Whats in a name

[Weaver]

Well a name certainly can't be re-used until there are no examples of the previous plane in service anywhere. Beyond that, how many have the RAF actually re-used? I can think of:

Typhoon
Tornado (hardly a re-use, given that the WWII version never entered service)
Nimrod
Venom (again, barely counts: the Vickers Venom was a private name for a private-venture prototype)
Lightning
Argosy


Not enough to establish a trend really, and when you look into how names are assigned, the process seems highly variable. Sometimes it goes to committees, sometimes it comes from the industry, sometimes there's a public or service competition, sometimes it gets all political, sometimes the Chief of the Air Staff just tells everybody and that's that.

Youre right there's only a couple more I can think of - Walrus, Bulldog, Domminie - dosn't seem to be a trend at all

Whirlwind....

[Weaver]

"the modern royal navy has a class naming structure and is slowly going through the alphabet giving names such as the current type 45 are all D, so they could be called the "D" class destroyers the next available letter is "F" so my type 26 will have the name beginning with that letter"


Just out of curiousity why not E class?

Been used for a class of survey ships: Echo and Enterprise.

Pity really. I liked the idea of the type 26s having "E" names. Emerald would have gone well with the Type-45 Diamond, and Esmonde would be an excellent new name to use: named after Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde VC DSO who lead the Swordfish strike from Victorious against the Bismark and earned his VC (posthumously) for leading the attack on the Channel Dash. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Esmonde

[Daryl J.]

I like naming my whiffs even less than I like painting canopy framing.   

(It's cream and coffee, I'm at work)
Daryl J.

[ChrisF]

Chris, I'd think it depends on the backstory.  Is it a Russian aircraft being used by the RAF?  If so, 'Fighting Fulcrum' seems the most appropriate, but if it is the product of an alternate universe and is from BAe, Supermarine or an other iconic manufacturers' stable, then the world is your oyster.

Regards,

Mav

Still working on the backstory really but vaugely its What if the Tornado was never envisioned... and during WW2 there was never a special relationship with the US, instead with Russia     So when we fast forward to more current times... we bought russian

[Maverick]

I'd stick with the NATO reporting name in that instance.  When the Germans took over the East German MiG-29s, they called them 'Fighting Fulcrums'.

Regards,

Mav

[albeback]

What's in a name? Interesting question but, I think it's quite important and adds a bit of character to your model. For my Tupolev TU-22 patrol/interceptor "what if" (below), I used the (fictional) NATO code name "Firestorm" - which, considering the massive firepower available was , in my view, quite appropriate! I also decided that it should have an "unofficial" name given by its crews. The lovely little dragon ( from the kit decals)  gives the clue. I called it "Drakon" - the Russian word for dragon. Silly really but, what the hell, it's MY model!!

Ancient mythology is a good source of names. Prior to its unfortunate & premature demise, I was going to name my interceptor version of the TSR2 the "Nemesis" .In greek mythology, Nemesis was the goddess of vengeance and retribution.. In Roman mythology, Nemesis was one of the five Furies - the goddesses of the underworld . Certainly flew in the face of official name policy in Britain!!

My yet to be finished Strategic Reconaissance version of Concorde will be named "Hyperion". In Greek mythology, the titan Hyperion was the sun god. In english, his name means "watcher from above" - again, appropriate to type.

One of my "what ifs" to be is going to be a maritime patrol version of the KC-135 - the MR-135! I'm going to use the Airfix E3-D as the basis as, it has the longer fuselage of the standard 707. I thought I'd call it the "Argus" ( the 100 eyed watchman of Hades!). However,the Canadians got there first! Neptune and Poseidon have already been taken!.  Any suggestions?  Polite ones please!!










forthcoming attractions ;
Republic XP-47 Thunderbolt (bubble top)
r r Trent engined Lockheed C-5K Galaxy  (RAF)
Boeing MR-135
Avro Vulcan 2000 ( with "C" wing)
XB-70 Valkyrie with GTD-21 drone
Westland A1 Firedrake - USAF/US Navy licence built Wyvern

[Maverick]

"Oceanus" was a titan of the world ocean according to Wiki if that helps.

Regards,

Mav

[Old Wombat]

Just out of curiousity why not E class?

Same reason there is usually no "I" (or sometimes "J") class;  the letters E & F, like I & J, are too similar in appearance & too often easily confused when written.
It is, also, why there is almost never a "P" or "Q" class, as they look too similar to "R" & "O"; &, sometimes, either "C" or "G" classes are dropped for the same reason.

