Simviation Forums

I am not sure if this goes here, but this has bugged me for a while.
The F-16 is made by General Dynamics (now part of Lockheed) The official nickname is Falcon, not Viper. Now before some of you have a poop fit, I did find more info. The name  " Viper"  came from the CAS (close air support) units like the one here in NY. Here is an explination on the "Fast Ass Cas" F-16 out of Syracuse, NY by a friend of mine thats a Lt  that works there.

The Snake emblem has been a part of the 174th for years.  
That's the basic symbol for "CAS" units.  There is only one plane with the snake on the tail here - the commander's bird.


I believe this should end the confusion about the name

Chris

 Loomex is correct in that the US Airforce has named their current batch of aircraft, since the F-15, after birds of prey.  The F-15 is the Eagle, the F-16 is the Falcon (sometimes called the Fighting Falcon), the F-117 is the Nighthawk and the F-22 is the Raptor.  It will be intersting to see what the JSF will be named, I haven't heard of one yet but I'm sure the Airforce version will continue this practice.
 I thought the Viper nickname came from the Israelies, who also operate the F-16, and had more to do with the leading wing extensions that gave the F-16 a "hooded" cobra apperance.  But I might be wrong...its been known to happen!  

That might also be a part of the reason. I have heard that before somewhere. If anybody can get that part clarified, let us know.
Like I said, this info was just from the 174th FW and was refernced to just the "CAS" units of the USAF.

The commander's bird is the only plane with a green snake on the tail, but the others do have the snake, it's just an outline of it.  

I don't know who made up the idea, but most F-16 groups in games have the 'Viper' callsign

The F-16 got the snake name "Viper" when it joined the US Navy and Marine Corp.  The F-16N model is used for dissimilar training for the navy and marine corp and was named "Viper".  It is distiguishable by its jagged olive green and grey or tan scheme.  The San Diego Aerospace Museum Annex at Gillespie field has a F-16N Viper.  I've also seen two in service at Miramar MCAS.

recently (in 2002) the US Navy entered the F-16 back in service again as an agressor to train Hornet pilots (or should i say Bug pilots). they are now based at NAS Fallon, Nevada.

the 28 aircraft were stored at AMARC after they were built for Pakistan.
when the US congress banned all the supply of military hardware to countries engaged in the development of nuclear weapons, the the planes were moved to the desert.

in 2002 they were split 50/50 for the USAF and USN and entered active service.  ;)

 I did a little research on the origin of the name "Viper" for the F-16.  The official name for the F-16 by Lockheed Martin, the USAF, and the USN is "Fighting Falcon".  However, one of it's unoffical names is "Viper", as well as "Electric Jet" and several others.  One website said that the name "Viper" was given to the F-16 to give it a more sinister name than "Fighting Falcon".  And numerous websights and even the US Navy's Aviation Museum calls the F-16 a "Viper".   I'll continue calling it the "Fighting Falcon".

 In short, it is the F-16 Fighting Falcon, officially.