Russian Aviation Page: Aircraft Nicknames Used by Soviet/Russian Aircrews, Ground Personnel and Design Bureaus

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Aircraft Nicknames

Antonov: An-2 Kukuruznik - cornhoper (closer to literal, kukuruza is maize) or cropduster (a more idiomatic translation; Annushka - little Anna; An-8 Kit - Whale; An-14 Pchelka - little bee* (also An-28 and perhaps, An-38); An-10 Ukraina - Ukraine*; An-22 Antei - Antheus. Anteus is a greek mythology hero, son of Poseidon and Gaia, who lost his powers when lifted from the ground (doubtful marketing value for an aircraft)*; An-30 Boing - Boeing. The cockpit of this surveying and mapping aircraft was slightly raised in comparison to An-24 in was derived from. This gave this aircraft a Boeing 747 look.; An-72/74 Cheburashka - a fictional cartoon creature with disproportionally large round ears. The unusual overwing powerplant installation of An-72/74 must have given this association.; An-124 Ruslan - character from Pushkin's poem*; Pterodaktel' - Pterodactel(sp?); An-225 Mriya - ukrainian for dream*
Aviatika: Aviatika-890 Metla - broom
Beriev: A-50 Shestikryl - hexaplane. The wing, tail and a pair of additional horizontal surfaces on the main gear bays adds up to six; Be-12 Chaika - seagull; Be-200 Al'batros - albatross*
Ermolaev: Er-2 Ermoshka
Ilyushin: Il-2 Sturmovik - Attack aircraft; Letauschii (Letuchii) tank - flying tank; Ilyusha - diminutive of Ilya, common surname; Il-28 Myasnik - butcher, given by the crews which believed that Beagle is not forgiving aircraf or putting simply - a widow-maker; Il-76 Gus' lapchaty - goose; Il-86 Baton - bread loaf; Baklazhan - eggplant; Russky Dzhambo - Russian jumbo; Il-102 Valenok - winter boot, which has unimpressive look and aerodynamic
Kamov: Ka-22 Vintokryl - screw-wing*. Logical name for this compound helicopter; Ka-50 Tchernaya akula - black shark*; Oboroten' - werewolf*. While Oboroten' could have been an individual name of one of the prototypes, Black shark is clearly related to the movie "Tchernaya akula" - Kamov's promotion spin with great Ka-50 footage and very little plot. Tchernaya akula - seems to be more popular and used as (semi-)official name of the helicopter.; Ka-52 Aligator - alligator*
Lavochkin: LaGG fighters - Lakirovanny Garantirovanny Grob - varnished guarantied coffin; La fighters - Lapot' - peasant shoe made of tree bark; La-5 Mylo - Soap. Given by LII personnel where La-5 was tested in winter camouflage. Apparently bluish-white paint job was associated with "zhukovsky" soap.; La-250 Anakonda - anaconda*
Mikoyan: The abbreviation "MiG" coincides with word mig meaning "instant" or "moment"; MiG-15 (-17) Samolet-soldat - soldier-plane; MiG-21 Balalaika - triangular shaped folk music instrument. Clear pick on the Fishbed's wing; Vesyeliy - merry, because of it relatively small size and, perhaps, fun to fly; MiG-23 Chemodan - luggage trunk (certain similarities of airframe and this travel accessory); Krokodil - crocodile (short legs of the amphibian resembles MiG's main gear); Grif - griffon, a radio call sign used in Afghanistan.; MiG-25 Letauschii gastronom - flying liquor store. MiG-25 used incredible amount of deicing fluid based on alcohol resulting in numerous cases of alcoholism among its pilots and ground crews. [Side note: It appears that earlier MiG-25 used alcohol based hydraulics. Nicknamed "Massandra", this fiery cocktail forced concerned wives to write a letter to the higher echelons. Mikoyan's -- who is ethnic armenian -- reply was: "If aircraft system performance will require Armenian cognac, it will be Armenian cognac". Nevertheless, later MiGs featured alcohol free liquid, owning much to the original solution, proposed ironically by ... a woman.]; MiG-27 Kondor - condor; Krokodil - Crocodile (see MiG-23); Chemodan - luggage trunk (see MiG-23); Utkonos - duck-billed platypus, driven by the shape of the aircraft nose; MiG-29 Strizh - swift; Fulcrum (ground crews and pilots refer to aircraft by western codename); Gorbatch - hatchback (perhaps later models with enlarged spine); Project 105-11 Lapot' - peasant shoe made of tree bark. This lifting delta-body aircraft was developed as a part of the Lozino-Lozinskiy Spiral space shuttle program.
