How Do the Brits Go About Naming Their Aircraft?

Uncle Roger

probably a brit. it would be perfect. the fairey fruitbat, a 120mph observation plane with n struts, dual lewis for the observer and a cord fired forward facing fixed gun for the pilot. a biplane of course, in the almost all white faa colors. it would also carry 5-6 20lb bombs to make the crew feel useful.

I assume a committee gets all some names together and winnows out the stuff likely to inspire anyone and uses what's left. ;) I think it was rather disappointing when the VC10 was adopted for service that they couldn't come up with something besides VC10 C Mk.1.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

VC10= Vickers Commercial 10. Straightforward adaptation of commercial airliner gets no name change. In commercial service it was known as VC10.Traditionally the RAF named "heavies" after Cities Of The Empire,e.g. Short Belfast,Vickers Valletta, Bristol Bombay, Handley Page Hyderabad. They liked alliteration too. As for fruitbat,to the OP, who *did* think that Fruitbat would be a good name for an aeroplane? I think it was someone on this group who wanted to yank the Brits' chains! Surely you didn't think it was for real? Did you? ( And don't reply "don't call me Shirley"). You do know they took the word "gullible" out of the dictionary?

Which gained the in-service nickname of "Belslow".

But there have been suggestions for names that have been just as daft. The Spitfire's originally suggested name was "Shrew"!

We Brits *used* to have a perfectly excellent designation system for our military aircraft. It was descriptive and self-consistent. There were a cetain number of role prefixes: F - fighter, B - bomber, C - cargo, K - tanker, GA - ground attack, GR - ground attack and recce, S- strike, T - trainer, H - helicopter etc.

These designations could be mixed and matched with the proviso that the first mark number in a sequence related to the *primary* role of the aircraft.

So, we had multi-role aircraft with FGR or FRS as a designation, which were perfectly acceptable as they fitted into the sequence. The two-seat trainer versions of a fighter aircraft were always the second mark number in the sequence (F1, T2 etc).

But now that's all out of the window. The MOD seem to make up role designations of the top of heir heads. The Phantom in British service was either the FG1 or the FGR2. The first was a shipborne fighter and attack aircraft, the second a land-based fighter, ground attack and recce aircraft. So far so good. In the early 80s, the RAF took delivery of a number of refurbished USN F-4J aircraft to make up the shortfall in Britain's air defence capabilities due to a squadron of FGR2s being deployed to the Falklands. There was a perfectly suitable mark designation available for these aircraft - F3 - but for some totally unexplained reason they were designated F-4J(UK), which simply did not fit with the accepted system.

Worse was to come. The Sea Harrier was originally introduced in the FRS1 variant. The upgraded version had an improved air defence capability with the nuclear strike and recce capabilities removed. It *should* have been designated FGA2. However, around that time, USN F-18s were being redesignated F/A-18 and so some idiot at the MOD descided that the new Sea Harrier variant should be the F/A2.

And now we have the greatest stupidity of the lot. The new Eurofighter Typhoon is *supposed* to be primarily a swing-role fighter. So why is the initial variant given a "T" designation?

However, on second thoughts, that's probably only fair. The aircraft itself is a piece of crap which is obsolete on service entry. Having spoken to Typhoon groundcrew, it seems that they dislike the jet as it requires a similar number of maintenance man-hours as the Jaguar which it replaced but a much greater level of technical expertise. A large number of Typhoons fly with "green lines" - snags affecting non-critical systems which the groundcrews simply don't have the expertise to fix. Any operations that British armed forces will carry out in the future will be in co-operation with the US. The Tornado F3 was never allowed into hostile airspace as it didn't have the correct IFF gear to interface with coalition systems. Apparently that same IFF gear is earmaked to be fitted during the Typhoon's mid-life update (yeh right!) So, it's doubtful if the Typhoon will ever see real ops. So it might as well be a trainer.

