Warbird Information Exchange

There seems to be a trend, not necessarily exclusive to aviation, to name certain design features after everyday objects. (It's a bit difficult to explain, but I think the list of examples will make the idea clear.) I spent a while (since March 2015) collecting every instance of this I came across. However, I would welcome, if not encourage any further suggestions.

Since, like clichés, the subject is informal - and therefore generally isn't listed anywhere like official terms - one of the major problems is determining when and how widely a name is actually used. Ideally, these nicknames would have some level of broad acceptance within the relevant community. In other words, it is not just a single individual using them. So one aspect that would be particularly useful is confirmation that you have heard these terms used in casual conversation elsewhere.

I have also tried to tie each nickname to a specific model, but many are used in reference to multiple aircraft as they describe features that are interchangeable or design agnostic. In that case, it would be nice to know the first aircraft each name was used with.

• F4U: birdcage canopy, hose nose
• B-17: shark fin, Cheyenne tail, pumpkin tail, steeplechase tail[2]
• P-47: razorback
• Hawker Demon: lobsterback[3]
• A-4, AH-1, and U-2: sugar scoop[3][4][5][6][7]
• C-130: Roman nose[8]
• Hawker Typhoon: beard radiator
• Sea Vixen: coal hole[9]
• Wellington & Whitley: dustbin turret[David C. Cooke, War Wings: Fighting Planes of the American and British Air Forces (New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1941), n.p.]
• F-102: coke-bottle configuration[10][11]
• Bf 109: Erla Haube canopy, Morane antenna[12][13]
• Sea Hawk (P.1040): trouser legs [John W. R. Taylor, ed., The Lore of Flight (New York, New York: Crescent Books, 1978), 149, 151.][14])
• de Havilland Mosquito/Hornet & XC-99: thimble nose/radome[15][16]
• Waco 9 & Travel Air 2000: elephant ear ailerons[Walter J. Boyne, The Aircraft Treasures of Silver Hill: The Behind-the-Scenes Workshop of Our Nation’s Air Museum (New York: Rawson Associates, 1982), 205.][17]
• XB-42 & C-74: bug-eye canopy[Walter J. Boyne, The Aircraft Treasures of Silver Hill: The Behind-the-Scenes Workshop of Our Nation’s Air Museum (New York: Rawson Associates, 1982), 185.][18][19])
• Flanker: tail sting[20]
• A-5: linear bomb bay
• Dassault Milan & Tu-144: moustache
• PA-28: Hershey Bar wing[21]
• P-51: doghouse[22]
• Blackburn Beverley: elephant’s foot[23]
• Handley Page Victor: Küchemann carrots, elephant ear intakes[24][25]
• C-5: visor, hayloft[26][27][28][29]
• R-6: hot dog floats[30][31]
• He 162: Lippisch-Ohren (trans. Lippisch ears)[32]
• PA-42: Q-tip propellers[33][34]
