Typhoon question.

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14 years 10 months

Posts: 176

Hope this is the correct thread to ask. Mods, otherwise please move.

The Luftwaffe calls its new toy Eurofighter, EF2000 or just 'Eufi'.
We know that RAF uses Typhoon but I wonder what the other users call their jets. Media may often speaks of Italian and Spanish Typhoons but are they really called like that overthere?

Not to forget Austria and Saudi Arabia.

Guess, the RAF designation Typhoon is more in the line of "Tornado" than relating back to the WW.2 RAF fighter wearing the same name?

A friend asked me about these names and I didn't have a clue either why the Luftwaffe never used 'Typhun' or similiar.

Original post

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 4,461

Hope this is the correct thread to ask. Mods, otherwise please move.

The Luftwaffe calls its new toy Eurofighter, EF2000 or just 'Eufi'.
We know that RAF uses Typhoon but I wonder what the other users call their jets. Media may often speaks of Italian and Spanish Typhoons but are they really called like that overthere?

Not to forget Austria and Saudi Arabia.

Guess, the RAF designation Typhoon is more in the line of "Tornado" than relating back to the WW.2 RAF fighter wearing the same name?

A friend asked me about these names and I didn't have a clue either why the Luftwaffe never used 'Typhun' or similiar.

Typhoon was selected for export in the first place and just later adopted by the RAF. Saudi aircraft are called Typhoon as well (FGR.50).
Italians call their aircraft F-2000 and sometimes Tiffone.
Spanish have the internal designation C.16 & CE.16, but still refer to it as the EF2000.
Luftwaffe calls it Eurofighter, Eufi is more a kind of unofficial designation, Efchen is also sometimes used.
Austrians officially call it EF-2000.

Btw. There is a Typhoon News thread you could use for such questions as well.
Hope that helps.

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14 years 10 months

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Thank you Scorpion82!

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14 years 10 months

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Media may often speaks of Italian and Spanish Typhoons

If you read the same articles from German news agencies you'll hardly ever see them being called Italian or Spanish Typhoons, but rather Eurofighters. Even within the same news agency, f.e. Reuters, they do it like that.

But I believe wikipedia, and BBC subsequently, are wrong as for the reason. If you did a survey among German population or even members of the Bundestag what "Typhoon" might mean pretty much nobody would really think of that tiny WW2 bomber. If we were sensitive about this subject we would reject a lot of anglicisms. Frankly, the French are known to do so though. :p

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14 years 7 months

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I doubt that the German public knows about the Hawker Typhoon that devastated nazi Panzer divisions in France in 1944/45.
I guess the name Eurofighter stuck to the thing because the Luftwaffe, like the Italian Air Force (AMI) doesn´t have an official designation system like the RAF or the Ejercito de l´Aire.
In Italy they are called EF-2000 or Eurofighter, though the official name is Tifone. Curiously, the Italian examples sport the name Typhoon and the relevant simbol on the vertical tailplane. I´m not sure if it´s only on the first batch delivered of if new examples get it too.

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18 years 3 months

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The Italians do put "Typhoon" on the tails of their EF2000:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/69/196971273_cf6704d7ee.jpg?v=0

OK This is DA7

http://www.cavok-aviation-photos.net/Zeltweg03/EF2000_MMX603.jpg

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The Spanish also call them "Tifon" or "Typhoon".

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17 years 6 months

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Saudi Arabia also call Typhoon or in arabic same meaning تايفون

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 4,461

I doubt that the German public knows about the Hawker Typhoon that devastated nazi Panzer divisions in France in 1944/45.
I guess the name Eurofighter stuck to the thing because the Luftwaffe, like the Italian Air Force (AMI) doesn´t have an official designation system like the RAF or the Ejercito de l´Aire.
In Italy they are called EF-2000 or Eurofighter, though the official name is Tifone. Curiously, the Italian examples sport the name Typhoon and the relevant simbol on the vertical tailplane. I´m not sure if it´s only on the first batch delivered of if new examples get it too.

Official designation of the AMI is F-2000 as I have stated above. Typhoon is painted on the fins and the Italians sometimes refer to them as Tifone (hope that's the corrrect spelling), but the official designation is F-2000A for single seaters and F-2000B for twin seaters.

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14 years 7 months

Posts: 40

Official designation of the AMI is F-2000 as I have stated above. Typhoon is painted on the fins and the Italians sometimes refer to them as Tifone (hope that's the corrrect spelling), but the official designation is F-2000A for single seaters and F-2000B for twin seaters.

Hello,
can you provide me some source for this. I´m not doubting what you say, but I am Italian and lived in Italy till 2007 and never found out this on official publications or italian aviation magazines.
The Italian Air Force doesn´t have any official designation system for its aircraft and they usually retain the manufacturer´s designation or the name given by the USAF in case of aircraft purchased from the US.
F-2000, as opposed to EF-2000, is not the manufacturer´s designation, nor any other Air Force´s so I am surprised that the AMI has chosen this.

Ciao

Stefano

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18 years 7 months

Posts: 4,461

Hello,
can you provide me some source for this. I´m not doubting what you say, but I am Italian and lived in Italy till 2007 and never found out this on official publications or italian aviation magazines.
The Italian Air Force doesn´t have any official designation system for its aircraft and they usually retain the manufacturer´s designation or the name given by the USAF in case of aircraft purchased from the US.
F-2000, as opposed to EF-2000, is not the manufacturer´s designation, nor any other Air Force´s so I am surprised that the AMI has chosen this.

Ciao

Stefano

I have read it in a lot of magazines and if you google "aeronautica militare+F-2000" you'll get a lot of hits mostly in italian language, though I notice that the official AMI website still refers to it as the Eurofighter 2000 Typhoon.

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14 years 7 months

Posts: 40

I have read it in a lot of magazines and if you google "aeronautica militare+F-2000" you'll get a lot of hits mostly in italian language, though I notice that the official AMI website still refers to it as the Eurofighter 2000 Typhoon.

Yeah, that´s it.
The official AMI designation is not F-2000 but Eurofighter Typhoon or EF-2000 Typhoon, with the italian variant Tifone.
It is called F-2000 by non specialized press and websites who think that, being a fighter, it must be called with an F, á la F-104, F-16, F-14 and so on.
:D

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18 years 1 month

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An unofficial nickname for the EF-2000 Typhoon (C.16 Tifón) on Spain is "Superplancheta".

The Plancheta was the nickname of the Dassault Mirage III.

Plancha=smoothing iron, like the similarity of the wing planform...

http://thumb11.shutterstock.com.edgesuite.net/display_pic_with_logo/445636/445636,1251736504,1/stock-photo-purple-smoothing-iron-standing-on-a-white-table-36235222.jpg

1Saludo

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14 years 4 months

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Well since this is a Typhoon thread and i wouldnt want to open another topic for such a simple question , may i ask , the gun on the Typhoon located at the root of the right wing , right? Is it covered whit some sort of ..well ...cover like WW2 Spitfires had for instance that i suposed to break when the cannon is fired ?

Member for

18 years 7 months

Posts: 4,461

Well since this is a Typhoon thread and i wouldnt want to open another topic for such a simple question , may i ask , the gun on the Typhoon located at the root of the right wing , right? Is it covered whit some sort of ..well ...cover like WW2 Spitfires had for instance that i suposed to break when the cannon is fired ?

Correct.