Twin Hoover
- Cessna T-37: Tweet, Tweety, Tweety Bird or 6000 lb Dog Whistle (because of its high, shrill engine sound)
- CF100: The Lead Sled, Clunk
- CH-47 Chinook: Two palm trees fucking a dumpster, Hooker, Shithook, RPG Magnet, Death Banana
- Concorde: Great White, The Rocket, Rockership, Pocket Rocket, Paraffin Pencil
- Convair B36: Aluminium overcast
- Convair F102 Delta Dagger: The Deuce
- Convair 580: Mountain Master, Vomit Comet
- Convair 990: Coronado, Smoky Joe
- CRJ: Canadair Rookie Jet
- CRJ200: Shortdart, Lawndart, barbiejet
- CRJ900: Longdart
- CT-4A: (which was painted bright yellow and green in Oz Air Farce service) - the Plastic Parrot
- Curtis SB2C Helldiver: the Beast, SonofaBitch2ndClass, Big-Tailed Beast and the ‘Two-Cee’
- Curtis Commando: Flying Coffin (due to its very poor single engine performance and the inexplicable explosions that victimized the model)
- DC 2: Deuce.
- DC 3: Dak, Dakotasaurus Rex, Gooney Bird, Draggin’ Wagon, Douglas Racer (compliments of late BC/A columnist Torch Lewis and the airplane’s leisurely 140 KIAS cruise speed), Dakleton (South African built Daks as replacement for AVRO Shackletons), Dizzy Three, Dowager Dutchess, Duck, Old Lady
- DC 6: Douglasaurus Rex
- DC 7: Douglas Seven Seas (From DC-7C)
- DC 8: DC Late, Old Smokey, Greasy8, Death Cruiser, Whiney Bird, Cigarette Jets (Long skinny fuselages and long thin engines that smoked), Santa Monica Anteater (for Douglas’ HQ city and the airplane’s loooong nose), The Long Beach Cable Car (If you look at the fuel panel, all those levers were connected to their respective valves by long cable runs. Same with the trim, flight controls and outflow valves)
- DC 9-10/15: Pocket Rocket, Mini-Me, Baby Nine
- DC 9: Greasy 9, Diesel 9, DC3-GT, Douglas Death Ship-(heard from a PSA pilot in the 1980s due the difficulties during FAA certification)
- DC 10: Diesel 10, Death Contraption 10, Death Cruiser 10, Daily Crash 10, Donald’s Disaster, Crowd Killer
- MD 11: The Diva, More Death 2, Scud (once you launched it, you were not sure were it was going to land), Marriage-Divorce 11 (on the KLM Caribbean fun fleet), MeDonze (A combination of’ "medo"and “onze”. Medo in Portuguese is “fear” and onze is “eleven.”)
- DH 82 Tiger Moth: Terror Moth.
- DH Comet: Vomit
- DH Vampire: The whistling pisscan.
- DHC 1 Chipmonk: Chippie, Chukmonk.
- DHC 3 Otter: Swine, Steam Otter.
- DHC 4 Caribou: The Gravel Truck (“The only aircraft known to man that could suffer a birdstrike from behind”.)
- DHC 5 Buffalo: Barfalo, Dump truck (because it has the rear ramp and its pilots taxi the aircraft in reverse)
- DHC 6 Twin Otter: Tin Otter, Twin Rotter, Twotter, Stoneboat, Twottercopter, noise powered aeroplane, Double Udder
- DHC 7 Dash Seven: Quad Otter, Pogo Stick
- DHC 8 Dash Eight: Dash Late, Crashbait, DashTrash, Trash8, Crash8, Trauma Tube, Dashidy Trashidy Boom, The Sausage
- DO 17: Flying Pencil
- DO 228: Doorknob, Gonzo (everything forward of the wing leading edge looks like a certain Muppet’s head)
- DO 328: Dork
- DO 328J: Dorkjet
- Douglas Maurader: Flying Prostitute
- Douglas A1D Skyraider: The Spad
- Douglas A4 Skyhawk: Bantam Bomber, Scooter
- Douglas AC47 (DC3 Gunship): Spooky, Puff the Magic Dragon, Fantasma, Dragon Dak
- Douglas C54 Skymaster: Buscuit Bomber (from Berlin Airlift days)
- Douglas C124 Globemaster: Shakey Bird, “Old Shaky” due to its tendency to do a lot of that in flight, and “the Aluminium Cloud” because it was, with four props and a double high fuselage basically built on DC-6 / C-118 wings, the hugest return on anyone’s radar
- Douglas Skywarrior: ‘All Three Dead’ a mixture of its awful early safety record, three crew, and its US Navy designation of A-3D