• FJ Fury: barn door air brakes[35]
• Ju 52: doppelflügel[36]
• B-24: Davis wing, high hat turret[37]
• CG-4A: Griswold nose[38]
• DC-9 & 737: elephant ear fairing/flap, hamster pouch engine intake[39][40][41]
• MD-90: pylon flaps[42]
• F/A-18G: tripper strips[43]
• P-38: droop snoot, dive recovery flap/compressibility flap (ref & PLiA, 31)
• F/A-18: center barrel section[44][45]
• PA-27: Tiger Shark nacelles[46]
• F-14: wing glove[47]
• J-21R: paddan (trans. toad)[48]
• Mirage III: souris (trans. mice)[49]
• B-1A: elephant ears[50][51]
• P-47: Christmas tree tank[52]
• A-4: tadpole rudder[53][54]
• Ki-43: butterfly flaps[55][56]
• Bell 47: harp[57][58]
• AT-11, B-26 & PBY: tunnel gun[59][60][61]
• Gotha G.V: gun tunnel[62][63]
• PBY: eyeball turret, clipper bow[64][65][66]
• CV-240: orange peel cowling[67][68]
• HOK-1, H-43 & K-MAX: bear paw plates ([69], [70], [71])
• banjo frames: DC-10[72]
• P-61: Zap flaps[73]
• H8K: katsuobushi strake[74]
• Ju 90: trapoklappe[75]
• C-133: belly bands[76]
• Lightning: hip and waist engine arrangement[77]
• B-10: beehive gun turret[78]
• F-117: platypus exhaust[79]
• T-37 & Citation: thrust attenuator[80][81]
• Pe-2: Torov mounting, TsAGI mushrooms[Yefim Gordon, Dmitri Khazanov, and Medved’ Alexander, Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, vol. Two (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1999), 122, 129.]
• Travel Air 5000 “Woolaroc”: tripper device, bayonet exhaust stacks [TA:WOtP, 52]
• Twin Bonanza: Eisenhower step
• Bonanza: piano key switches[82]
• F-16: big/small mouth[83], bird slicer antennas[84]
• Fw 191: Multhopp-Klappe
• Fw 190: doppelhaube spinner
• B-47: milk bottle pin[85][86]
• J2F: shoe horn hull[David C. Cooke, War Wings: Fighting Planes of the American and British Air Forces (New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1941), n.p.]
• Northrop Gamma, Bristol Badger II: park bench ailerons[87][88]
• Bf 110 D: Dackelbauch (trans. Dachshund belly)[William Green, The Warplanes of the Third Reich (London: MacDonald & Co., 1970), 580-582.]
• Vickers Type 432: lobster claw wing[89]
• B-29: barber chair[90]
• King Air: pitot cowlings[91]
• H-53: elephant ear strakes[92]
• B-18: chicken coop turret[93]
• M-18: possum belly[94][95]
• Morane-Saulnier N: la casserole[96]
• Avro 504K: toothpick landing gear[97][98]
• Beardmore W.B.II: witch’s broomstick[99]
• Loire 301: lessiveuse (trans. washboiler)[100]
• BAe 146: pannier tanks[101]
• AH-1: toilet bowl exhaust[102]
• A-31: bench dive brakes[103]
• Cessna 120: pretzel yoke[104]
• A-26: Congo cowl[105]
• UH-1/ACH-47: chunker turret[106][107]
• RC-135: hog nose radome/cheeks[108][109]
• Cessna 310: tuna tip tank[110][111]
• T-6: Mae West landing gear wells[112]
• NC-141A: beer can tail[113][114]

