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IT'S NOT A TONKA!


jacksdad

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Didn't the name 'The Fin' come from the Americans, as a sort of insult?

Also, I recall the JP being referred to as 'The Paraffin Budgie'!

I`ve always known the good old Jet Provosts as "variable noise machine" basically cos as much power as you apply all they seem to do is just make more noise.

If you want a laugh just ask what the F3 guys call Typhoons and Typhoon jocks

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Hi all,

Being in the Army as I am or a "Pongo" as he crabs refer to us so I am told, I can confirm that we don't use the term Tonka. Any aircraft of that type (ground attack) is just referred to as "Fast Air, Fast Movers, ECAS, Dial a Bomb, or Online Free Delivery Service" by the boots on the ground. I have heard the following common nicknames:-

Hercules - Herkybird

Lynx - Cab or Battle Taxi

Chinook - Wokka wokka, Battle Bus, or Ins refer to it as "The cow"

Apache - Sky Scimitar/Warrior (Referring to the calibre of the chain gun I think) again Ins refer to these as "Wasps or Hornets"

The upper echelons refer to anything in the air as "Aviation" which seems to be quite a trendy/hip term for any officer to use, but the really cool kids also refer to what we call Helos as "Rotary Aviation" this marks out those in the know. These terms are normally followed by "ECAS" and "Danger Close" to indicate that the bloke has actually been there and knows what he is on about.

All I can say is that in my opinion the Crabs/Matelots/Smurfs do a sterling job with their "Rotary Aviation" in a dogs**t environment, and it is very, very much appreciated!

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The best I've heard was the "Carbon fibre death provider" used by my Harrier chums. As for what the F3 guys called our Typhoon replacements, I know what I called them and I don't think I should write it down. We did refer to them as the "Buffoon's" for various reasons. Whether this is what armadillos is refering too you'll have to ask him.

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ACKY190

Is `Wokka-Wokka` more of an army term?

I picked-up `Wokka-Wokka` from the nineties but when I mentioned it on ARC a few years back an RAF bod said he`d never heard of it, yet now it seems in common use, although some ex-RAF still say no.

I notice that any reference to wokka-wokka from recent books are in the ones written by soldiers rather than airmen.

Cheers, Ian

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ACKY190

Is `Wokka-Wokka` more of an army term?

I picked-up `Wokka-Wokka` from the nineties but when I mentioned it on ARC a few years back an RAF bod said he`d never heard of it, yet now it seems in common use, although some ex-RAF still say no.

I notice that any reference to wokka-wokka from recent books are in the ones written by soldiers rather than airmen.

Cheers, Ian

Hi Ian,

Not too sure mate, I have always referred to them as such. Even back in '99 on Agricola we used this name, the Crabs probably have their own version. The Spams call them Wokka-Wokkas too or the ones I have worked with do, I believe it's to do with the distinctive sound of the rotor blades.

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ACKY190

Is `Wokka-Wokka` more of an army term?

I picked-up `Wokka-Wokka` from the nineties but when I mentioned it on ARC a few years back an RAF bod said he`d never heard of it, yet now it seems in common use, although some ex-RAF still say no.

I notice that any reference to wokka-wokka from recent books are in the ones written by soldiers rather than airmen.

Cheers, Ian

When I worked on them they were never called them wokka-wokkas, just wokkas or 44 seater contra rotating flying death bananas.

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Ade said:
Merlin- The Plastic Pig

OI!! :boxing::P:lol:

 

I've only ever heard tornados called Tonka's or occasionally Lincolnshire Landsharks. What's this Tornado you're all on about? :shrug:;)

Danny.

Edited by Danny
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Hi Ian,

Not too sure mate, I have always referred to them as such. Even back in '99 on Agricola we used this name, the Crabs probably have their own version. The Spams call them Wokka-Wokkas too or the ones I have worked with do, I believe it's to do with the distinctive sound of the rotor blades.

Thanks for that, :thumbsup2:

When I was young enough to still have hopes and dreams I asked `why Wokka Wokka?` and a Falklands vet looked at me as if I was a muppet and said `what ~~~~### sound do they make?` :D

Har, didn`t really forget that name afterwards.

Cheers, Ian

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ACKY190

Is `Wokka-Wokka` more of an army term?

I picked-up `Wokka-Wokka` from the nineties but when I mentioned it on ARC a few years back an RAF bod said he`d never heard of it, yet now it seems in common use, although some ex-RAF still say no.

