Who chooses a name?
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Who chooses a name?
Was fortunate enough to have a couple of hours spare this afternoon so I popped into Hendon.
The forward fuselage of XM717, "Lucky Lou" got me thinking, who gets the honour of naming the aircraft?
I'm led to believe it was usually the skipper (possibly from Enola Gay theory), but in a multi crew environment where there would be several skippers for a single frame who calls the tune?
Not sure Mrs Duchess would be overly impressed if I'd arrived home one evening having christened my chariot "Lusty Linda"!
The forward fuselage of XM717, "Lucky Lou" got me thinking, who gets the honour of naming the aircraft?
I'm led to believe it was usually the skipper (possibly from Enola Gay theory), but in a multi crew environment where there would be several skippers for a single frame who calls the tune?
Not sure Mrs Duchess would be overly impressed if I'd arrived home one evening having christened my chariot "Lusty Linda"!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Success, interesting question.
I know McRoberts' Reply was a special case.
There was a suggestion for naming the Varsities at Nav School and my suggestion for Cambridge colleges was 'best' but nothing came of it.
In the 60s, with centralized servicing I think it more or less died out with none of the Vulcans named. The VC10s were different and probably named by the great and the good.
Nimrods in the 70s were also anonymous. Now I think the Shacks on 8 were named on a particular theme but whether it was aircrew or ground crew I don't know. I think it was the ground crew as they owned the aircraft and only loaned it to us.
I know McRoberts' Reply was a special case.
There was a suggestion for naming the Varsities at Nav School and my suggestion for Cambridge colleges was 'best' but nothing came of it.
In the 60s, with centralized servicing I think it more or less died out with none of the Vulcans named. The VC10s were different and probably named by the great and the good.
Nimrods in the 70s were also anonymous. Now I think the Shacks on 8 were named on a particular theme but whether it was aircrew or ground crew I don't know. I think it was the ground crew as they owned the aircraft and only loaned it to us.
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The E3D fleet are named after the seven dwarfs; there being seven of the type originally. Don't know who came up with that idea though.
When 8 had Shacks they were named after characters from the Magic Roundabout.
Especially if her name isn't Linda...
When 8 had Shacks they were named after characters from the Magic Roundabout.
Not sure Mrs Duchess would be overly impressed if I'd arrived home one evening having christened my chariot "Lusty Linda"!
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In GW1 (certainly in Bahrain) it was the groundcrew who picked the names. We used the sqn ident letter from the fin and turned it into a girls name. E became Emma, H became Helen etc. For some reason G became Granny. We painted the nose art and I was convinced we were going to be told to remove it, given our location, but they let it stay.
A very close relative worked on Dhahran's GR1's during GWI, Their Tornadoes were named after the characters out of Black Adder with no nose art other than the name in black text and mission markings (The SEngO at the time had no sense of humour and threatened to charge anybody who painted nose art on the aircraft of any kind bar what I mentioned above (from what I was told in a bluey at the time)). Tabuk's GR1's still had their Squadron and Aircraft codes on the tail, thus the aircraft tended to have a double barreled name based on the two letters.
Enola Gay theory
As regards the 55 Sqn Victors in GW1, I do believe they were named after the wife of the aircraft's Crew Chief at the time.
As regards the 55 Sqn Victors in GW1, I do believe they were named after the wife of the aircraft's Crew Chief at the time.
May we assume the crew chief was a Muslim, then?
May we assume the crew chief was a Muslim, then?
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The E3D fleet are named after the seven dwarfs; there being seven of the type originally. Don't know who came up with that idea though.
Although given the antics of Mr Hayes that would probably result in the SIB's arrival in fairly short order.
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8 Sqn Shacks were named after characters in the "The Magic Roundabout" IIRC.
Once spent an afternoon drinking in the company of "Jimmy" Edwards DFC, he talked fondly of his memories of David Lord VC.
PM
Once spent an afternoon drinking in the company of "Jimmy" Edwards DFC, he talked fondly of his memories of David Lord VC.
PM
IIRC Transport Command 'strategic' aircraft were the only ones given 'official' names - in addition to the VC10 and Brittania ones, the Shorts Belfast fleet were named after classical heroes, and the Comet 2s were given constellation names. (Can't remember if the Comet 4s had names, nor Beverleys or Argosies)
May we assume the crew chief was a Muslim, then?
A sorry looking Victor
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, PN, but it did make me go digging for the link to confirm what I thought.
Mercifully, during GW1 our VC10Ks escaped being painted with graffitti by amateurs with rattle-cans. Although at Muharraq, the rather inappropriate logo "The Empire Strikes Back" was applied to some, together with a large 'BP' emblem, but at least a professional was hired to do the work.
I don't know why there was such enthusiasm for so-called 'nose art' on RAF aircraft. To be honest, most of it was pretty dire and not a patch on the art applied by the Americans to their aircraft.
I don't know why there was such enthusiasm for so-called 'nose art' on RAF aircraft. To be honest, most of it was pretty dire and not a patch on the art applied by the Americans to their aircraft.
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Mercifully, during GW1 our VC10Ks escaped being painted with graffitti by amateurs with rattle-cans. Although at Muharraq, the rather inappropriate logo "The Empire Strikes Back" was applied to some, together with a large 'BP' emblem, but at least a professional was hired to do the work.
I don't know why there was such enthusiasm for so-called 'nose art' on RAF aircraft. To be honest, most of it was pretty dire and not a patch on the art applied by the Americans to their aircraft.
I don't know why there was such enthusiasm for so-called 'nose art' on RAF aircraft. To be honest, most of it was pretty dire and not a patch on the art applied by the Americans to their aircraft.
Rattle cans? If only. The Tornado stuff was hand painted using about four basic colours and I admit, it was never going to win the turner prize. I thought the Victor and Bucc nose art was much higher quality.