The rest of my notes don't really fit into the above, so I have sorted them into categories below:

Terms Used on Multiple Aircraft

• Bathtub: A-10 cockpit armor, early model B-17 ventral gun, P-35 undercarriage fairings[Bruce Robertson, ed., United States Army and Air Force Fighters, 1916-1961 (Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, Inc., 1961), 50.]
• Turtleback
  
  • Compare with greenhouse canopies[Dan Hagedorn, North American’s T-6: A Definitive History of the World’s Most Famous Trainer (North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2009), 47.]; contrast with razorback[115][116]
  • Note that using the term razorback to refer to early variants of the P-51 may be an anachronism[117]
  • Compare razorback with the term fastback to describe certain versions of the Ford Mustang
  • Note that the razorback term goes back to at least the Aeronca C-3[118]
• Towel bar/rack antenna[119][120]
  
  • Compare with sled antenna and cat whisker antenna[121][122]
  • Compare the football term used for both the ADF and Norden Bombsight
• Beaver tail: F-14[123] (see also: castor tail), C-133[124], B-2[125], F3H[126], AW.660[127], C-119[128][129], Unknown General Dynamics[130]
• Elephant Foot: Waco 9, Travel Air 2000, Victor, DC-9, Boeing 737, B-1A, H-53
  
  • Compare with use of elephant’s foot on Beverley
    
    • Note non-aviation uses of the term[131]
• Helmet cowling: Beech 18[132], GL-30[133]
• Eyebrow windows[134]
• Hamburger door and whiskey hatch[135]
• Double-bubble and figure eight fuselage: C-46, R6V, Boeing 377, and Saunders-Roe Princess
• Nutcracker landing gear
  
  • Note that the term can refer to two different concepts:
    
    • The first is a method of landing gear retraction – also known as a scissor or torque link.[136][137] An early confirmed use of the term is in a paper presented to the National Aeronautic Meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers in March 1941 about the development of the Ercoupe.[138] The Heston Phoenix, which first flew in 1935, is also described as “utili[zing] a Dowty nutcracker-strut retraction mechanism” by one book.[John W. R. Taylor, ed., The Lore of Flight (New York, New York: Crescent Books, 1978), 103, 106.]
    • The second is a type of pressure switch that indicates whether the aircraft is on the ground or in the air. This second method appears to have been popularized by the Gulfstream IV.[139]
      
      • Grumman seems to have been quite fond of the term. Not only did the A-6 also use a nutcracker switch on its landing gear, but an unbuilt “folding-fuselage” VTOL design by the company was apparently also named the “nutcracker”.[140][141]
• Sabrinas or bosom tanks: Javelin[142]
  
  • Compare with the Mae West nickname for life vests
• Birdcage: Bristol Boxkite, F4U
  
  • From From Bird Cages to Battle Plane: “Of the four airplanes which started, one was an Henri Farman biplane… The other three were Bristol military biplanes, or ‘Bristol Box Kites,’ so called on account of the resemblance of their tails to box kites. …
    These planes were known to flying men as ‘bird cages’ because they were braced together with such a tangle of piano wire that, once the pilot had wriggled his way into his seat, he looked like a bird in a cage. Another version of the origin of the term is that the early pilots, when they wanted to test the rigging, placed a bird in the pilot’s seat. If the bird managed to get out, they knew that there must be a wire missing.”[Ralph Michaels, From Bird Cage to Battle Plane: The History of the R.A.F. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1943), 3-4.]
    
    • This is evidence that the term birdcage was in common use in an aviation context well before the Corsair
    • Compare with the term stringbag as also suggestive of the extensive use of flying wires in early airplanes

Marketing Buzzwords

• Airbus: Sharklet
  
  • Note that the sharklet name for the winglets on Airbus A320s likely came from the Super Shark winglet on the Envoy 7 variant of the unbuilt Dornier 728[143]
• Cessna: Omni-Vision rear window, Land-O-Matic landing gear, etc.[144]
• Culver: Simpli-Fly trim/flap system[145][146], Safe Trim system[147][148][149]
• Grumman: STO-Wing wing fold[150]

Engine Terms

• Cheek as referring to an engine intake[151]
  
  • Compare with 737 “hamster pouch” and contrast with “cheek” machine gun mounting on B-17
• Turkey feathers afterburner eyelids/petals/variable exhaust nozzle/divergent nozzle external segments[152][153]
• Toothpick propeller[154]
• Fishtail exhaust[Daniel D. Whitney, Vee’s for Victory! The Story of the Allison V-1710 Aircraft Engine, 1929-1948 (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1998), 387.]
• Madam queen intake pipe[Daniel D. Whitney, Vee’s for Victory! The Story of the Allison V-1710 Aircraft Engine, 1929-1948 (Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, 1998), 386.]
• Saxophone exhaust[155]
• Kidney exhaust[156]
• Biscuit cutter restrictors[157]

