Just wondering how many ‘planes’ flew with the same name during the war. For instance ‘Tondelayo’….. I thought this was only used on one ‘Fort but it would appear that the name was also on the side of a B25.
Were there popular names used by lots of crews, or was it more a case of individuality where possible ?
Was there at any time, limitations on what could be used / topic / portrayed / physical size…ie ‘The Dragon And His Tail’, by the relevant commands ?
Who decided on the name ? was it by crew consent or was it what ever the skipper decided on ?
Was it ‘bad luck’ to change an aircrafts name (if that ever happened ?) like its supposed to be a bad thing to rename a boat ?
And the final question…did the ‘plane’ fly like its name ?…ie ‘Sloppy but Safe’, ‘Helzapoppin’, ‘Flack Bait’ ?
Over to you
By: geedee - 5th January 2005 at 10:28
Thanks for that guys
By: gregv - 3rd January 2005 at 10:18
looking to music
for some answers, it would appear that many US aircraft took their names from popular melodies of the day; for example, “Shoo Shoo Baby” (lots of them), “Tondelayo” (a few of those as well, but the most famous I would think being B-25 41-30669 of the 345th BG’s 500th BS), and not to forget “Lady be Good”.
cheers
greg v
By: Dave Homewood - 3rd January 2005 at 10:08
Well one you mention, Hellzapoppin, seems to have been used on many aircraft. I don’t know if the name comes directly from the film of that title
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033704/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9SGVsemFwb3BwaW58aHRtbD0xfG5tPW9u;fc=1;ft=2;fm=1
Here in New Zealand there were a few double ups on names. The RNZAF’s first Dakota (NZ3501) was dubbed ‘Popeye’ with noseart of the character after the No. 40 Sqn commander Fred “Popeye” Lucas. Lucas got the nickname because he looked just like Popeye. Funnily enough he’d previously flown ‘Wimpys’ in No. 75 (NZ) Sqn. Anyway, I have a photo of another C47 in the same squadron called “Popeye III” with similar noseart, so I assume there was probably also a “Popeye II” and maybe others.
Also, a series of RNZAF P40’s were named ‘Gloria Lyons’. The first one was dubbed this because two members of No. 4 Servicing Unit, RNZAF, based at Ondonga, struck up a penpal called Gloria Lyons from Christchurch. She was a TB patient. 4SU adopted her as their mascot and P40 NZ3148 ‘G’ was soon emblazened with her name. The aircraft was lost so the name was then painted onto P40 NZ3188. Two weeks later the second one was lost, so NZ3220 became the third “Gloria Lyons”. This aircraft still exists in the John Smith collection at Mapua. After it returned to NZ a Corsair, NZ5233, got the name, but it too was lost. Each in turn did not receive a number, like the Popeyes did, they were simply known as “Gloria Lyons.”
I’m sure there are loads of examples of doubled up names, especially after cartoons and films, etc.
By: Arthur - 3rd January 2005 at 09:24
‘Snoopy’ was of course populair, with XV208 (the Meteo Herk) and one of the B-58 proto- or development aircraft having that name, as well as countless FAC aircraft in Vietnam.
Then there is the series of Memphis Belles. Number I being of course that B-17, number II being an F-105D, number III appeared on an A-10 and at least two B-52s, and now Memphis Belle IV is both an F-15E and another B-52.
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January 3, 2005 at 9:19 am