F-35B or Sea Lightning?
 

This should be fun:

Should the Navy's new jet be called F-35B or Sea Lightning? - Telegraph

I bet it will get called a myriad of names and none will be polite.

Just as long as I don't have to fly it, I don't care what it's called. I'm confident about my sexuality! :E

I wonder what the differences between the RAF airframes and the RN ones will be. I wonder if they will be different fleets. I wonder if their names will suddenly change depending on who is flying them. Or will they all be called Sea Lightning?

You mean they don't like Dave.......:eek:

Don't worry Courtney ... I'm sure all will become clear when this site re-launches :rolleyes:

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...psc871864e.jpg

BUT... we had a Sea Vixen, without a Vixen. A Sea Hawk without a Hawk A Buccaneer....
Say no more....

As best as I can tell, only fixed wing aircraft with a proper arrestor hook or other major modification (SHar) were prefixed 'Sea' in Royal Navy service, with notable exceptions of Gannet, Buccaneer etc which had naval connotations in the name. There is no precedent for the F-35B Lightning II to be a 'Sea' Lightning, and given that the majority of the type will be light blue it would be silly to have that variation.

Maybe the RN are trying it on, and will sneak a decent flat top with arrestor & cats for their "C" Lightnings....

Of course it should be called the Sea Lightning an the only reason why the Junior Service need get involved is to wash and prep the things ready for their RN betters.

How about just calling it "Late" or "Expensive"?

It will always be "Sea Dave" for me.

Just call it "Junk":ok:

Ooh, great, Coff. I've missed them!

Hopefully we will call it the Lightning FGR mk1. None of this US F-35 nonsense, and there is no tradition of using a 'II' designator when we re-use a name (in the case of the UK the Lightning would be III anyway) - e.g. Tornado, Typhoon, Fury, Tutor etc

In the same way the MFTS T-6s should be Harvard Tmk1.

To try to tie several threads together, as we are having a cull of Senior Officers and the F35 is mainly going to be flown by the RAF, we could put a Group Captain in charge of the new RAF Queen Elizabeth Carriers with a Navy chap overseeing the Naval side then the name of the new aircraft would be much easier as the word Sea would not fit in, seems like a win win all round.

Maybe a more appropriate designation would be the, *Lightning AWoM.Mk1... :}

-RP

*Appalling Waste of Money!

Not a bad idea really. Just think of the money saved in salaries by having the Royal Navy equivalent of a sub-lieutenant running the boat. I think you might just have something :)

Ah yes, the Scimitar and Phantom. Also Avenger and Wyvern, Wessex, Wasp, Lynx, Merlin.

I wonder if fewer were prefixed Sea than not.

Couldn't agree less, always find 'our' designators sound ridiculous, the American ones are far better.

Anyhoo, the Phantom was officially the Phantom II. Even the PP Pedants rarely insist upon the use of 'II', thus it doesn't matter whether it's called Lightning II since the II won't get used (except by the PPP).

Furthermore, only Dave-C should be the Sea Dave, in my never humble opinion.