(Note: the letter dropped is usually the one with the least number of available terms which may be used as names.)

[Weaver]

Just out of curiousity why not E class?

Same reason there is usually no "I" (or sometimes "J") class;  the letters E & F, like I & J, are too similar in appearance & too often easily confused when written.
It is, also, why there is almost never a "P" or "Q" class, as they look too similar to "R" & "O"; &, sometimes, either "C" or "G" classes are dropped for the same reason.

(Note: the letter dropped is usually the one with the least number of available terms which may be used as names.)

Errr, ref my previous post, there IS a current RN E-class: survey ships Enterprise and Echo. Previously, there were two cruisers, laid down at the end on WWI, called Emerald and Enterprise, which served in WWII. These were the last cruisers to have letter-series names: after that, they went to "theme" names like counties, towns, classics and colonies.

In WWII, destroyers used all the letters with few exceptions, Indeed some sub-series had to be created and some were used twice. There were A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V (2 series),W (2 series),Z,Ca,Ch,Co,Cr classes, plus all the non-letter one-offs and series such as the Tribals, Weapons, Battles and Hunts.

[Mr.Creak]

One of my "what ifs" to be is going to be a maritime patrol version of the KC-135 - the MR-135! I'm going to use the Airfix E3-D as the basis as, it has the longer fuselage of the standard 707. I thought I'd call it the "Argus" ( the 100 eyed watchman of Hades!). However,the Canadians got there first!

Heimdall.

Heimdallr is attested as possessing foreknowledge, keen eyesight and hearing, is described as "the whitest of the gods", and keeps watch for the onset of Ragnarök while drinking fine mead in his dwelling Himinbjörg, located where the burning rainbow bridge Bifröst meets heaven.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimdallr

Neptune and Poseidon have already been taken!.  Any suggestions?  Polite ones please!!

Still on a Norse theme: Ægir
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86gir

[tigercat]

how about Proteus

HMS Example seems to be the most recently introduced name into the Royal Navy.

[NARSES2]

This thread just proves my own theory - all the names people have come up with on it here sound absolutely spot on to me, whereas any name I come up with sounds daft  There has to be some complex phsycology at work here ? 

[Rheged]

What's in a name? Interesting question but, I think it's quite important and adds a bit of character to your model. Any suggestions?  Polite ones please!!

How about Triton?

[albeback]

Thanks for all the ideas folks.

I've decided upon "Triton"  for my MR-135. Triton was the son of Posiedon. I must admit , I liked Heimdall but, I think a Norse god's name might just be TOO esoteric! Thor might be a good name for something though?

However, it would certainly be appropriate if any of the Scandinavian countries were to operate such an aircraft.I decided on "Firedrake" as the name for my forthcoming US version of the Wyvern as,given that a Wyvern is a mythical creature from ancient English heraldry, I reckoned it might be a bit "way out" for our transatlantic friends ( no offence folks!) A firedrake is simply another (perhaps more familiar) name for a fire breathing Dragon

[Old Wombat]

Just out of curiousity why not E class?

Same reason there is usually no "I" (or sometimes "J") class;  the letters E & F, like I & J, are too similar in appearance & too often easily confused when written.
It is, also, why there is almost never a "P" or "Q" class, as they look too similar to "R" & "O"; &, sometimes, either "C" or "G" classes are dropped for the same reason.

(Note: the letter dropped is usually the one with the least number of available terms which may be used as names.)

Errr, ref my previous post, there IS a current RN E-class: survey ships Enterprise and Echo. Previously, there were two cruisers, laid down at the end on WWI, called Emerald and Enterprise, which served in WWII. These were the last cruisers to have letter-series names: after that, they went to "theme" names like counties, towns, classics and colonies.

In WWII, destroyers used all the letters with few exceptions, Indeed some sub-series had to be created and some were used twice. There were A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V (2 series),W (2 series),Z,Ca,Ch,Co,Cr classes, plus all the non-letter one-offs and series such as the Tribals, Weapons, Battles and Hunts.

My apologies, my inference, perhaps poorly put, was that they are usually not used. Although that is, by no means, strictly adhered to.

Also, as type-face fonts & printers (especially, but, again, not exclusively) become better & clearer the general rule-of-thumb not to have E/F, P/R, O/Q, etc. operational at the same time is becoming less of a rule & more a suggestion, & will probably fade away entirely once all names are written in eTxt.