back to article Dick move: Navy flyboy flings firmament phallus for flabbergasted folk

A US navy pilot in an EA-18G GROWLER is facing stiff action – after crafting a novel flight pattern that left much of central Washington state staring up at an anatomy lesson. The offending artist flew out of the Whidbey Island air station Thursday morning and deliberately painted the sky over the city of Okanogan with the ol …

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. David 132 Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Dammit.

    I posted a highly amusing pun, only to realize that it had been used IN THE FRICKING ARTICLE as the sub-head. Serves me right for skim-reading (and over-estimating the Reg team's sense of maturity). Withdrawn, with due sense of shame & humiliation.

    Props to the pilot concerned, though. Takes some serious skill to draw something so, ahem, accurately, at jet speeds.

    1. robertsgt40

      Re: Dammit.

      I think it's awesome. I doubt the Navy will can these guys. They're already 2k pilots short. BTW, does the holier than thou Navy remember Operation Tail Hook?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Pirate

        Re: Dammit.

        They really can't afford to sling his arse out, you're right. And even if he's punished, he's also going to be legendary among the military pilots, and that's gotta count for something!

        1. GrumpyOldBloke

          Re: Dammit.

          No Sir, I did not cut down the cherry tree. The Russians did it.

          Pilot should be fine.

          1. Korev Silver badge
            Coat

            Re: Dammit.

            "Props"? I thought they used jets these days

        2. Windrose

          Re: Dammit.

          Naah. No need to can his arse.

          Just leave him to pay for the fuel. Hey, that'll get a great laugh, won't it? Sure it would.

    2. TheVogon

      Re: Dammit.

      What's all the fuss about? It's not exactly the first time a cock has been seen near a growler!

    3. Adam 1

      Re: Dammit.

      Well maybe it's ok by all you guys, but I, for one, find this a real dick move by the pilot.

  3. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Coat

    Calling Big Daddy & Hitgirl perhaps?

    I'd never really thought about sky writing stuff but now you mention it.....

  4. chivo243 Silver badge
    Coat

    Pulling all those Gs

    I bet he'd be hard pressed...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Pulling all those Gs

      It's hard to pull too many gees with a full ordinance load.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Was the navy pilots rank a seaman?

    Before anyone asks about the IT angle it was in the cloud.

    Stories like this don't come up very often.

    Edit: Wait a second, it's over Washington, should he not have drawn a c*nt?

    1. Mark 85

      Edit: Wait a second, it's over Washington, should he not have drawn a c*nt?

      It was the state, not D.C.... err.... hmm... nevermind.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I'm leftpondian, please forgive me.

        I once thought netflix was a fisherman pron website.

  6. Martin an gof Silver badge

    Not the only one

    It's probably a good place to point out that this sort of thing (though not necessarily quite so, erm, crude) seems to happen quite a lot!

    M.

  7. David 132 Silver badge
    Joke

    Top Brass quoted as saying,

    "This wasn't deliberate, it was a cock-up in the sky".

  8. AndrueC Silver badge
    Joke

    Sounds like a cock and ball story if ever there was one.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Number of people offended

    Okanogan (the city) is the size of a medium English village - about two and a half thousand people. If the pilot was out to cause offence, it was very small scale offence indeed.

    One or two reports I've seen seem to have confused it with the "other" Washington, which would have been more noteworthy.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Number of people offended

      If it had happened over Seattle the progressives' outrage would have left blood on the moon. Any outright sign of masculinity there is met with handcuffs and a mandatory drug regimen (just kidding!).

      1. JEDIDIAH
        Facepalm

        Re: Number of people offended

        I saw one deranged comment that implied this was some protest against the Cheeto-in-Chief. Some nob got DC confused with Washington state.

    2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Number of people offended

      The Navy apologizes to anyone who was offended by this unacceptable action.

      So political correctness has now reached the stage of pre-emptive apologies even before anyone is offended?

