Affect of flying on the sex of babies

[Kick the tyres]

My wife has a little one on the way and she has yet to have the 20 week scan to determine the sex. I seem to recall hearing a few years ago something about Tornado crews predominantly having girls.
I have a bet that ours is a girl but the missus reckons its a boy, so the bet is on?
Does anyone know of any other sex trends among fleets to help my case ?:)

[TheWizard]

Does anyone know of any other sex trends among fleets to help my case ?:)

Oh dear, I can see where this will go....................

[A2QFI]

In the 60s a doctor did some research into the sex of babies born to Akrotiri based aircrew. He concluded that there might be a connection between the exposure of the g*nads to increased radiation from flying at high altitude, to the predominance of female children born to the aircrew. Both facts were true but there was never proved to be a connection between them SFAIK

[5 Forward 6 Back]

Apparently, when a species is under great stress or threat, it tends to produce more females than males. The explanation was that one male can impregnate several females to keep the species going, while a lot of males with few females are pretty useless.

So a mate who studied biology told me; so if you've got a stressful job, you're more likely to produce girls!

Good luck with your bet..!

[exscribbler]

#2 son thought from the scan that his son would be particularly well-hung; she was a girl and it was the umbilical... :ugh:

[FE Hoppy]

ex nimrod and 3* two girls.

[BEagle]

Surely one recalls the young fighter pilots' adage of old:

"Fighter pilots always have daughters.......






........and I've just had yours :E!"

[Avtrician]

A lot of the ground crew in Malaysia (RAAF) working on Mirages and the radrs there of had a predominance of girls. My first was a girl, the second a boy but by then I was working on the CT4 (no radar):eek::eek:

[RETDPI]

Certainly some years ago the legend was that Navs tended to father girls. Their working proximity to CRTs etc being often quoted as the reason.

[aviate1138]

Maybe it is as simple as tossing a coin? However.....

US Med report.
1: Aviat Space Environ Med. 1976 Aug;47(8):889-92.Links
Sex ratio in offspring of pilots: a contribution to stress research.

Goerres HP, Gerbert K.
An old rumor - lately substantiated by statistical examinations from England - to the effect that pilots of high-performance military aircraft are "girl-fathers", could be reduced to absurdity through a comprehensive questionnaire investigation in the German Federal Armed Forces.Spermiogenesis does not seem to be disturbed by professional-specific influences (Radar radiation, G-forces etc.), as implied by the questionnaire findings. In times of high flying and personal stress (first 1000 flying hours) military jet pilots are even "boy-fathers". As soon as flying becomes a routine matter (after the 1000th flying hour) and thus less stressful, jet and helicopter pilots even become "girl-fathers". The pilots of military transport aircraft show no deviation from the control group of the male population of the Federal Republic of Germany with respect to the sex ratio of children procreated by them. The intention of this somewhat curious study was established by considerations that pilots would be entitled to protection and/or compensation for damages incurred in cases where their procreative capacity had been detrimentally affected by activities in the line of duty.

Ask a scientist and you will often get academic obfuscation. Tossing a coin has a 50% chance of being correct! :rolleyes:

[0497]

It's believed that men with athletic professions (athletes, AF pilots etc) tend to have girls.

[gashman]

And single "events" timed at the right time rather than continuous horizontal jogging throughout the month favours boys too. Google "Shettles" for boring medical stuff about it.

[RETDPI]

Tossing a coin has a 50% chance of being correct! :rolleyes:
Not actually statistically true - it could land on its edge :8

[ChristopherRobin]

It's believed that men with athletic professions (athletes, AF pilots etc) tend to have girls.

Athletic? the airforce? Now I know we're really talking b o l l o cks on this thread!

[Torchy]

0497,

I've seen some well filled flying suits bursting at the seams -on blokes, that is! I wouldn't have called the owners athletes - Warriors maybe, but athletes - never!!!

[TyroPicard]

Surely it's all about temperature? Girl-producing sperm survive to higher temps than boy ones - anyone living/working in a sweaty jockstrap environment will have more chance of fathering girls.
TP

[coley chaos]

Ive had 3 kids..... one of each!! :ugh:

[PFMG]

This may sound like a wind up but a certain Sentry mate actually did a thesis on this very subject for his Aerosystems project (no seriously....lots of stats) He found there to be no statistical significance to support the claim that flying affected the sex of offspring. That included solar radiation, RF radiation and heat. There was a weak trend that suggested vibration, especially amongst helo crews, could have an affect but again this was not proven.

Anyone who is really interested could probably get the report from Cranners under the 34 ASC archive.

[exscribbler]

And single "events" timed at the right time rather than continuous horizontal jogging throughout the month favours boys too.