- EMB110 Bandierante: Bandit, Randy Banty
- EMB120 Brasillia: Garbage Can, Brakillya, Mexican King Air, The Bro, The Braz
- EMB135: Scopebuster
- EMB145: Jungle Jet, Barbie Jet, The Windows 98 Plane (seems like you spend more time rebooting the aircraft than actually flying it), Bendy Jet, Emb180 (taxi to the runway, then 180 for taxi back to ramp), WiSCOD (Whistling Shitcan of Death)
- EMB 175: The Electric Jet (It is so computerised)
- EMB ERJ: Brazillian Tube of Death, Jungle Jet, Brasilia Jet (Really p***es off the pilots…)
- Ercoupe: Scarecoupe, Air Scoop
- Fokker 27: The Dutch Dog Whistle, The Egg Beater, Whistle Pig, The Converter - (ie, it converted fuel into noise), Alligator
- Fokker 28: WhisperJet, She Who’s Afraid of Snow
- Fokker 50: F**kin’ Fifty, Little Fokker, Pinocchio
- Fokker 100: The Scud Because they point them at Europe and they don’t come back!, Dutch Oven (lousy air conditioning), Runway Hog, The Mother Fokker (as it is the largest Fokker, but also because it sucks like a bitch)
- FA 18: Bug, Rhino
- Fairey Gannet: Converter of Kerosene to Noise
- Fairey Swordfish: Stringbag
- F-4 Phantom: The Double Ugly, Lead Sled, Flying Anvil, St. Louis Slugger, Flying Brick, Snoopy, Rhino, Old Smokey, the triumph of thrust over aerodynamics, and “World’s Leading Distributor of MiG Parts”, Grey Geese, “Luftwaffen-Diesel” (due to the noticeable smoke trails), Fliegender Ziegelstein (“Flying Brick”), Luftverteidigungsdiesel (“Air Defense Diesel”)
- F-15A Eagle Steam Driven Eagle (for the old avionics compared to new C-models)
- F-15E Eagle Mud Hen (self-explanatory)
- F-16 Electric Lawn Dart, Viper
- F-86 Sabre Sword, Kappone (by the Italians)
- F-100 Hun
- F-102 Deuce
- F-104 Starfighter Flying coffin, Widowmaker, Manned missile, Zipper, The Pregnant Hatpin, Erdnagel (literally “earth nail”), from the military term for “tent peg”, Spillone (big pin in Italian)
- F-105 The Thud
- F-106 Cadillac (smooth flyer, lots of power, fast, huge cockpit)
- F-111: Aardvark, The Pig
- F-117: Cockroach (because they only came out at night)
- Fiat G91: Gina (Beware: nickname used only by Germans…)
- Fiat G91T: Virus
- Fouga: Dog-whistle, Converter, Whistling Turtle
- HS121 Trident: Rodent, Ground Gripper
- HS125: Pocket rocket
- HS748: Paraffin Budgie, the Draggie, The Twenty Ton Dog Whistle.
- GAF Nomad: Go-mad, Gonad
- Gazelle: Chicken leg
- Gloster Javellin: Flying Trowel, Harmonious drag master, Flat Iron
- Gloster Meteor: Meatbox
- Gulfstream I: G-String, G-Once
- Gulfstream IV: Fourskin
- Handley Page Hampden: Flying Suitcase
- Hawker Hunter: Haunter
- HP Halifax: Halibag
- IAI Westwind: Lead Sled, Jew Canoe, Heebjet, Bagel Bomber, Yom Kippur Clipper
- Jaguar: Septic Cat
- Jet Provost: JP, The variable noise machine
- Katana DA20: Flying sperm
- Lake Amphibian: Doctor Killer
- LearJet: FearJet, Noisemaker
- Lockheed Constellation: Connie, Cancellation, “the best tri-motor ever” so good that sometimes the 4th engine works!
- Lockheed C-5 Galaxy: Cumulus Aluminus, FRED (F*cking Ridiculous Economic Disaster)
- Lockheed C130 Hercules: Fat Albert, Trash hauler, Herkybird, Cessna 130
- Lockheed C141 Starlifter: Lizard
- Lockheed Jetstar: Lawn Dart
- Lockheed 1011 TriStar: Bistar (Had so many RB211-22B failures), El-10-Elemon, FrightStar, Tritanic, Swamp Eater, Swamp Buggy
- Lockheed P38 Lightning: The Fork-Tailed Devil, Two planes, one pilot
- Lockheed SR71: Blackbird, was also often called “Habu” because of its frequent deployment to Okinawa (where the habu is a nasty pit viper).
- Lockheed T-33: T Bird, Lockheed Racer (because it was anything but fast)
- Lockheed YF12: The Thing!
