DC 3 Dakota - Name ?

[blueloo]

Does anyone know why the DC3 got the nickname Dakota? From what I have looked at on the net, it appears it was a British nickname, yet I cant find out why they used it. (Is it anything to do with N/S dakota USA?)

[Bart O'Lynn]

May have been something to do with the tendency to give aircraft names in accordance with american indian tribes or historical cultural icons which was a popular thing in olden times. ie navajo/chieften/mustang etc. The Us mil always has nicknames for its types, and indeed its enemies types.

[cringe]

From: http://www.dc3history.org/chapters/chapter_8.htm :

The British named their transport and bomber aircraft group names based on the geographic origin of the plane. For the C‑47, they came up with a clever acronym, DACoTA (Dakota), which stood for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft.The name Dakota was used throughout the British Commonwealth.

[Spodman]

RAF aircraft all had names. Regardless of the fact the goobers called it the C-47 or DC3 the service name for the machine was Dakota.

Names were created by some official naming committee, some were the foreign name, others weren't. Some came to be used by foreign operators, others weren't. I don't think any were mis-spelt acronyms :8

[speedbirdzerozeroone]

During the 1920s and 1930s a lot of British Aircraft manufacturers chose place names associated with the upper echelons of business and society. However, at the onset of the Second World War, manufacturers increasingly opted for place names known for their industrial and engineering capacity in contrast to the naïve elitism of the pre-war age. Names like Hampden, Oxford, Blenheim, gave way to names like Halifax, Sunderland and Lancaster as these ‘grass roots’ towns proved vital to prosecuting the war effort and (mote importantly) the first modern ‘peoples war’. (i.e. Not in the hands of the Duke of Marlborough or some such toff!)

The link below might interest you but I’m not too sure of the validity of some these incarnations…

http://www.chris.brady.ukgateway.net/aircraftnicknames.htm

……..Dakasaurus Rex indeed?

[chuks]

And some of those nicknames aren't nicknames at all, but useful designations. As in 'B' for bomber gives Badger, Bounder, etc. 'F' for fighter gives Fishbed, 'C' for cargo gives Coot....

And the Germans didn't call the Bf109D 'Dora' for someone's girlfriend but for the letter 'D' in their phonetic alphabet. Hence Emil and Gustav and all that sort of thing. Some people seem to think this lent a humanising note to a killing machine.

Then there are those two sinister devices 'Fat Man' and 'Little Boy.' Bad little boy, bad, bad! Just look what you did to downtown!

I was amused to hear some Special Mission US Air Farce puke using the call sign 'Cobra' for his C-12 (King Air), when I really wanted to suggest to him using 'Fluffy' instead. I was flying 'Fang' (my Twin Otter) at the time.

[northwing]

Another advantage of naming an aeroplane, or a car for that matter, after a place is that the name comes free and you can't be done for pinching someone else's registered name. If the UK ever builds another aircraft they'll probably call it the Scunthorpe.

[Yankee_Doodle_Floppy_Disk]

The link below might interest you but I’m not too sure of the validity of some these incarnations…

http://www.chris.brady.ukgateway.ne...ftnicknames.htm



I'm sure the Bristol Freighter had a few more names than "Freightener".
I heard about half a dozen on 118.7 at NZAA one night.

"Vibrator" was one and something about a formation of rivets.

[Centaurus]

Wasn't the Dakota's other wartime name, a "C47 Skytrain"?

[philrigger]

Other nicknames for the DC3 are DAK and GOONEY BIRD.
The following extract is from 'NAMES WITH WINGS' by Gordon Wansbrough-White (ISBN 1 85310 491 4).

1939-1946

A name will be allotted to aircraft of a new basic type as soon as it is evident that a production order will be placed. The name will be selected from the categories on nomenclature set out below:

Transport - Counties or districts of the British Empire.

In the case of American aircraft allotted to Britain, and Canadian aircraft built for MAP, fullest consideration will be given to the wishes of the relevant authorities should they press for the adoption of names not within these categories. Endeavours should be made, however, to follow as closely as possible the basic rules, but names with an American or Canadian flavour will be very appropriate. For instance, American-built transports whould not necessarily be named after a county or district of the British Empire, but would preferably be named after a district or State of the USA. The US Army Air Corps advised that there was no need to inform the US manufacturers of this ruling, but the British Air Commisson in Washington suggested that it may perhaps be politic!

The above boom is very detailed and it is obvious that the naming of aircraft has always been a very complicated subject.

I hope this helps you.

[Onan the Clumsy]

in accordance with american indian tribes or historical cultural icons which was a popular thing in olden times. ie navajo/chieften/mustang etc notably amongst Piper piston airplanes and thereby coining the name for the lower portions of the atmosphere...Indian Country

[Blacksheep]

Transport - Counties or districts of the British Empire Thinking of my time under the colours, the York, Hastings, Beverley, Andover and Belfast, being named after British place names, almost met the specs but where in the Empire, or to be more politically correct, "British sphere of influence", are Varsity or Argosy to be found? Britannia rules as we all know, the waves, but does that include the air-waves?