Comparable Terms

• Compare the Bristol under-defence gun on the Beaufort with the tunnel gun on the AT-11, PBY, and B-26[158]
• Compare Christmas tree fuel tank in P-47s to Christmas tree rocket launch racks on P-38Ls[F. G. Swanborough, United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, First American (London: Putnam, 1963), 293.]
• Compare the Erla Haube canopy on the Bf 109 to the Cheyenne tail on the B-17 as both were named after the manufacturer/subcontractor/modification facility where the work was carried out
• Compare the Cheyenne tail on the B-17 to the Torov mounting on the Pe-2 as both are modifications of gun positions[Yefim Gordon, Dmitri Khazanov, and Medved’ Alexander, Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, vol. Two (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1999), 122.]
• Compare the Küchemann carrots on the Handley Page Victor to the TsAGI mushrooms on the Pe-2A to Hoerner tips as all three are aerodynamic modifications named after plants and in reference to the individual or organization that designed them[Yefim Gordon, Dmitri Khazanov, and Medved’ Alexander, Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, vol. Two (Leicester: Midland Publishing, 1999), 129][159]
  
  • Compare also with NACA cowling and NACA duct as other design features named after the aerodynamic institute where they were developed
  • Compare also with the Townend ring and Multhopp-Klappe as design features named after their designers

_________________
Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

For what it's worth, I have never heard of the Bell 47 tail For it guard called a "harp". And I have all the books on the type.

Similar guards are common in older helicopters...like the Alouette II and III, some Hillers and Enstroms.

I'm not sure how much credence I'd give to the museum whose web description is used as a citation. After all, it says Larry Bell developed the 47. True he wrote the checks, but everyone knows it was physicist Arthur Young who developed the Model 30/47.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

You can add C-130 (RAF Hercules) to the listings for Beaver tail and Elephant's foot (ramp support strut)

As always, your research is impressive. A few thoughts.

I have heard the term "dustbin turret" associated with both the Ju 52 and the He 111, don't know if they were called that contemporaneously (in German) or prior to the types you named, but maybe.

I think the original "razroback" might have been the Fairchild FC-2 although the term may have been retrospectively applied after originating with the P-47 or another type. As we know the type is also sometimes used to refer to a high-back version of any plane that also has a low-back version, even if the high-back version doesn't have a sharp ridge along the top like the Fairchild and P-47, which may offend some of us purists but there's not much we can do.

When you say "elephant foot" at the bottom, do you mean to repeat "elephant ear"? I'm not familiar with the term "elephant foot" except as a pile of radioactive slag in the Chernobyl power plant.

You didn't include the Malcolm hood for the P-51 that would seem to be a direct parallel to the Erla Haube 109 canopy, unless it was an official term and therefore not a nickname?

August

The Malcolm hood was developed and made originally for the Spitfire by R Malcolm & Co so it was an official term.

I haven't heard the term beard radiator for the Typhoon, it's usually chin radiator.

Elephant's ear was also used for the extra intakes on the French-built Mistral which was basically a Vampire with a licence-built Rolls-Royce Nene engine.

B-18A: Shark nose
German nightfighter upfiring guns: Schräge Musik (jazz music)

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

I believe "Sabrina" was the nickname applied to the cartridge collection bulges on some marks of Hawker Hunter, named after actress Norma Ann Sykes, AKA Sabrina.

Bell 47, Enstrom et al, I've only ever heard the tail rotor protection system referred to as a "hoop", admittedly my exposure has been limited!

First, Excellent research!

Some thoughts...

"Davis Wing": The B-24 was really the beneficiary of Consolidated's proof-of-concept Model 31, what the US Navy eventually purchased as the XP4Y-1 Corregidor.

The story of Reuben Fleet's gamble to invest in the Davis Wing and Model 31 is quite amazing...worthy of some quick research for those unfamiliar.

If you choose to go this route to modify the list, the B-32 also made use of the Davis Wing design.


"Dong": I believe the only warbird I've ever read about using this nickname is/are the F-82F & G, the label being applied to the lengthy radar pod mounted to the center section of those models of the Twin Mustang.

As to autobiographical verification of this nickname, I'm at a loss. (I think) I may have read something somewhere by former F-82 pilot John Sharp but can't find the reference. I can't recall ever having any personal dialogue with F-82 vets either.