Boy, girl, boy for us - so what does that prove? I know I never refused her but I can't bl**dy remember the details anyway - the youngest is 30 now! :}

[bakseetblatherer]

3 boys, but I was always laid back rather than stressed:)

[Ogre]

Ex-liney and long term Fairy - 2 boys.

I put it down to the bromide in the tea and too many cold wet days on the line waiting for aircrew to leave/arrive.

Ogre

[12 twists per inch]

Girls for me :ok:

[Ken Scott]

I always understood that it was due to temperature in the, ahem, 'gentleman's area' - those who 'swung free' in loose, unfettered clothing, boxers for example, were likely to produce boys, & the reverse was true for producing girls. Extrapolation then said that those who were trussed up with 5-point harnesses & g-suits etc (ie: fast jet fraternity) would have female off-spring, & those with comfy armchairs & seatbelts (ie: truckies) would have the boys. The latter worked for me in the all boy stakes, & interestingly when I flew Bulldogs, post the conception phase of my life, all those QFIs who had children had girls, so even being trussed up in the 'dog seemed to have done the trick.

But as the chances are 50/50 anyway I doubt any of this is statisticaly significant!

[FCWhippingBoy]

1 x Girl ......










.... before I joined the mob :}

[Willard Whyte]

It's believed that men with athletic professions (athletes, AF pilots etc) tend to have girls.

Could be. I'm a truckie nav: 2 boys.

[greenslopes]

Flown for twenty years....3 Boys, Dad flew for forty years...4 boys ( think I'd better stop flying or we might have another boy).

[doubledolphins]

My first is a daughter, concieved the morning after a night TFS. In other words three hours after landing at the end of a duty consisting of 9 hours flying. My second, a son, was concieved after returning home from my initial submarine controllers course. Two weeks of beer, salt air, diesel fumes and the odd ,undetectable, radiation leak.I even travelled to the Clyde by road, so no flying at all.

[exscribbler]

DD: how do you know that? You were away. :E

Yes, I know, submariners do it deeper. :ok:

[doubledolphins]

I know it because he is good looking, witty, intellegent, slim, good at sports and has lots of girls chasing him. Ah, I think you may have a point. :eek:

[tangoe]

Amongst the 849 NAS WAFU's and JAFO's there were many many more girls than boys (something like 8:1 over a number of years) and we put it down to the Searchwater affect as pinger crews did not have the same girl/boy ratio issues.

[exscribbler]

OMG, I see what you mean, DD... :eek:

[Affirmatron]

The report was an Aerosystems Cse Thesis and is therefore available to view (they may even send you a copy). Well worth a look, if you like that kind of thing.

[fleece7]

Sperm that are due to be females are more robust than those due to be men.

Fact, men sperm swim faster but die sooner. If you do the business upto 5 days before she is ripe, you can still get girly sperm lingering.

So anything that puts pressure on the old fellows is going to increase, slightly, the chances of a girl.

The demographics of the world aren't actually 50/50......

[rollrollroll]

Actually fleece 7 is on the right way.
Here is a recepy how to make boys or girls.
Those tough guys who pull g instantly from 1 to 6,7, 8 etc. cause female sperms to bounce from the bottom of the testicles and male sperms are coming later and stay in the bottom, first to leave testicles. You get a baby boy!
Those gentle guys who are pulling g gradually cause female sperms to stay in the bottom and then they are leaving first. You get a baby girl!

So, are you tough or gentle g pullers?:}

[BEagle]

...male sperms are coming later and stay in the bottom...

Perhaps in the navy that might be so.....:eek:

[seekayess]

The theory that had been floating about my (fighter) crewroom was that, because of the regular practice at the range in steep glide bombing, the fighter jocks tended to 'ride high' when in bed -- like they did for the steep glide!!

And this had something to do with the predominance of the girl child.

Got proved wrong by me as despite having the best averages in the squadron in steep glide, my first born was a boy!! :)

That was explained away by the erudite as being due to the uncalibrated 'gun sight'!!:}

Go figure!! :ugh::ugh:

[Hempy]

2 girls, and the predominance of girls in my area is amazing. I put it down to EMR..

[Scribbly]

I'm having my first, a boy, in a couple of months. Partner is a truckie pilot and I'm a scribbly (you probably guessed that already.) Do you think the occupation of the mother has any effect? Any female aircrew got a view on this, or female ground branches? I expect it's all old wives tales and hocus pocus anyway....;)

[seekayess]

Hey Scribbly

All the best for your baby's safe arrival and a happy childhood!


. . . . and hocus pocus anyway....



Dunno much about 'hocus', but suspect the truckie must have had something to do with 'poke-us' part of it!! :E :E :}

[Bob Viking]

Our first is due in a few months and despite almost every Old Wives' Tale indicating to the contrary, we're having a boy!
BV:ok: