# Choose a name for the F-23 military airplane **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 30, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211 "2016-10-30T23:50:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/41 "2016-11-02T14:56:48Z")
“Skidoo” “Fnord” - because you never see it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enilno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58f4c7/32.png) [@Enilno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enilno)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/42 "2016-11-02T17:25:47Z")
> [@Atomic\_Alex](#): > > Thank you for the answers everyone! (well the serious ones anyway) 🙂 > > I was certain the old PC game Strike Commander featured a YF-23 with a different name, but its not coming up on my google searches. I vaguely remember it being called the Black Widow in that game, but I may be confusing it with one of the earlier Ace Combat series. I found the [manual for Strike Commander](https://archive.org/details/StrikeCommanderManual) (from the days when game manuals were actually interesting to read), and while it doesn’t give the names for the YF-23 and F-22, it is mentioned in the blurb that YF-23’s pilots called it Black Widow. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/43 "2016-11-02T20:21:38Z")
> [@Enilno](#): > > I vaguely remember it being called the Black Widow in that game, but I may be confusing it with one of the earlier Ace Combat series. > > I found the [manual for Strike Commander](https://archive.org/details/StrikeCommanderManual) (from the days when game manuals were actually interesting to read), and while it doesn’t give the names for the YF-23 and F-22, it is mentioned in the blurb that YF-23’s pilots called it Black Widow. Very nice find, thank you! I must be mis-remembering it from a different game. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/44 "2016-11-02T20:37:46Z")
Vampire. …watch it suck all the blood out of a budget… ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/45 "2016-11-02T22:41:35Z")
The Ali. It floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/46 "2016-11-02T22:50:19Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > If you don’t like “Black Widow”, how about “Tarantula”? How about “funnel web”, the Deadly Australian spider that is much more dangerous than a black widow. F23 funnel web sounds good to me. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/47 "2016-11-03T15:22:11Z")
How about the Shrike? Like Vlad Tepes, this bird enjoys impaling its enemies. [![](https://thediscoveryofinterestingthings.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/shrike-impaling-dunnock.jpg) ](https://thediscoveryofinterestingthings.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/shrike-impaling-dunnock.jpg) Nasty bird name for a nasty fighter plane. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/48 "2016-11-03T22:17:04Z")
If you look at it from top down the wings have a [diamond shape](http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=yf-23&view=detailv2&&id=68BFD2972641CE59789BF5765A4CA7C42A2F9FF6&selectedIndex=0&ccid=KL1MNZoD&simid=608024949219658363&thid=OIP.M28bd4c359a0320acccbc6b28c207e639o0&ajaxhist=0)so The F-23 Diamond seems good. edit: BTW it was the black widow 2 ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/49 "2016-11-03T22:17:55Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > How about the Shrike? > > Like Vlad Tepes, this bird enjoys impaling its enemies. > [The Discovery of Interesting Things: Image](https://thediscoveryofinterestingthings.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/shrike-impaling-dunnock.jpg) > > Nasty bird name for a nasty fighter plane. I think that’s already a name for a [missile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-45_Shrike). ETA: It also appears to was already used for several [planes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_Shrike) in the 30’s/40’s ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/50 "2016-11-04T02:15:22Z")
Given the cost overruns typical with modern weapons systems and the unfortunate tendency to try and be all things to all service branches (and fail), may I respectfully suggest: “The Flying Boondoggle”:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/51 "2016-11-04T04:09:03Z")
If Black Widow was already taken, then how about Black Window? “Whose idea was it to paint all the windows black!!! Arrrrrrrrrggghhh”…crash. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/52 "2016-11-04T09:41:44Z")
Actually I’m updating my previous suggestion to “Red back” instead of Funnel Web. The red back is the Australian relative of the Black Widow which is again more deadly than the black widow. Why Australian spider names? because we have the most deadly ones, so if you’re naming a plane after spiders, you should come to us! And “F-23 Red back” sounds pretty cool. > **[Redback spider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider)** > > The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), also known as the Australian black widow, is a species of highly venomous spider believed to originate in South Australia or adjacent Western Australian deserts, but now found throughout Australia, Southeast Asia and New Zealand, with colonies elsewhere outside Australia. It is a member of the cosmopolitan genus Latrodectus, the widow spiders. The adult female is easily recognised by her spherical black body with a prominent red stripe on th Mainly... (Don’t click that link if you’re arachnophobic) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/53 "2016-11-04T12:32:56Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Lightening. It was supposed to be the name of the F22 as well, but the release of Jurassic Park made them change it. “Lightning.” The F-35 is know as the “Lightning II.” (The P-38 of WWII fame was the first Lightning.) “Raptor” is more consistent with USAF air superiority fighter trandition in recent years - The F-15 and F-16 both have bird names. An F-23 made in place of the F-22 would, logically, have picked up the name Raptor. Why wouldn’t it? But any other bird that isn’t commonly used as a plane or missle works too. Hawk is good. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/54 "2016-11-04T13:49:32Z")
Goshawk ( or Ghost Hawk) Edit: dammit ([McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_T-45_Goshawk)) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211/55 "2016-11-04T14:56:22Z")
F-23 _[Color Out of Space](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space)_ 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/choose-a-name-for-the-f-23-military-airplane/770211.md?page=2)