Who named the Aircraft? we see certain names on many WWII bombers..

who ultimately named the bomber? As so many of the WWII bombers had nicknames, I mean who had the last word in naming the aircraft?

http://www.angelfire.com/ne2/b17sunriseserenade/452ndnames.html I just found this useful information, so to save you from scrolling down...just click on link...

 

in which country?

 

generally I mean...

 

I would assume that the pilot had the last word (being in command of the aircraft), but I am sure there are exceptions. I even recall seeing some P-47s that were "named" by the ground crew chief.

 

the pilot, that makes sense, and my thought too...

 

If you mean "nicknames" like Memphis Belle, and such it was generally the crew and/or the pilot. The story about that one is sort of interesting, they had seen names on planes and started trying to figure out which one to use, and the pilot took a few of the fellow crewmen out to a pub before the vote and made a case for naming it after a gal in Memphis he liked. Some of the other names were probably given to them to "lighten the mood" of getting into what could be your coffin every time.

The Enola Gay only had its name put on just before the flight, it was un-named until then. Paul Tibbets knew full well that if the mission was successful this ship was going to be unique in history, and he wanted a name on his plane which was unlikely to have ever been used in the past. So he picked his mother's name, knowing that would not be anywhere else. I don't know about Bock's Car, I think it had that name pre-flight since it wasn't flown by the normal pilot (Bock) on the Nagsaki mission.

 

Naming the plane...Found information.... 452nd Bomb Group Plane Names

telling of how the planes got their nicknames...

 

thanks lou..some good names they came up with, I like this one..

Cyanide for Hitler: The pilot, George P. Remmenga, had originally named this plane “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” in honor of his wife, Jeannie, who had light brown hair. The rest of the crew was not too fond of the plane being named only by the pilot, so Remmenga later agreed to have the name “Cyanide for Hitler” painted on the sides above the wings. Unfortunately the name did not get painted on the plane until after the last combat mission was flown. Plane #43-39439.

 

Here is a shot of the original nose art. I'm working to see if I can track down the "modified" version.

 

Nice work alan, hope your able to find it....

 

I've hit a dead end. I'll check again later today, but I think that is the best I can get!

 

I've tried to email the sites owner to find if they have one alan, but the email system keeps malfunctioning?...

 

Email now sent alan, lets see what comes back...

 

From readings I've made in 8th Air Force biographies and such, usually the pilot and crews would nickname the aircraft. A lot of time the crews voted. In the case of my great-uncle's aircraft, it was a crew vote. The aircraft they were given had obviously been in combat before and looked a little rough, but was unnamed. So due to the way it looked, they named it the "War Horse." Also, each squadron or bomb group usually had a talented artist or two among the ranks to paint the mascot on the planes. In the case of the 385th Bomb Group, a local British girl painted a lot of the planes as well as the crew jackets.

Forgot to add...sometimes too a crew would be assigned an aircraft already named by a previous crew lucky enough to finish their tour. Often the new crew would keep the name, figuring it was good luck.

 

I've hit more dead ends than lamp posts on a Friday night out.

But i found this:
487th-Bomb Group Aircraft


ok it's no garden of eden, but there's at least one that is directly relevant to the topic:

Beverly JeanB-17G43-3796983611-Jul-44 Assigned to 487th "B-17 Flying Fortress Story" 19-Mar-45, collided with B-17G 43-38038 on return from mission, crashed in vicinity of Couvron, France. Crew bailed out, all safe. Aircraft named after Pilot Richards daughter. Also callsign 2G-H

 

thanks for adding Artem..some good info...

 

Having done considerable research on the aircraft of a particular bomb group, I would concur that the pilot - as aircraft commander - had the final say in naming an aircraft that was assigned to a particular crew. Some were autocratic about it (see Tibbets above) and some left it to a consensus of the crew. If a pilot was married, there was a good chance that the wife's name would appear on the aircraft, instead of say a tail-gunner's girlfriend.

For convenience, crews were refered to by the pilot's name, i.e. the Smith crew. Many aircraft carried the pilot's name, even though it was the crew invoking it's identity - WOOD'S CHOPPER, BRADY'S GANG, etc.

Original aircraft of a group were named almost exclusively by the crew. Replacement aircraft were sometimes named by a crew chief (who would tell you he really owned the aircraft), especially if the ship was not assigned to a particular crew. In some of these cases, a replacement aircraft was given the same name by the ground crew as the recently lost aircraft that it was to replace. There were two different aircraft names that were carried on three different aircraft each, and multiple instances of two aircraft of the same name.

I know of one new unnamed replacement aircraft that was assigned to a veteran crew. The crew argued over names and could never reach a consensus, and finished their tour with the aircraft still unnamed.

Also note that aircraft moved between bomb groups, usually via the repair depots. Thus, previously named aircraft would show up in a new group where noone knew anything of the origin of the name. In a few cases these aircraft were renamed, but generally the old name was left in place.