Worst Possible Name For A Combat Aircraft.
- Thread starter oldironside
- Start date
I have a hard time thinking of a more discouraging name for a plane than the Ryan Fireball.
The Brewster Buffalo. Because y'know, they fly. Gracefully. In someone's imagination.
Fantome is just the French word for Phantom, which as was later proven is a perfectly good name for a plane.
As for a candidate I give you the White & Thompson Bognor Bloater.
I had always thought it was named after Wellington in New Zealand, but then I remembered the Wellesley. Was that named after the Iron Duke too or his brother?
Most of the RAF bombers, transport aircraft and flying boats were named after towns in the UK and Commonwealth. E.g. Canberra.
What's so inspiring about names like Halifax, Lancaster and Sunderland?
I read an RAF file in the National Archives about the name for the F-111K. The front-runner was Richmond because there were towns of the same name in Australia and the US as well as the UK.
Or the Supermarine Walrus, why didn't they call it the Seagull like the Australians? Before that there was the Westland Walrus, which at least has an aliterative quality.
shiftygiant
Gone Fishin'
They sort of pick up a legacy. Like, Submarine* Spitfire (as were the other 'Submarine' aircraft, Spiteful, Seafang, Attacker, Baby, Nighthawk, Scimitar, Seaking, Swift, and Seafire, although the last one is kinda rad and not all of them too dumb) is a dumb name, but it's the legacy behind it is what makes it cool and inspiring.
*Name of the company that made them, but it's still the 'Submarine Spitfire', which does sound a bit weird when said without that context.
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TFSmith121
Banned
Cough "Comet" cough...
Note - with sincere apologies to those who lost their lives, but:
"Comet" ... gauranteed to burn up in the atmosphere!
"Meteor" ... definitely will make a real tall hole!
Best,
Note - with sincere apologies to those who lost their lives, but:
"Comet" ... gauranteed to burn up in the atmosphere!
"Meteor" ... definitely will make a real tall hole!
Best,
Sycamore
Banned
Given that the OP left it open to discuss potential worst names for combat aircraft in ATLs- perhaps in an ATL where the Austrian village of 'Fucking' gains more prominence and a far larger population, as part of a larger and more powerful Austria-Hungary, with an aircraft manufacturer establishing itself in the area and deciding to adopt the town's name as its company name as well? The premise seems plausible enough; and you'd have an endless list of worst possible names (at least from ATL's perspective), because they'd all start with "The Fucking..." 
In the category of "Never knew they would make a big deal about this later on": There is the famous Focke-Wulf Fw190 given the official factory name of "Würger". Literally translated as 'strangler', it is also a bird's name. (In English language, the critter is called 'Butcher bird". ) Unfortunately 'würgen' is street slang for gagging, so suddenly the poor plane became the 'gagging bird'. No wonder that name got scrapped in favor of 'The Anton' for version A and 'The Dora' for the D-version.
Yes, that would have been like calling them the B-17 Cincinnati, the B-24 Memphis, and the B-29 Denver.
Cryhavoc101
Donor
The Walrus followed on from the last version of this aircraft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Seagull_(1921)
TFSmith121
Banned
Except the British tried - at times, at least - for the
Except the British tried - at times, at least - for the "alliteration" meme...
Martin Maryland, for example.
But not always, as witness the Martin Baltimore or Douglas Boston.
Now, the names for the Martin designs also worked because Martins factory was in Maryland...
The Consolidated Catalina and Coronado were both southern California islands, more or less with a geographic connection to where they were built (San Diego).
So Boeing Bellingham?
Consolidated Culver City?
Also, remember, the British didn't use the US alphanumerics, whether the Army or Navy systems.
There's a quote in Churchill somewhere that they could never get the placement of the dash correct.
Best,
Except the British tried - at times, at least - for the "alliteration" meme...
Martin Maryland, for example.
But not always, as witness the Martin Baltimore or Douglas Boston.
Now, the names for the Martin designs also worked because Martins factory was in Maryland...
The Consolidated Catalina and Coronado were both southern California islands, more or less with a geographic connection to where they were built (San Diego).
So Boeing Bellingham?
Consolidated Culver City?
Also, remember, the British didn't use the US alphanumerics, whether the Army or Navy systems.
There's a quote in Churchill somewhere that they could never get the placement of the dash correct.
Best,
That's not the worst of it. They built a floatplane version...
If this is indicative of Blackburn's understanding of aerodynamics, it would go a long way to explaining the Skua and Roc.
For 'Ugly Floatplane' you have to have the Great Lakes XSG-1
Funny story, when I was a little kid I thought it was the Submarine Spitfire. I thought it was plane designed to attack submarines with what were basically flame throwers in its wings.
Cut me some slack, I was seven at the time...
Of course a lot of US planes got their names from the British, like the Flying Fortress.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
True, but interservice stupidity in peacetime (more or less) is one thing; interallied silliness in time of war (existential threat and all that) and with an ally that speaks (more or less) the same language is another.
Hey, some of the early helicopters that ended up being adopted by all three services before the unified system had THREE names and designations. Nothing like the Cold War US military to focus on what's important...
Given the US Forces were quite happy to give essentially the same aircraft quite different designations just because they were built by different firms, what aircraft had the most designations in production at the same time?