Why is the HS 748 known as the Budgie?
 

That's it, really. Wiki didn't have the answer so I thought I'd try the Pprune community.

We called these Kentucky Fried, or the Vomit Comet. They operated the coastals, CPT-OUH-GRJ-PLZ.

http://www.aerobernie.bplaced.net/Fo...1/Cape-748.JPG

I've never heard it called any knickname.

Short for budgerigar = small noisy bird.

Always been a 'Budgie' to me.

Others:

Argosy: Whistling Wheelbarrow (RAF ones, Whistling Tit due the nipple on the nose).

Vanguard: Guardsvan. Vickers Vibrator.

1-11: Pocket Rocket

Trident: Gripper

VC10: Iron Duck

Shorts 330: Shed.

Shorts 360: Super Shed.

Vulcan: Tin Triangle or Aluminium Overcast.

Lightning: Frightening

Plenty more.

146 = Cockroach

748
 

The HS748 was known as <the budgie> quite simply because it was built on the cheap.

Soddit - you beat me to it.

Over 5000 hrs on it - it was almost unbreakable - I certainly tried (to break it) many times in the Northern and Western Isles (of UK).

Brilliant in strong crosswinds - wide undercarriage and the wheels under the propellors.

The "80p" was nowhere near as good - even cheeper!!!

We called the 757 the "stick insect".

We called it the Andover CC Mk2 - but the Royal Air Force always had its head up its arse. ;)

Uh Oh. The C5 Galaxy was the Aloominum Overcast.

All this 'nickname' stuff is a bit of a red herring. Often invented by the press or those far removed from operations. E.g. "Flying porcupine" for the Sunderland.

In general R.A.F. parlance among the lineys in my time at least, the "Budgie" was the Harrier.a.k.a. "Bionic Budgie" .
To others, including myself, it was, and always will be the "bona jet".
" Jump jet " was a stupid press appellation that was hated by the operators.
What civilians may have called the 748 is a separate issue.

"Aluminum Overcast" goes back ( at least) to the B-36.

Did give rise to my favorite RT call, however:

"London Mil good afternoon, Ascot 31. We're an Andover on hand over, over Dover, over".

I always thought that the Short 330 was the Vomit Comet.

Thanks for all the replies!


Aluminum Overcast - EAA's B-17 Aluminum Overcast History

Soddit and Finncapt. I heard slightly differently. BA called them budgies because they got them cheap. As an aside, considering that the 748 and the F27 were similarly good aeroplanes (pleads an interest, 6,000 hrs on F27), why was the F50 a success whereas the 80p was....? Answers on a postcard please.

I always called them Mice.....

A customer was in the travel agency I ran in CPT, booking a ticket up the coast on the Air Cape 748.

He asked the travel clerk what aircraft it was.

"A 748."

"OK, that doesn't mean anything to me. Is it big or small ......"

"Errr .... well, it's like a 747 but bigger."

Herod:

My nephew did an aeronautical engineering degree. His best pal joined BAe and his first job was to join a team redesigning the nosewheel assembly on the 80p because they had just discovered that the props needed to absorb the power of the engines were going to hit the ground if they didn't do something.

Have you ever wondered why it looks like a dog on heat when it is taxiing?

The odd thing is that when I joined the RAF in 1960 as a stupid pilot we were taught that designers should start with the engine and then design the airframe around it.

The Budgie was a great little aeroplane and I'm afraid the 80p was several stretches too far (even for the imagination).

I'm not sure why the 80p was so bad, but I do know it was very unreliable. Back when BA operated it Manchester to Glasgow I had to travel up there one day a week. More often than not the 80p would be tech, and we'd travel via Heathrow using the appropriate 757 shuttles.

Anyone know why it was as bad as it was?

Designed by a committee? OK, I'm biased, having flown two of Mr Fokker's finest (F27 and F100). Nothing wrong with the 748 though.