Myasichev: 3M Molot - hummer; VM-T Atlant*; M-55 Geofizika - Geophysics*
Mil: Mi-1 Moskvich - Moscower*; Mi-6 Korova - cow; Mi-8 Zontik - umbrella, because of rotating blades; Karlson - the name of the character from the children book of swedish writer Astred Lindgren. According to the book, Karlson lived in the penthouse on the roof top and used a small proppelor on his back to get airborn; Boj'ya korovka - ladybird, incect with black spots (usually six) on the red back; Zmey gorinich - fictious three-headed dragon from russian folklore. During takeoffs (especially in a cold weather) Mi-8 creates steam coming from drenage fuel tubes which resembles the smoke of the fire-breathing dragon.; Mi-10 Letauschii kran - flying crane; Spitsa - long (knitting) needle; Mi-24 Shmel' - bumble bee; Krokodil - crocodile; Mi-26 Korova - cow; Saraj - barn
Petlyakov: Pe-2 Peshka - diminutive of Pe, coincide with word "pawn". Consonant with "Pe". In Russian, the suffix "shka" is used to emphasize the small size.
Polikarpov: I-15 Chaika - seagull. The shape of the top wing of this biplane similar to the birds wing; I-16 Ishak - donkey. In Russian, the first part of "I-16" pronounced as "Ishestnadtsat'" is consonant to "Ishak"; Po-2/U-2 Kukuruznik - cornhoper (closer to literal, kukuruza is maize) or cropduster (a more idiomatic translation), Letaushaya Parta - flying (school) bench. Not specific to Po-2 and used with a number of trainer aircraft.
Sukhoi: T-4 aka Su-100 supersonic bomber is known as Sotka* - a 100, which refers to this number in the designation of the aircraft and also the take-off weigh of the plane which was close to 100 metric tones.; Su-17 Strizh - swift. Strizh and Gratch were radio calls of the Sukhoi attack aircraft in Afghanistan action (see Su-25). Swept wings of Su-17 contrasting to those of Su-25 as well as max speed difference could have influenced the choice of the names; Su-25 Gratch - rook. The Soviet infantry called Su-25 Rascheska and/or Grebenka (comb) because loaded Su-25 with its ten pylons occupied with the payload, resembled the comb if viewed from below. The VVS staff called Su-25 Konyok-Gorbunok which is a fictional animal from one of the fair tales by Bazhenov. This character is an ugly (hatchbacked) and small pony or some sort of a miniature horse, which outperformed the bigger (and faster) stalemates.; Su-26 Sutchok - bough, knot; Su-27 Zhuravlik - baby crane; Sushka - diminutive of Su, coincide with word "cracker" (could be any Sukhoi design); Sukhar'; Su-27K/27IB/27M etc. Triplan - triplane, canards+wings+tail=3 horizontal surfaces. As one of the Kuznetsov sailors noted after seeing Su-27K/33 for the first time: "This fighter has two 'wings' too many..."; Su-27IB/34 Utkonos - duck-billed platypus, driven by the shape of the aircraft nose; Su-33/27K Korabelka - carrier born. This well apply to MiG-29K and Su-25UTG; Su-37 Terminuhtor - terminator*
