Viper question

[Guardflyr29]

When did the F-16 become the "Viper", and why? Are any F-16s still considered "Falcons?". I made the mistake of referring to it as the Falcon in the O Club at the Tucson Airshow back in 2000. Needless to say, I was promptly corrected by the pilots.

 

[Merlin'05]

Viper is simply the nickname.


Fighting Falcon is still the 'real' name.

 

[CrewDawg]

It's just what the pilot decided to call it. It's official name is still the Falcon

 

[TheRaven]

"Viper" hmmmm.....think about the old show "Battlestar Galactica"

 

[EMBATP]

im not ex-air force but i know a few guys that are or worked on the f-16 project. the story: during the 70's when the f-16 was coming out, general dynamics was going to call it the "viper". this was post-vietnam, and the military wasn't exactly popular. to try to change this the air force decided to promote the air force academy by naming the f-16 the "fighting falcon" after the academy mascot. everyone in the f-16 community still calls it "viper" which is much cooler. this may or may not be true, just what i heard.

 

[Kikuchiyo]

Variation on the story above. General Dynamics wanted to call it the Viper, but "some General" at the Pentagon wanted to name it after the Academy mascot based on his warped perception of "cool," not on any altruistic attempt at image promotion for the AF as a whole. The Academy mascot is officially the Fighting Falcon, as is the official name of the F-16. Bear in mind that the first Academy class graduated in 1959, so by the 70's, no General could claim it as his alma mater.

 

[TR4A]

I thought it was the Electric Lawn Dart.

 

[Merlin'05]

I don't know where that story came from, but the Fighting Falcon was not named after USAFA's mascot.


In the hundreds of pages of Contrails and other stuff we had to memorize, there was not one single mention of the F-16 and its name related to USAFA. If that was in fact that case, it would have been one of the first things we learned.


Rainman, do you agree? Did you see anything about that in the years you went through?

 

[rainman_02]

*thumbs thru Contrails*

Hmmm...Not in mine. Although, you might go check out that F-16A wind tunnel model on the NW corner of the Terrazzo...


I vaguely remember hearing the story behind it...but it slips my mind right now...too many thoughts of tomorrow's flight dance in my head.

 

[Merlin'05]

I'll check next time I go to A-Hall, but I don't recall seeing anything on there either.

 

[TonyC]

The Academy mascot is officially the Fighting Falcon, ...

It is???

When did they change it? I thought it was the Falcon.

According to MY little red book, the true mascot of the Air Force Academy was a white gyrfalcon named Baffin, named after the Northern Canadian Island where she was caught.

Also according to my little red book, the General Dynamics F-16 didn't even HAVE a nickname at that time. It's hard to imagine that if there had been a connection between the Academy's mascot and the nickname of the airplane, it could have been so conspicuously absent from the Little Red Book.

 

[TonyC]

..., you might go check out that F-16A wind tunnel model on the NW corner of the Terrazzo...

I remember the day they set that airplane in place - - I thought it was a shame to replace the T-38 that was there. But, they had just erected the Thunderbird memorial with another T-38, so I guess it was only fair. I could watch the operation from my window, but I was a little busy packing for the move to Columbus, MS, so I didn't pay too close attention - - I was unaware of any wind-tunnel connection. And I am still unaware of any connection with a Flying Falcon mascot.

 

[Kikuchiyo]

I admit that my version of the story is likely apocryphal, and I should have stated so more explicitly, rather than implying it. I don't have access to a Contrails, though I'm not sure that Contrails qualifies as an authoritative source. (Depends on your perspective)

The official AF aircraft fact sheet:

http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=103

lists it as the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

As to the Academy mascot, TonyC is correct that the official mascot name is simply the Falcon. However, there are numerous references throughout the official USAFA web site to the Fighting Falcons, primarily when referring to sports teams. I guess it was my memory playing tricks on me that I assumed the word "Fighting" was official. My bad.

 

[usmc33]

Whatever

Call it whatever you want. All I can remember is that every time my fighter section bounced a section of F-16s they went every which way and we waxed them within 2 turns. I had an AF COL say to me when I was a CAPT, "you know, the hardest plane I've ever flown against was an F/A-18". I reminded him that it was not the plane it was the Marine flying it.

By-the-way, I digressed in my intent. Viper is what the F-16 has been known as for as long as I've been flying.

 

[CrewDawg]

And my di*k is bigger than yours....blah...blah....blah. I thought we were talking about how the Viper got it's name no how well it handle's against a Hornet, or how the Marine pilot is a god compared to an AF pilot.

 

[talondriver]

I don't know where that story came from, but the Fighting Falcon was not named after USAFA's mascot.

I was once told they named the F-16 the "Fighting" Falcon because the name "Falcon" was a copywrite (or something like that) of the Falcon business jets.

 

[Merlin'05]

That's exactly what I heard as well.







Rainman, I walked past the -16 tonight. I was unable to check because even though I could see the sign itself, it was behind a 2 foot high, 4 foot wide snow bank and the face was covered by snow and ice.

I didn't exactly feel like tromping through that in my blues and parka in the blowing snow.


/bows

Forgive me (and the Academy) for my (our) current weakness

 

[spanky2]

Someboday pinch USMC and wake him (her?) up. Most AF 0-6's couldn't handle a RTU stud. You really ned to stop jumping Vipers after they put their gear down when descending out of Hi-key. Hey...you are late for your slot time.

Seriously...once had the great honor of being invited to a USMC birthday bash. GREAT tradition. God Bless the US Marines.

 

[spanky2]

Merlin...stay off the marble strips when it is snowing. Ahh, the dark ages...been there...done that. Nothing like throwing snowballs at doolies.

 

[usmc33]

Spanky2, at least you have a better sense of humor than CrewDawg. You MUST be a fighter pilot with that sense of humor and thick skin.

If you see my profile I flew KC-130s, unglamorous, but it was seriously the most demanding plane I ever flew; especially landing on dirt and grass strips.

All pilots are GODs, not just USMC types. We are a Dept of the NAVY, yes, but we're the MENs DEPT.