I notice that any reference to wokka-wokka from recent books are in the ones written by soldiers rather than airmen.

Cheers, Ian

In Australian service parlance, "Wokkas" were UH-1s; our Chinooks are "Chooks".

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ACKY190

Is `Wokka-Wokka` more of an army term?

I picked-up `Wokka-Wokka` from the nineties but when I mentioned it on ARC a few years back an RAF bod said he`d never heard of it, yet now it seems in common use, although some ex-RAF still say no.

I notice that any reference to wokka-wokka from recent books are in the ones written by soldiers rather than airmen.

Cheers, Ian

I seem to recall Chinooks being referred to as Magmixers rather than Wokka-Wokkas back in the '80s.

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  • 2 years later...

Myself and everyone I worked with always called them Tonkas.

Sometimes of course, we referred to them as piles of poo-poo. When recounting something about what you had been doing, you might have identified the specific aircraft at the start, but then you just called it the jet everytime you referred to it.

We used to refer to specific jets by making names from their squadron codes - eg TTW was known as Transit To War when down the flight line by several of us.

A navy boy once asked me what we called them and when I said Tonkas, he then said they called them Fins, so perhaps it comes from a fish head nickname for them?

Big jugs as said before, never heard them called anything else.

As for the 'nib', we always called them wing bags, or wing bag seals. Any riggers care to give the correct term?

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"Hindenburger" was used at Warton for the big tanks before they ever got into RAF service, presumably because the sheer size of the things reminded people of the airship. So it wasn't media or modellers that started it - well, some of us at Warton were modellers but we didn't invent the name ourselves.

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As for the 'nib', we always called them wing bags, or wing bag seals. Any riggers care to give the correct term?

The nib is the front bit of the wing, forward of the wing pivot where the disused Kruger flaps live.

The wing bags are in the rear fuselage where the wing trailing edge hides when the wings are swept.

We always called them Tonka's, big jugs and wing bags.

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The nib is the front bit of the wing, forward of the wing pivot where the disused Kruger flaps live.

The wing bags are in the rear fuselage where the wing trailing edge hides when the wings are swept.

We always called them Tonka's, big jugs and wing bags.

Yes, i know that. The reason i put 'nib' in the inverted commas is because someone in an earlier post referred to the wing bags as nibs.

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We called them Tonkas on XV, as did 16 and 20 at Laarbruch. II(AC) Sqn (Jags at the time) called us "swingers". When an F3 arrived on site, we would go out and service an F3

or an ADV.

Jet Provosts were JPs, but I don`t recall a nickname for E3Ds when I worked on them. Bombers were generally known as mud movers.

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Always been called TONKA`s for the time I worked on them. TONKA is a tongue in cheek reference to the indestructable toys with the Tornado being anything but indestructable. Don`t sneeze near a TONKA or you will break it !!!!

Big Jugs or 2250`s., Never hear them called Hindenburgers.

Twin man, twin fan, swing wing arrow of death !!!!!

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I read in SABAT, which is ostensibly the memoirs of a RAF aircrewman, that the first Tornados were sometimes known as "White Man's Magic". Of course, I had no idea as to the veracity of this.

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I have heard Chinooks referred to as Chinnies once or twice, and have also heard Tristars called Timmies. Vicky Ten is a name I have heard when relating to the VC10 and, on a less respectful note, 'bag of worms' used when referring to the Tucano.

As for nicknames seemingly applied by the spotting community, the two that really get up my nose are 'Brick' for Buccaneer (ostensibly because it's built like a brick outhouse) and 'Stang for the P-51, presumably out of laziness.

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I have heard Chinooks referred to as Chinnies once or twice, and have also heard Tristars called Timmies. Vicky Ten is a name I have heard when relating to the VC10 and, on a less respectful note, 'bag of worms' used when referring to the Tucano.

As for nicknames seemingly applied by the spotting community, the two that really get up my nose are 'Brick' for Buccaneer (ostensibly because it's built like a brick outhouse) and 'Stang for the P-51, presumably out of laziness.

Tri-Star's were also called Tommies depending if they had air to air refueling facility,the was also s third nickname that I cant remember....

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Was "Leaping Heap" not exclusive to the earlier metal wing Harriers? I'd heard that it was.

Indeed. The ones in Germany were sometimes referred to as uhrwerk springen haufen - clockwork leaping heaps. The "clockwork" bit was because they sometimes carried side winders... ;)

When the first GR.5s arrived, they were known as plastic pigs.

Edited by Enzo Matrix
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