In the ongoing attempt to keep the WIX world rated G, I'm fine with mods striking this post.

Thanks, again, for sharing your research!

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

The 109's 'Erla Haube' canopy was also known as the 'Galland Hood'.

The engine thrust pins on an F-16 are known as "Coke bottles"
We have one panel on the F-35 known as the "Surfboard", another known as "The Flag Panel". TFP is going away as there are a significant reduction in people that worked AA-1 and the SDD airplanes, so "The Flag Panel" is meaningless to them.
F-16 speed brakes "Duck bills"

A certain telemetry antenna on flight test F-16's was known as the "Razor Blade" Due to it's shape and sharp edges. Another antenna was known as a "Green Weanie"

The C-130 must hold the record for terms, most of which I've forgotten. But here are some:

elephant's foot (ramp support)
hat rack (cabin light fixture)
hedgehog (air con pack outlet?)
letterbox (air con system)
trouser duct (air con again)
bathtub (longeron forging near ramp)
witch's tit (the conical part that sits underneath the turbine support fairing)
horse's collar (QEC bulkhead between prop and gearbox)

There are loads more, not including generic slang items like donkey's d*ck etc.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and kind words everyone.


For reference, the relevant portions of the two sources are below:

(Source: Pilot)

(Source: British Columbia Air Museum)

Perhaps it is a term that was used for the same device on other helicopters and then was retroactively applied to the Bell 47?


You did remind me that, according to a former SH-2/SH-60 pilot friend of mine, the probe attached to the helicopter that the "beartrap" device of the Recovery Assist, Secure and Traverse, or RAST, system grabs on to was called the "donkey dick". No one ever said pilots were mature...

_________________
Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

I was correcting typos and other minor errors in an OCR'd text of an unpublished memoir of a P-40 and P-47 pilot at the museum today. When I came across the following sentence in reference to a cadet who cracked up during a Morse code lesson in preflight training:

(Source: Norman A. Olson, “Keep Up Your Humor and Airspeed” (Unpublished Memoir, 1993), 9.)

Knowing that this referred to campaign buttons for Wendell Willkie, the 1940 Republican presidential nominee, but not sure if this fact would be familiar to the average reader, I decided to add an explanatory footnote. However, I wanted to make sure I had the spelling and facts right, so I did a quick search to pull up Willkie's Wikipedia article. However, in the process, I noticed that one of the suggestions on the drop down list was "Willkie button aircraft". Intrigued, I clicked on it and found out that the term "Willkie button" also refers to the plug buttons used to seal holes in aircraft. [1]

It was quite fascinating to me because here were two separate uses of the term, both in an aviation context. (It's also worth noting that Willkie would travel the world in an LB-30 named Gulliver after he lost the election.[2]) Furthermore, I didn't realize just how much his campaign buttons had entered the public consciousness, with 8 million of them being ordered according to a contemporary article in the New Yorker.[3]

_________________
Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

fun and interesting list.

A few to consider:

B-47, "milk bottle", the wing attachments points, shaped like a milk bottle and subject to numerous structural breakups. Suject to the Milk Bottle emergency repair https://safe.menlosecurity.com/doc/docv ... a9ab24c4e6

B-52H "Cheese Grater". The vents in the aft stinger tail to relieve pressure after the tail gun was removed.
https://www.ktbs.com/news/arklatex-inde ... 78788.html

"Pinocchio" has been used for several aircraft with long nose modifications.
http://www.douglasdc3.com/pinoch/pinoch.htm

"Hell hole" a small opening on the cargo floor on various aircraft and often referred to on rotor craft, usually for helping spot slung loads.
https://www.afrc.af.mil/News/Article-Di ... -hellhole/
http://www.panicd.com/encyclopedia/lock ... -hole.html

The main rotor/hub attachment on a helicopter has been called the 'Jesus nut', ie if it fails, the only thing you can do is pray...