- MD 11: Mad Dog, Mega Dog, Mechanical Disaster 11, More Death 11, MD-911, She Who Won’t Land, She Who Won’t Sell
- MD 80: Mad Dog 80, Stupid 80 (They call them Super 80’s), Minimum Delay 80 (Minutes), Super Tube, Super Slug, Douglas Death Tube, Long Beach Sewer Pipe, Lead sled (becuase it was underpowered)
- MD 95: John Holmes condom
- MD Demon: Screamin Demon
- Mitsubishi Zero: type one lighter ( due to its ability to readily catch fire when attacked!)
- Mitsubishi MU-2: Widow Maker, Hiroshima Screamer, Rice Rocket, Kill You - 2
- Mohawk 298/Nord 262: Pteradactyl
- Northrop T38: White Rocket
- OH-58D Kiowa: Remote-Controlled Upside-Down Lawnmower, Kenny (the sight system looks like the South Park character)
- Partenavia: Part-of-Mafia, Partial Aviator, Part Banana
- PA-20 Pacer: The sled
- PA-22 Tri Pacer: Pie Chaser, Fly Paper, Milk stool
- PA-23 Aztec: Az-Truck, Azwreck, Flying Potato
- PA-28 Arrow: Sparrow
- PA-28 Cherokee: Cherry Tree, Chickopee
- PA-28 Warrior: Worrier
- PA-30 Twin Comanche: Twinkle
- PA-31 Navajo: Never-go, Have-a-go, The Ho
- PA-34 Seneca: Senekiller
- PA-38 Tomahawk: Traumahawk, Terrahawk, SpinMaster, Ratshit Hatchet
- PA-44 Seminole: Semenhole
- PA-60: ScareOstar, Death Star.
- PC12: Platypus.
- PBY 5 Catalina: Pigboat, Dumbo.
- Piaggio PD808: Vespa Jet.
- Piaggio 180 Avanti: Lawnmower (because it sounds like one), Wop Wagon, Puge.
- Puma: Plastic pig, Percy.
- Republic Thunderchief: Thud
- RJ70/100: Real Jet
- Robinson R22: The Happy Hopping Easter Egg (they’re cute and colorful…and look like toys.)
- SA 227 Metroliner: San-Antonio sewerpipe, Texas Sewer Pipe, Death pencil, The Screamin Weenie, Texas Lawn Dart, Swetro (It got very hot in the summer), Texas Tampon, Baltimore Whore (no visible means of support, skinny lil 'ol wings), Terror Tube, “That noisy fucking thing”, Widow maker, Kerosene Crowbar, Fear tube, Necroliner, Buzzbomb, Metrowhiner, Death Tube, Turbo Dildo, Penisliner, Garretts on a Stick, The Little Cigar, Weed Eaters, San Antonio Sewer Rocket… With Garrett Grenades.
- SAAB: Saab, Swedes Aren’t Airplane Builders, S.O.B
- SAAB 35 Draken: Flying Trowel
- SAAB J29: Flying Barrel
- S3 Viking: Hoover
- Shorts Belfast: Belslug, Belslow (because it was so slow), in the early days they were called ‘Dragmasters’ because they were so slow and after Shorts fixed them with the strakes either side of the rear ramp they were called ‘Fastbacks’
- Shorts Sandringham: The Triple Decker Bus
- Shorts Skyvan: The Whispering Nissan Hut
- Shorts 330: The Two Tailed Shed, Horse Float, Milk Carton, Winnebago, Box Car, Short Van
- Shorts 360: Box, Shoe Box, Barn, Shed, Long Short, The box that the Skyvan came in, Winnabego with Wings, The Irish Concorde
- Sikorsky S61N: “Miss Piggy”, (fat and ugly)
- Socata Rallye: “tin parachute” for its near vertical descent into short fields, “tin parasol”-- for their reluctance to stall (with leading edge slats)–they just descend almost vertically
- Sopwith Triplane: Tripehound
- Strikemaster: Constant speed - variable noise machine.
- Supermarine Scimitar: The Beast.
- Supermarine Stranraer: Whistling Shithouse
- Supermarine Walrus: Shagbat
- T-21 Sedburgh: The Barge
- TB-10 Tobago: Toboggan - because they only perform downhill!
- Tornado: Tonka
- TSR-2: Throw Some Rocks Two, Teararse
- Tu144: Concordski
- UH-60 Black Hawk: Lawn Dart, Crash Hawk
- VC-9 Vanguard: Vickers Vibrator
- VC-9 Vanguard Merchantman: The Guards Van, Whispering Warehouse, Shuddering Shithouse (because the crude crew toilet was in the entrance which was the forward service door on the original Vanguard. When the entrance door was open on the ground the whole world could see you having a pee!)
- VC-10: Iron Duck, Vickers Knickers, The flying chandelier
- Vickers Varsity: Flying pig
- Vickers Wellington: Wimpey
- Vultee BT13: Vultee Vibrator (due to shaking in a spin)
- Westland Wessex: Walter Wessex or Wobbly Wessex
