Lt. Col. Richard E. Cole, the 101-year-old co-pilot of World War II’s Jimmy Doolittle, announced that the official name of the Air Force’s newest B-21 bomber would be the “Raider,” according to War Is Boring.
But that wasn’t the only name suggested.
In May, the service opened the naming process to submissions over the Internet. But they may have underestimated how much service members would want to participate. All in all, 4,600 names were suggested, and some of them were … unorthodox to say the least.
Our favorite submission? The Baconator — you know, like the Wendy’s burger topped with six strips of thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon?
But there were some other great ones on the list, like “Lurking Sasquatch,” “Hole In The Sky To Throw Money Into,” and “Triangle Thingy.”
There was even a submission that followed suit with the British decision to allow submissions, which resulted in a resounding desire to call a research vessel “Boaty McBoatface.” But in the case of the B-21, it was “Bomber McBombface.”
War Is Boring submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the rest of the submissions. On Sept. 21, after an appeal, the Air Force responded with this epically long list of incredible B-21 names, most of which are more exciting than “Raider.”
B-21 Name Submissions by Robert Beckhusen on Scribd