How were Have Blue and Tacit Blue codenames chosen?

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 05:42:27 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:


And how do they name planes?

It seems to be a collaborative effort between the manufacturer and the
air force. Then, after the uniformly awful names are applied, the
pilots and crews name it something else entirely.

This was always true to a certain extent. Famously, the P-47
Thunderbolt was the Jug. But it has accelerated as the official names
have become worse and worse.

Should we have a contest on worst plane name and best replacement?

Hands down winner, "Fighting Falcon" replaced by "Viper."


Surely the worse plane name was the B-36 Peacemaker, intended to drop
two or more hydrogen bombs upon the Russians.

Not that bad, since the earlier "Peacemaker" was the .45 Colt Single
Action Army. Might really consider the name vindicated when it is
noted that the B-36 never fired a shot in anger over its entire
service life.

And the best replacement of course is the Warthog for the A-10
Thunderbolt II.

Another question: how long has it been since the pilots of a USAF
warplane called it by the name assigned to it by the bureaucracy?

Not that long at all. F-15 Eagle.

There are always going to be "official" names and nicknames. Some
nicknames are going to be affectionately bestowed while others are
going to be a result of envy, dislike or disaffection. Some will be
commonly adopted and some will start as pejoratives and grow into
respect. I personally seldom/never use "Thud" to describe the F-105.
Lots of folks do and for most it has become a respected name.

Same thing is true of individual nicknames or "tactical call-signs."
When I was a squadron ops officer I told my guys that they couldn't
determine what they would be called. It would be a name given them,
not one they chose.

We had a guy come into the squadron, a former FAIP, newly qualified in
the F-4. He had name tags made up reading: "Jim Teak Fighter
Pilot". I told him that he wasn't a fighter pilot until other folks
told him he was. He couldn't unilaterally make the declaration. What
he really had was a misspelled name tag. It was supposed to read:
"Jim, Weak Fighter Pilot". From that day on, his nickname was
"Weak". He wasn't, but the name stuck and he bore it proudly.

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 05:42:27 -0400, Cub Driver

snip
Surely the worse plane name was the B-36 Peacemaker, intended to drop
two or more hydrogen bombs upon the Russians.

Not that bad, since the earlier "Peacemaker" was the .45 Colt Single
Action Army. Might really consider the name vindicated when it is
noted that the B-36 never fired a shot in anger over its entire
service life.

"God created man, Colt made them equal".

Ed Rasimus wrote:

From that day on, his nickname was
"Weak". He wasn't, but the name stuck and he bore it proudly.


I'll bet he earned a lot of respect for bearing that name
'proudly'. I'll also bet that he figured any reticence in that
regard would not look good.. .

Good on him.
--

-Gord.

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message


We had a guy come into the squadron, a former FAIP, newly qualified in
the F-4. He had name tags made up reading: "Jim Teak Fighter
Pilot". I told him that he wasn't a fighter pilot until other folks
told him he was. He couldn't unilaterally make the declaration. What
he really had was a misspelled name tag. It was supposed to read:
"Jim, Weak Fighter Pilot". From that day on, his nickname was
"Weak". He wasn't, but the name stuck and he bore it proudly.

Ed, I've got a question about fighter pilot callnames, nicknames or whatever
you want to call them...I used to work with a Navy pilot at the datacenter I
was employed at a few years back, and he and I had a lot of time to kill on
our shift as it was from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM (not a lot happening on the east
coast in terms of electronic finance at those hours). Anyway, he'd regale
me with tall tales about his various comings and goings (and seemed
pleasantly surprised that I, a mere civilian, had knowledge of garden spots
like Subic Bay, some rudimentary aircraft knowledge, etc.).

AT ANY RATE...one evening I asked him, jokingly, "So, did you have some
ultra-cool fighter pilot name like "Shark" or "Killer" or "Maverick" or
"Iceman"." and he just sort of frosted a bit and said, "No, my 'handle' was
Sparks."

Later that evening (morning) as the shift ended I was packing up* and bade
him goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow** "sparks". Anyway, he frosted again and
shook his head and said "Don't call me that. You don't get to." He never
mentioned it again, didn't act any different than the friendly guy he was
the next day, etc.

Now I realize you're not a Navy pilot nor do you know the circumstances but
is there a particular reason a pilot might get reeeeeeeealy sensitive about
a handle? (For the record I never brought it up again, nor did he, and life
was good.)

*A 12 hour night shift is about a decade long; you tend to bring books (as
in many in a night), CDs, newspaper, magazines, etc. so leaving at the end
of your shift is like moving out of town.

** as in 12 hours from 7:00AM, being 7:00pm that night

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Remove the X's in my email address to respond.
"Damn you Silvey, and your endless fortunes." - Stephen Weir
I hate furries.

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 18:08:26 GMT, "Bill Silvey"
wrote:


Ed, I've got a question about fighter pilot callnames, nicknames or whatever
you want to call them...I used to work with a Navy pilot at the datacenter I
was employed at a few years back, and he and I had a lot of time to kill on
our shift as it was from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM (not a lot happening on the east
coast in terms of electronic finance at those hours).

AT ANY RATE...one evening I asked him, jokingly, "So, did you have some
ultra-cool fighter pilot name like "Shark" or "Killer" or "Maverick" or
"Iceman"." and he just sort of frosted a bit and said, "No, my 'handle' was
Sparks."

Later that evening (morning) as the shift ended I was packing up* and bade
him goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow** "sparks". Anyway, he frosted again and
shook his head and said "Don't call me that. You don't get to." He never
mentioned it again, didn't act any different than the friendly guy he was
the next day, etc.

Quite often a call-sign is "earned" based on an embarrassing
situation. If so, some folks might tolerate it among those who know
the story but not wear it so proudly outside of the community. My best
guess might be that "Sparks" might have had a tail drag incident
somewhere or maybe an oversight leading to taxi, take-off or landing
with some component dragging and creating a pyrotechnic display.

We had a guy in Spain in the F-4 that made a significant switch error
during a night, low-level, nuclear (simulated) delivery during an ORI.
It resulted in dropping the nuke "shape" about eight miles short of
the target. From that day forward he was "Short Round" to everyone.

The worst one I ever heard was recently from an F-16 pilot. His name
tag declared him to be "OBOC". The explanation, when pried out of him,
was that during a cross-country excursion with a number of buddies,
he'd gotten quite lucky with a beautiful young lady, but he had to cut
the evening much shorter than it could have been, because he "Only
Brought One Condom"!!!

There's a female Viper pilot I know named "Shooter"--not because of
her marksmanship or aerial gunnery skills, but as a result of a
drinking misadventure.

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:31:07 GMT, Ed Rasimus wrote:

Hands down winner, "Fighting Falcon" replaced by "Viper."

I'm of the opinion that if they'd just left the redundant "Fighting" off
the name it would've had a chance.

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com

"Yeff" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:31:07 GMT, Ed Rasimus wrote:

Hands down winner, "Fighting Falcon" replaced by "Viper."

I'm of the opinion that if they'd just left the redundant "Fighting" off
the name it would've had a chance.

-Jeff B.


They tried but the maker of Falcon business jets already had the inside
track and protested loudly.

Tex

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:21:59 -0600, Tex Houston wrote:


"Yeff" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:31:07 GMT, Ed Rasimus wrote:

Hands down winner, "Fighting Falcon" replaced by "Viper."

I'm of the opinion that if they'd just left the redundant "Fighting" off
the name it would've had a chance.

-Jeff B.


They tried but the maker of Falcon business jets already had the inside
track and protested loudly.

I can just see a bunch of businessmen all wearing suits, standing on a
flightline and staring at an F-16...

"Is that what we ordered?"

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com

"Tex Houston" wrote in message
...

"Yeff" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:31:07 GMT, Ed Rasimus wrote:

Hands down winner, "Fighting Falcon" replaced by "Viper."

I'm of the opinion that if they'd just left the redundant "Fighting" off
the name it would've had a chance.

They tried but the maker of Falcon business jets already had the inside
track and protested loudly.

Dassault builds more than Biz-jets.

In article , says...

"Tex Houston" wrote in message
...

"Yeff" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:31:07 GMT, Ed Rasimus wrote:

Hands down winner, "Fighting Falcon" replaced by "Viper."

I'm of the opinion that if they'd just left the redundant "Fighting" off
the name it would've had a chance.

They tried but the maker of Falcon business jets already had the inside
track and protested loudly.

Dassault builds more than Biz-jets.


They have a rather successful line of hanger queens and apron weights too.


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