Sue or Su?

[Wissam24]

Yes.

They're both wrong.

[capercaillie]

You'll be banning people next for using a hyphen.

Honestly. People have been saying Mil 8 or Mil 24 for decades, its easier to say, people know what you mean and frankly if some dweeb comes up and starts spouting you are saying that wrong, they'll be told to go away in far less polite terms by folks I've met around airfields.

Moving on........

[MiG_Eater]

I think the 'Su' would correctly be pronounced "S-uh", but I have always said "S-U" and i'm not about to stop.

[The Baron]

If it's pronounced Soo, because of the small 'u', how do you pronounce Bf then, Sam?

[Dan O'Hagan]

I don't know the answer, but I do know that if it's Ben he'll have done his homework and will be correct.

[Tommy]

If it's pronounced Soo, because of the small 'u', how do you pronounce Bf then, Sam?

An entirely different culture of aircraft designations, though. You can't just pull out random designations from thin air and overlay that. Soviet aircraft designations are different from US ones, which are different from Nazi Germany etc, etc...

IIRC, "Bf" stood for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, the company that created the '109. Once that became Messerscmitt, future models of the same machine became the Me109. Given that "Bf" stood for two different words, theoretically each should be enunciated. Like the "Mi" for Mikoyan and "G" for Gurevich turning into "MiG". I have not a clue why the "f" was never a capital, though.

But the Bf wasn't a shortening of "Bayerische" like Su is a shortening of Sukhoi. So you pronounce them as "B" and "F", not "Buff", because you're referring to two separate words. Also, on the same logic, a Messerscmitt Me109 should then be pronounced phonetically. A "Mee109", I guess.

But you're talking about an entirely different culture and nation anyway. They can do what they want with their aircraft designations.

As said, the correct term is "Soo"/"Sue". That's how the Russians say it. People saying "well I'm still gonna call it a S.U.!" Again, if you know the correct answer, why persist in being wrong?

[Tommy]

Like the "Mi" for Mikoyan and "G" for Gurevich turning into "MiG".

Actually not a great example. MiG would still be MiG even if it was Mig. But you know what I mean.

Christ what a thread.

[Tmyers123]

I pronounce all Russian aircraft in the same way that Su is Soo, but I’m not sure about Mi, as in Mi-24. Is it my or mee? Or mih?

[starbuck]

Kind of understand why NATO decided to give everything easy to pronounce reporting names can't you?

[The Baron]

If it's pronounced Soo, because of the small 'u', how do you pronounce Bf then, Sam?

An entirely different culture of aircraft designations, though. You can't just pull out random designations from thin air and overlay that. Soviet aircraft designations are different from US ones, which are different from Nazi Germany etc, etc...

IIRC, "Bf" stood for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, the company that created the '109. Once that became Messerscmitt, future models of the same machine became the Me109. Given that "Bf" stood for two different words, theoretically each should be enunciated. Like the "Mi" for Mikoyan and "G" for Gurevich turning into "MiG". I have not a clue why the "f" was never a capital, though.

But the Bf wasn't a shortening of "Bayerische" like Su is a shortening of Sukhoi. So you pronounce them as "B" and "F", not "Buff", because you're referring to two separate words. Also, on the same logic, a Messerscmitt Me109 should then be pronounced phonetically. A "Mee109", I guess.

But you're talking about an entirely different culture and nation anyway. They can do what they want with their aircraft designations.

As said, the correct term is "Soo"/"Sue". That's how the Russians say it. People saying "well I'm still gonna call it a S.U.!" Again, if you know the correct answer, why persist in being wrong?

Fair point there Tommy. Taken on board. And as Dan has said it stands to reason that Ben Dunnell will have done his research.
Unfortunately if people want to persist in being wrong there's not a lot you can do about it. However I've learnt something from this thread.

[Mr. Crusher]

I'm Polish and everyone I know says "soo" but with short "oo" (don't know how to write it ). Also "mee 24" (short), "meeg 29" ("g" like in "google" of course) etc. Polish is pretty similar to Russian so I think it's correct

[borismorris]

All this about how aircraft names SHOULD be pronounced yet we cant even decide how to say chorizo in this country!

We have anglicised versions of dozens of words and placenames so in many respects S.u. or Soo is no different.

So until we start saying Parry (Paris) Murnshen (Munich) and so on I dont see why folk are being pedantic about how we say aircraft names..

Incidentally shouldnt a Focke Wulf be pronounced with a v sound?

[Skyflash]

All this about how aircraft names SHOULD be pronounced yet we cant even decide how to say chorizo in this country!

We have anglicised versions of dozens of words and placenames so in many respects S.u. or Soo is no different.

So until we start saying Parry (Paris) Murnshen (Munich) and so on I dont see why folk are being pedantic about how we say aircraft names..

Incidentally shouldnt a Focke Wulf be pronounced with a v sound?

Parry??? Par-ee is closer to the French pronunciation of their capital city.
Murnshen - eh??? It doesn’t have an ‘r’ in it. Mooen-shen is a rough approximation of how it sounds in German.
For Focke-Wulf try Fock-eh Voolf.

As Tommy says, what an utterly bizarre thread...

[Hammy]

Worth noting that Yakovlevs are Yk- rather than Yak-, also

[MiG_Eater]

They're not, they are the reverse R character makes the 'Ya' sound. Just the same as the 'y' character makes the "ouh" sound (sort of like a gutteral grunt). So Cy should be said "Suh" or "Souh"... but i'm sticking with S.U.!

[Tommy]

but i'm sticking with S.U.!

...but why?

[MiG_Eater]

Mainly out of habit, but also because my Russian accent isn't up to much. The way Dunnell pronounces it (much as I generally enjoy his commentary, mind!) is wrong.

[Wissam24]

Can't say I've been pronouncing it in a Russian accent, and I say "su"

[Wissam24]

They're not, they are the reverse R character makes the 'Ya' sound. Just the same as the 'y' character makes the "ouh" sound (sort of like a gutteral grunt). So Cy should be said "Suh" or "Souh"... but i'm sticking with S.U.!

Correct, though a longer "oo" is fine for y. I assume you therefore pronounce the kha in "Sukhoi" as the voiceless velar fricative that is it then?

[jalfrezi]

Does it really matter? It just becomes something else for people to argue about, and we've already had enough of that this year.

[CJS]

I thought it was pronounced as "bloody hell, BLOODY HELL, that nearly landed on the hangar."

[Skyflash]

They're not, they are the reverse R character makes the 'Ya' sound. Just the same as the 'y' character makes the "ouh" sound (sort of like a gutteral grunt). So Cy should be said "Suh" or "Souh"... but i'm sticking with S.U.!

Correct, though a longer "oo" is fine for y. I assume you therefore pronounce the kha in "Sukhoi" as the voiceless velar fricative that is it then?

Hoi! For us bold Caledonians, thon fricative is an integral part of our speech!

Anyway if it comes back next year I expect the programme to contain a reference to the Сухой-27