The Comet too, already had a civilian name to bring to the service as did the Tristar, but if the C130 could be a Greek god what happened to the good old VC10? Its still in service of course, so perhaps we could finally give it a name and call it the Fawley, in recognition of its more usual tanking role. Out of respect for the USA and to maintain tradition for American aircraft, lets rename the Hercules as the Houston - everything is big and loud in Texas - while the C17, being something of a lend-lease machine, could become the Washington.

[Windy Militant]

while the C17, being something of a lend-lease machine, could become the Washington.

Too Late Blach Sheep, Washington has already been used. B29's leased to the RAF in the late forties and early fifties were called Washingtons. ;)

[philrigger]

Blacksheep

The names relevant to the British Empire are, as my post makes clear, relevant only to the years 1939 - 1946. After this the system changed once again. There have been many systems since the very beginning of service aviation. You will have to read the book to find them all.

[barit1]

notably amongst Piper piston airplanes and thereby coining the name for the lower portions of the atmosphere...Indian Country

You must be from EAST Texas. The proper name is "Injun Territory"!:p

[Iron City]

In the pre mid1960s rationalization of U.S. military aircraft designation (i.e. do it all the Air Force way) the Navy designation system was one of the slickest around. From the alphanumeric desgnation you could tell the role of the aircraft, how many other designs for that role had been built by that manufacturer, who the manufacturer was, and what major version (mark/mod) it was. For example the Douglas A3D2 was an attack aircraft (A), the third design for that role by Douglas (3), built by Douglas Airplane Company (D), the second major modification/version of the aircraft. The same aircraft was redesignated A-3B, which doesn't have near the inforamtion or quite the ring. Actually A3D was very descriptive...it really also meant All Three Dead because the crew had no ejector seats and the aircraft sank like a rock when going in the water., so if you went in you were pretty much assured a one way trip to Davey Jones.

As far as popular names for different aircraft the system in the U.S. (when significant numbers of airplane designs were being done) the Navy system was for different manufacturers to have different unifying themes for their names such as:

Grumman- all feline/cats: Wildcat, Hellcat, Panther, Tiger, Tomcat
Mcdonnell- from the spirit world: Banshee, Demon, Phantom
Douglas- "sky" something- Skyhawk, Skyraider, Skywarrior
LTV/Vought/- related to pirates- Corsair, Pirate, Crusader (?)
Lockheed- not sure is there anything to tie Orion, Viking, and Neptune together? I guess mythology but why Viking? Why not Thor (Thor? You're thor? I'm so thor I can't even...)

All Army rotorcraft get indian names - Iroquis, Kiowa, Chinnok,

Army Air Corps/Air Force used some themes ( Lockheed had Star on the front (or in, see P/F-80 Shooting Star) of everything, Republic had Thunder on the front of everything, North American was all Sabre because I believe Mustang for the P-51 was a British assigned name that stuck. Curtis had Hawk in all their names (mostly, but C-46 Commando doesn't fit ) McDonnell used the Navy spriit thing (F-101 Voodoo etc)
and then when the AIr Force needed real aircrft to do the real job in Vietnam they got Navy designs and kept the names.

[barit1]

All Army rotorcraft get indian names - Iroquis, Kiowa, Chinnok,

...But not the fixed-wing Beaver, Otter, & Caribou which retained their Canadian names.

[pigboat]

I always found the DHC method of naming their aircraft to be puzzling. They began with the DHC-1 Chipmunk, then the DHC-2 Beaver. Ok so far, the order is ascending as per the size of the animal. Then the DHC-3 Otter. An otter is smaller than a beaver. I always thought they should have named it the DHC-3 Wolverine, or judging by the way a fully loaded Otter climbs, the Sloth. ;)

[barit1]

I had a friend who crewed Canadian Buffalos (& earlier, Caribous).
One mission was dropping paratroops - who wore brown uniforms.

The favorite line among the aircrews was: "What's brown and comes out the back end of a Buffalo?"

[gruntie]

So R2D2 is the second major modification/version of the second design of Robot built by Douglas?

[wiggy]

OK I'll add to the thread drift for the sake of showing off- the logic behind NATO reporting names for War-Pac types:

First letter tied to role...B for Bomber, F for fighter, M for maritime, C for Cargo, H for Heliothingy....

Then one syllable = prop driven, two = jet....

Hence we get:
Bear and Barge ( any takers for the later?)
Bison, Blinder and Badger
Fishbed, Firebar, Fitter and Flogger
May and ...errr Mail
Coot ,Colt and the Classic copy of the VC 10......
Hind and Hip......................

here endth the lessson by an ex- Squadron Recce Officer

[PorcoRosso]

And the Germans didn't call the Bf109D 'Dora' for someone's girlfriend but for the letter 'D' in their phonetic alphabet

Actually, the "Dora" was a Focke Wulfe 190 Variant ;)