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Number of people offended

        Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now:

        "They train young men to rain fire upon people but they won't allow them to write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it is obscene"

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Number of people offended

          Also it looks they have less issues if their crews fly the airplane into the cable of a cableway full of people...

        2. Pompous Git Silver badge

          Re: Number of people offended

          ""They train young men to rain fire upon people but they won't allow them to write 'fuck' on their airplanes because it is obscene""
          A friend who lives in Iraq told me the first thing the US troops did when they invaded was kill a large number of civilians. The second was to import huge quantities of pron, hitherto rare and difficult to acquire there.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Number of people offended

            Why pretend these accusations of yours are from "a friend?" That's called "chickenshit" where I come from. If you want to accuse the US of bad behavior, do it yourself, and oh yes, provide some evidence or STFU.

            1. Pompous Git Silver badge

              Re: Number of people offended

              "Why pretend these accusations of yours are from "a friend?" That's called "chickenshit" where I come from. If you want to accuse the US of bad behavior, do it yourself, and oh yes, provide some evidence or STFU."
              Oh dear, have I offended the poor widdle snowflake?

              First, I've never been to Iraq, but several friends have their origins there. Prior to the US invasion Iraq was a major market for Australian wheat and sheep.

              Evidence? When the USS Enterprise visited Hobart in October and November of 1976 the city was inundated with drugs (LSD branded Red, white and Blue, heroin, marijuana in the form of hashish and grass, speed and Lord knows what else), and pornography. The latter wasn't Playboy, or Penthouse, but what one supposes is The Real Thing. If you think US troops just go around handing out Hershey bars and patting little children on the head, you have your head right up your arse.

              US Prisoners of War in Iraq

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Number of people offended

                PG, I wasn't talking about your drug comments. Nice try tho. You started off with this gem:

                "A friend who lives in Iraq told me the first thing the US troops did when they invaded was kill a large number of civilians."

                Yes a lot of civilians were killed when we took down Saddam Hussein, mostly because the Iraqi Army was ordered to use them as human shields. One of the command bunkers we bombed turned out to have 300 women and children held captive in the basement, who were all killed. Supposedly it was an "air raid shelter" which just happened to be directly underneath a critical military command and control point.

                YOU tho, imply the US soldiers just went in there and slaughtered civilians as a matter of course. That's an old discredited lie and it makes you a promoter of lies.

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: Number of people offended

                  At least if they're shooting civvies, they're not shooting their allies by mistake eh?

                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Re: Number of people offended

                    >they're not shooting their allies by mistake eh

                    Oh I duuno I'm sure they have bandwidth to do both

            2. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Malcolm Weir Silver badge

    Do you think we should tell anyone that the Growler, the electronic attack platform, is not an F/A-18, but rather an EA-18G? F/A-18s are Hornets or Super Hornets.

    (Yeah, yeah, same basic airframe, but that's like saying the AWACS aircraft are 707s... -- OK, so they _were_ 707s, but now?)

    1. mad_dr

      Do you think we should tell anyone that the Growler, the electronic attack platform, is not an F/A-18, but rather an EA-18G? F/A-18s are Hornets or Super Hornets.

      (Yeah, yeah, same basic airframe, but that's like saying the AWACS aircraft are 707s... -- OK, so they _were_ 707s, but now?)

      No, but we SHOULD admonish El Reg for seemingly failing to point out that the pilot drew a cock with his growler...

      1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

        Re: mad_dr

        "No, but we SHOULD admonish El Reg for seemingly failing to point out that the pilot drew a cock with his growler..."

        Mate, got to keep it classy ;-)

        C.

        (And only Brits will get the joke...)

        1. Pompous Git Silver badge

          Re: mad_dr

          "And only Brits will get the joke..."
          Er... I'm a Tasmanian and I got it.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: mad_dr

            "Er... I'm a Tasmanian and I got it."

