Saturday, September 7, 2013

Military Aviation Speak

USAF and USN F-4 Phantoms
As many of you (several, a couple?) may know, I am retired Air Force. Put out to pasture in the spring 0f '99 as a Master Sergeant. The finest damn rank to be in the Air Forces of the United States. (So say I and no doubt some others.)

That being said, it has been remarked upon (from time to time) that I show a distressing preference for the Naval Services of this fair land of ours. A fellow retired Master Sergeant  and Your Humble Scribe even engaged in a blog war over my inclination towards things labelled "USN". (See here and here.) But that's all water under the bridge. That's been left in our wake, so to speak.

Since those days I've attempted to present a "fair and balanced" approach to the two services that are so near and dear to my heart. The Navy often gets mentioned first (for any number of reasons which I won't dwell on here) but note that today the first picture is of an Air Force Phantom. The second is of VF-191's "Doublenuts" Phantom.

Huh, what? Doublenuts? What the heck are you talking about? Well, I had heard that particular term before and had to look it up. Now I have a great source for those Nasal Radiator terms. And I've been reading all of the gems over at Navy Pilots' Lingo. Good stuff!

Not forgetting the Air Force (and a certain retired guy who lives in the vicinity of "AfCannonStan") there is this wondrous place which I stumbled across today, Air Force Slang. Contains a lot of stuff I knew from back in the day and a lot of new stuff coined since I retired.

So head on over to those places if you've a mind to. This will come in handy if you ever get faced with a bunch of stick actuators. Especially if some Marine yells out "Dead Bug" or one of the FNGs says it's time to pull chocks.

Until then, always check your six!

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16 comments:

  1. (not necessarily your) Uncle SkipSeptember 7, 2013 at 12:36 PM

    Boy!
    There's a lot of new stuff...

    ...and a lot that's grown whiskers.

    I mean, of course, the colloquialisms of the Naval variety.

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    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeSeptember 8, 2013 at 8:02 AM

      Same here with the colloquialisms of the aerial variety.

      Delete
  2. orbitupSeptember 7, 2013 at 2:25 PM

    When I was at Heyford we had a lot of low numbered aircraft. '004' was 'balls 4'.

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    1. OldAFSargeSeptember 8, 2013 at 8:05 AM

      Are we talking Aardvarks here? I almost became a 'Vark maintainer back in the day. I went F-4s because there were more bases I could go to.

      Delete
    2. orbitupSeptember 8, 2013 at 8:18 PM

      Oh yeah. Here is a post I made w/some pics from when I was there. http://orbitup.blogspot.com/2012/12/f-111.html

      I have some more pics of engines we pulled from an aircraft after an end of runway crash. I'll post those soon.

      Delete
    3. OldAFSargeSeptember 9, 2013 at 5:28 AM

      Sweet photos, thanks for sharing them.

      As regards Desert Storm, I was at Offutt AFB at the time having made the transition from F-4 tech to computer programmer. A SSgt who worked for me was also an old flightline guy. We kept pestering our Lieutenant to find a way to send us to Saudi, we figured we could do something, anything. Our Lieutenant told us we were both insane and that the USAF had no need of a couple of programmers to fight the war in the desert.

      Our wives were completely pissed when they found out!

      But yeah, I understand completely.

      Delete
  3. juvatSeptember 7, 2013 at 3:46 PM

    Pretty sure that if that was the first time he saw that four ship at his six, he ought to start looking for a different career path.

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  4. Old NFOSeptember 7, 2013 at 3:46 PM

    Heh, some memories there! Doublenuts was the Skipper's bird, since in Navy terminology, his 'code' is 00.

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    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeSeptember 8, 2013 at 8:07 AM

      I'd never heard it called that before, only "the CAG bird".

      Delete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2013 at 9:00 PM

    I haven't even THOUGHT about "Dead Bug" in years.
    Made me snort a little Scotch on my key board.

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    Replies
    1. OldAFSargeSeptember 8, 2013 at 8:07 AM

      Sorry about that Bayouwulf, good times though, good times.

      Delete
  6. BuckSeptember 8, 2013 at 9:40 AM

    Nice links. I can't believe I've never heard "AfCannonStan" before, but then again, neither had SN1 nor DIL Erma. Both of those folks have a lot more time in the area than I do/did. There were other euphemisms for AF bases I'd never heard, either. But Hey!... it's been nearly 30 years (28 to be exact) since I shed the Blue Suit. Language evolves or devolves... you choose... a lot when you've been away that long.

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    1. OldAFSargeSeptember 8, 2013 at 11:53 AM

      Thanks Buck.

      Yeah, four years at Offutt AFB, never heard it called Awful AFB. Plus ça change...

      Delete
  7. Glenn Mark CasselSeptember 10, 2013 at 1:49 AM

    Some years ago both The Good Captain we all loved and miss along with the one and only Pinch Paisley did posts on all Navy Slang. We win due to age and experience..................................................................

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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