According to one source, the name of the Bristol Britannia was considered a marketing problem in some circles, as it was thought it might adversely affect sales in countries like US and France, with its Imperial echoes. When the VC10 came along, Sir George Edwards ( who was then Chief designer, and later Chairman, of the British Aircraft Corporation) has stated that Vickers just got tired of finding new names, and so Vickers Commercial 10 (VC10) and BAC-111, with no names to offend anybody (an early example of Political Correctness, perhaps?)

When the VC10 was adopted by the RAF, many names were considered, a strong contender was Vimy, after the 1918 bomber. This was turned down on the grounds that very few people would have any interest in, or knowledge of, a long-ago battle (Vimy Ridge).

In the final stages of the committee's deliberations, an Air Marshal quietly suggested that it have no name and simply be VC10. This was apparently equally quietly accepted, with a later comment that, "this would please BOAC" Why this was so was not explained!

A footnote to all this was that VC also stood for Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration in the British Armed Forces, so in a final imaginative leap, it was decided to name individual VC10s after RAF holders of the Victoria Cross in WW1 and WW11, Lanoe Hawker, Edward Mannock, Albert Ball and so on.

Incidentally, anybody with an interest in this should get a copy of "Names With Wings" by Gordon Wansbrough-White, ISBN 1 85310 491 4, which will tell you everything you might want to know on this subject.

Regards

Pat Macguire

Before I retired, my company library subscribed to Flight. Read it every week in addition to Aviation Week. It was great, especially Roger's page.

Since I retired I no longer have access to Flight :-( No local library subscribes to it. I used to love Roger's annual quiz, too.

After the "Flower" class corvettes, anything seems possible. Wouldn't it be be terrifying to be a U-boat skipper and know that HMS Pansy was in hot pursuit of you, with HMS Frolic and HMS Fairy coming up hard astern of her? :-)

I take it the name, like the animal, was short lived. Maybe they thought the Luftwaffe could tame such a beast. :-D

Pat

or the porker, the patch and the darn?

Do you really want to fly around in a aircraft whose namesake could well have been killed in a aircraft? ;-)

Pat

During my time in the RAF, I flew in every transport VC10 that the air force had. I also flew in every first-generation Harrier T-bird that was in the RAF inventory.

Yes, as long as it's not the same one!!

Regards

Pat Macguire

Little did Enzo suspect as he was flying the VC-10..that above him, hidden in the glare of the sun, lurked an all-red Hansa Jet, waiting for the opportune moment to strike... the cold blue eyes of Wolfgang von Tote focused on the contrail below him weaving its way towards the safety of Dover. But the Englishman had flown too far from his base today...it was too long of a way back to Tipperary for him. His monocle glinting like a evil jewel, von Tote began his dive on the unsuspecting son of Albion. But just then there was a deafening roar as the smooth arrow-like shape of Biggle's Bristol Budgie shot past him, like a gray-and-green winged guardian angel - ever ready to defend the airmen of Britain when the Hellish Murdering Hun takes to Her Majesty's Heavens! :-)

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote: : : After the "Flower" class corvettes, anything seems possible. : Wouldn't it be be terrifying to be a U-boat skipper and know that HMS : Pansy was in hot pursuit of you, with HMS Frolic and HMS Fairy coming up : hard astern of her? :-) : Yes, but, would the HMS Irrepressible, HMS Irrefutable and HMS Intransigent ever make it out of port? All you would need would be the HMS Contemptuous for the fourth...

Bruce

I can just see them mincing along although, were I Frolic I'd worry about Fairy coming along behind. ;)

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Well in the case of the star nosed version there is quite a resemblance!

I don't see how you can form that conclusion? Britain's foreign interests are very different from US foreign interests even if the current UK administration refuses to acknowledge that fact. For example, I can't foresee any US forces intervening when Argentina next atempts to sieze the Falkland Isles. Nor do I detect any groundswell of support for US operations in Islamic countries or eastern europe. The Cold War is over. The Soviet Union no longer exists. There is no longer any ideological difference between Russia and the west.

(kim)

Not really as a U-boat could easily outrun any Flower class corvette on the surface :o)

(kim)