I'm in a minority who have generally referred to aircraft as "it" rather than "she", but I have absolutely no objections to "she". I think it can go a bit far, though. On the Facebook V Bomber group, some of the XH 558 groupies on there have taken to referring to it as "Our Delta Lady" which I find a bit much. As an aside, there have been several candidates for "Queen of the Skies" over the years (Canberra, Boeing 747 etc), but no kings as far as I know.
Incidentally I don't think the defaced sign should be restored - it should be left as a monument to stupidity.