            You devil!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You said, "Growler." [snigger]

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Happy

        What a shame he wasn't flying a Jumbo...

        Just drawing one.

        Insert your own jokes about Fokkers and Bristols.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          The USAF does have a war plane called the Warthog....

    3. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Malcolm Weir

      The navy spokesperson told us it was an F/A-18, but it appears they meant the EA-18G.

      C.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This aviator (in the navy, they are called aviators) has no problem "keeping it up"

    Was the pilot's name Wang or Johnson?

    (That was a stupid move though. They guy might lose his flight status over a high-school stunt.)

  12. Banksy

    Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby....

    Guy is a genius. Surely this was worth a bollocking (pun intended).

    1. captain_solo

      Re: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby....

      Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full

      1. Korev Silver badge
        Joke

        Re: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby....

        That'd be a Maverick move

  13. Sgt_Oddball

    It was just a massive...

    Dick move by the pilot...

    But you know being a navy fly boy they're supposed to have balls..

  14. Daniel B.

    Superb skills

    I hope he doesn't lose his flight status due to that dick move. He's pretty talented to be able to draw that dog with his dong^Wjets, I mean, jets.

    1. Anonymous Cow Herder

      Re: Superb skills

      Agreed.

      I think his punishment should be to draw female genitalia. It would show the US has no bias with regard to air-art

  15. Swiss Anton

    One word

    Small

  16. the Jim bloke

    resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground

    I am continually confused at what meets official interpretation as "obscene". If it was accurate in its depiction, then some theoretic conspiracy group determined to keep some other group ignorant of basic human anatomy might have grounds for opposing public displays - but the generic nature of the image indicates its the first group who have achieved ignorance. Perhaps that is what they are trying to keep.

    "they dont know what a dick looks like, but they heard on TV it looks like that..."

    Dick pics have been part of human culture for as far back as we have art, these days the behaviour seems most common amongst juveniles of whatever age..

    As far is I am concerned, the action was childish - which may be a useful trait for people you want to fly into possible death, and the obscenity charge is a reponse from senior officers more concerned about being embarrassed.

    1. Korev Silver badge

      Re: resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground

      Let's hope the USN never see this...

      1. J P
        Pint

        Re: resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground

        @Korev Upvoted as that's precisely what sprang to my mind too.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground

      I am continually confused at what meets official interpretation as "obscene".

      US officialdom, and especially the military, or very prudish when it comes to sex and booze. Could be why Washington (the DC one) and the military seem to have such a large drug problem.

      1. Steve the Cynic

        Re: resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground

        "US officialdom, and especially the military, or very prudish when it comes to sex and booze."

        My late wife was, some years before we met, in the US Air Force, specifically in the part of it then called "AFCC" = Air Force Communications Command. She suggested that a better expansion would be "Alcohol First, Communications Considered".

    3. Pompous Git Silver badge

      Re: resembling an obscene image to observers on the ground

      "Dick pics have been part of human culture for as far back as we have art"

      Cerne Abbas in Dorset I wonder what the poor benighted Merkins make of that...

  17. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Coat

    Ah, if only it was called the F18 Grumbler.....

    Just saying.

    I thought the Growler was a Vietnam era EW aircraft, the A7 or A8 IIRC.

    1. dbreeze

      Re: Ah, if only it was called the F18 Grumbler.....

      A6 Prowler?

      1. Aladdin Sane

        Re: Ah, if only it was called the F18 Grumbler.....

        A-6 Intruder, EA-6 Prowler

      2. JEDIDIAH
        Linux

        Re: Ah, if only it was called the F18 Grumbler.....

        The Growler is a replacement the Prowler (ECW version).

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The pilot should be fired...

    For not doing a few drops of something on the end of the trophy flight,

    If you're going to do it, do it properly.

    1. dbreeze

      Re: The pilot should be fired...

      Exactly. If it had been a USMC pilot it would have had hair and veins and been majestic. Swabbies.....

  19. SteveCarr
    Joke

    "Show us your Growler"

    Oooo errrr....

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Military Top Brass

    On the right hand (not in the the terms of masturbation) of the pond a Brass is a polite way of saying prostitute/whore/hooker. Perhaps this had an alternative reason to an anatomy project.

  21. tempemeaty
    Joke

    (⌐■_■) I bet this fighter pilot is unbeatable....errr...yeah!

    He's not just thinking outside the box but about the tool needed to get back in it!

    ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

    ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

    (⌐■_■)

  22. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Trollface

    Is it too late...

    ... for the obligatory Austin Powers reference?

    1. Daniel B.

      Re: Is it too late...

      I did use that reference when I retweeted it.

    2. JEDIDIAH
      Devil

      Re: Is it too late...

      Forget about Austin Powers, this is all Orville.

      This guy must be one of Gordon's ancestors!

  23. K

    Its obvious...

    He's courting the local town bicycle and wants to show her what she's missing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Its obvious...He's courting the local town bicycle

      I don't think you need a military aircraft for that.

  24. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Err...

    'The actions of this aircrew are wholly unacceptable and antithetical to Navy core values,' said a statement issued by the NAS Whidbey Island airbase.

    Penises are antithetical to Navy core values?

  25. dol

    Superdong

    Look! Up in the sky!

    It’s a bird:

    It’s a plane

    It’s Superdong!

  26. Jason Hindle

    Preferred the Newsthump Coverage to El Reg

    https://newsthump.com/2017/11/17/us-navy-pilots-apologise-for-drawing-huge-penis-in-the-sky/

  27. Chairman of the Bored
    Thumb Down

    Let's have some empathy here

    After a long, hard day of shoveling paperwork...

    Two heroes had their seamen prepare their airplane...

    Push the throttles' balls to the wall...

    Pulsing engines shoot hot stuff out of tight nozzles...

    As they recline in bliss...

    But alas! Its a cockpit, not a box office. Nowhere in sight is any place for all this pent energy to be released! (Look at those balls-they are *blue* FFS!)...

    So they resort to juvenile displays of dubious artistry...

    (Part of the sad and wildly ineffective mating rituals of the adolescent male)

    Now robbed of their afterburning vigor...

    The engines spool back and the whole sad mess slowly sags towards earth...

    On the tarmac our great jet is flaccid, with flaps drooping and safety pin flags hanging limp.

    Still no box office, the aero machine is again surrounded by lonely seamean...

    ...who put it back into its hangar...

    Pity these pilots!

    Time for a stiff drink!

  28. Talamasca

    What Did You Do In The Navy Grandpa?

    I drew a big pecker in the sky with my plane.

  29. JWLong

    What's the BIG EFFING Deal here?

    I was on the U.S.S. Midway during vietnam.

    We had all kinds of fun bombing the shit out of them. Take a close look at some of these pics.

    https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1093&bih=470&ei=SoEQWpzuBeuP0gKujZHoBA&q=uss+midway+toilet&oq=uss+midway+toilet&gs_l=img.3..0i24k1.6516.14368.0.15321.19.19.0.0.0.0.119.1526.12j5.17.0....0...1.1.64.img..2.17.1518.0..0j35i39k1j0i5i30k1j0i8i30k1.0.TsOE71o29p8

    1. Mark 85

      Re: What's the BIG EFFING Deal here?

      Appears to be an incomplete link as it just opens Google with no links/pics shown.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What's the BIG EFFING Deal here?

        http://www.midwaysailor.com/midwayva25bomb/

  30. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "Our thoughts go out to the senior officer who has to, with a long straight face, tell a room full of pilots that this is absolutely not funny"

    I'm sure it'll not happen quite like that. I'm reminded of the combined forces training story. The army complained about the other services calling them Pongoes. The navy issued an instruction that in future Army officers should not be referred to as Pongoes. The RAF issued an instruction that in future Pongoes should be referred to as Army officers.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Highway to the donger zone

    Whoever thought of this deserves many, many beers.

  32. theblackhand

    Impressive

    A pilot draws a knob in the sky and by the time it fades away a large number of senior Navy officers demonstrate they are even bigger knobs...

  33. Stoneshop
    Coat

    Inspired by

    the lyrics of that sixties' Norman Greenbaum hit: "I'm gonna fly up to write a penis in the sky"

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I would do that drawing too...

    ...if fed up of always doing a solo.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It represented the pilots opinion of his bosses boss.

    He was going to draw something that looks a bit like a butterfly, but was worried about a Twitter rant, followed by a nuclear missile retaliation by the the Commander and Chief.

    It was a plot by Clinton, no the media... no it was the North Koreans.

    “Butterfly” Hint: grab her by the _____

    1. JEDIDIAH
      Facepalm

      Deranged nonsense.

      Sure, because there are just so many liberal snowflakes in the service.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Big Brother

        Re: Deranged nonsense.

        I know, right? Progs always seem to think the members of the military are there either thru being tricked, or because they are monsters. And Trump, the biggest monster of all, expects to see only monstrous things from his press-ganged troops, or else!

  36. davcefai
    Coat

    Familiarity

    It's amazing really that such a familiar object should cause such a furore. To quote from an alleged medical lecture, the object in question is found on approximately half the population and spends a great deal of its time inside the other half!

  37. Raj

    And that’s what happens

    ... when you have seamen up in the air .

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not a dick

    A pictorial representation of the POTUS!

  39. Allan George Dyer

    Deterrent punishment...

    "Our thoughts go out to the senior officer who has to, with a long straight face, tell a room full of pilots that this is absolutely not funny."

    I'd suggest calling out the miscreant in front of his colleagues and asking, "Are you compensating for something?", leaving him with a humiliating nickname would discourage any repetition.

  40. hatti

    Good skills

    Must be a great pilot to tackle(geddit) such a difficult flight pattern. Fnarr

  41. FooCrypt

    Happy Movember Guys and Dolls, don't forget to get your Prostrate checked via a P.S.A. / etc, for possible Prostrate Cancer....issue's ;)

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "Dolls, don't forget to get your Prostrate checked"

      Did you mean prostate? If so then your anatomy knowledge is faulty.

  42. Stevie

    Bah!

    Thus do semiotics cause trouble for an innocent aircrew.

    I put it to the assembled court marshal that this image was not obscene, but a tribute to our WWII veterans. If one orients the image correctly and puts one's own prurient schoolboy nudge-nudge=wink-wink sense of "humor" on hold, one will see that the image is clearly that of Kilroy, also known to our brave Tommy allies as "Mr Chad", a satirical WWII-era cartoon used both by the British and the Americans to wryly comment on the shortage of various essential commodities and the unpleasantness of war.

    "Wot, no toilet paper?" might for instance be found on walls when the quartermasters had done an imperfect job provisioning for a new British base of operations. "Kilroy was here" was often the caption on American efforts, to indicate that no matter how cold, wet and shell-infested a theater of operations might be, those who came before wanted to offer a friendly "chin up, fellers, we're in this mess together!" to new arrivals.

    This patriotic and to my mind overdue salute to those brave men who fought to put Hitler and Tojo in their place can hardly be cause for the besmirching of the records of two fine airmen, who stand ready to defend their country and answer the call no matter the personal cost.

    Defense rests.

  43. JLV
    Coat

    Bet Anthony Weiner now wishes he had been a pilot.

    Just as much as Roy Moore fantasizes about a career as a middle school principal.

  44. JaitcH
    Unhappy

    This is a Political Statement . . .

    on Trump's claimed attributes - along with small fingers - as mentioned Vanity Fair.

    See: > https://www.vox.com/2016/3/2/11148356/donald-trump-short-fingers-small-hands-vulgarian <

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