Tupolev: Tu-anything - Tupol', pl. Tupolya. Likely consonant to word topol'.; Tu-22 Shilo - awl. Self explanatory; Tu-22M Slepoj Dzhek - blind Jack. Pick on the bomber's small cockpit windows and/or pour cockpit visibility; Tu-95 Bear. The bomber crews referred to their a/c by NATO codename; Tu-114 Rossiya - Russia*; Tu-134 Tushka malaya - small tushka (see Tu-160); Tushkanchik - ; Svistok - whistle, due to characteristic engine sound; Malyshka - baby; Passazhirskij istrebitel' - passenger fighter. This subconscious message got to be clear in both Russian and English; Tu-154 Tushka bol'shaya - big tushka (see Tu-160); Tushkan - ; Gorbaty - hatchbak because of the prile given by an air intake of the center engine; Avrora - trijet association with legendary cruiser "Avrora" with three smoke tubes; Poltinnik - half-hundred, it is Tu-154 after all; Tu-160 Tushka - diminutive of Tu, coincide with word "corpse" or "carcass" of small animal or bird (could be applied to any Tupolev design); Gordost' natsii - pride of nation. Used as a reference to cost and sophistication of the bomber; Kambala - flounder. Blended wing-body and highly inclined windshield inspired this one; Tu-204 Ludmila. Given by folks at Aviastar who build both Tu-204 and An-124 Ruslan at the same Ul'yanovsk plant. Ludmila and Ruslan are characters from Pushkin's poem "Ruslan and Ludmila"
Yakovlev: Yak fighters nicknamed Yastrebki (pl). Yastrebok is a small hawk. It is also possible that this word was derived from: Istrebok (diminutive of fighter plane) and Yak.; Yak-9U Ybijtsa - killer. Not in "widow maker" sense but rather to emphasize its lethality to opponents; Yak-24 Letauchij vagon - flying car (as in street car); Yak-28 Kormilets - provider. The aircraft was considered to have high level of automatization, so that pilot would simply relax in the cockpit and hang till next salary.; Yak-36/38/41 Vertikalka - vertical; Yak-40 Okurok - cigaret butt; Istrebitel' goruchego - fuel fighter (in consuming sense)
Addenda:: Any rugged ground attack fixed and rotary wing aircraft nicknamed Shturmovik and/or Letauschii (Letuchii) Tank - Flying tank (Mi-24, Su-25). Certainly Il-2 set the tradition.; All helicopters can be referred to as Vertushka - Whirlygig or Whirlybird.; All trainer aircraft can be referred to as Sparka - Double.; Second prototype airframe might be named Dubler - Double.; Flying testbed (letauschaya laborotoriya) abbreviated as LL (eg Tu-144LL). Some tend to believe that LL stands for lyusyui lev (bald lion).; Generally, each aircraft nicknamed by its model number. For example, An-12 is Dvennadtsatii - 12th and Su-27 is Dvadtsat' sed'moii - 27th. It is also very common to refer to the aircraft by so called bort number - the actual number painted on the side of the aircraft. For example, the first development airframe of Su-30MKI (blue 56) is nicknamed Pyat'desyat shestoj - 56th by Sukhoi personnel. Additionally, the alphabetical suffix (model designator) is commonly used as a nickname: Mil's Mi-8AMT is referred to as Uh-em-te-shka (AMT-shka, origin of -shka is explained below).; Many aircraft nicknames were derived adding diminutive suffix -shka to the two letter OKB designator (make designator). In some cases these nicknames happen to coincide with "real" words, e. g. Peshka (Pe-2, Petlyakov's bomber), Sushka (Su-27, Sukhoi), Tushka (Tu-160, Tupolev) etc.; Ground crews of the jets refer to turboprops as Lokhmaty - hairy. This weird punch to the propellor blades is a little clearer if turboprops are 32 bladed Tu-95/142 or An-22.; *Believed to be a company/OKB/Aviaexport/Rosvooruzhenie given name.