British Military Aircraft Designation Systems - The Military Designation System - Names

Names

The name ("type name") of an aircraft type would be agreed between the Air Ministry or Admiralty and the manufacturer/importer when the order was placed. Names generally followed one or a number of patterns:

• Alliteration was particularly common; e.g. aircraft from Vickers-Armstrongs were given names starting with V, Hawker Aircraft, names starting with H, etc. This began during the First World War, when aircraft manufacturers were given an initial pairing of letters to use in the naming of their aircraft: e.g. Boulton Paul Ltd were given "Bo". From this and the requirement to use the names of birds or insect for fighter aircraft, their first in-house fighter design was the Boulton Paul Bobolink. For bombers the additional requirement was a placename, hence the Boulton Paul Bourges; and its contemporaries - the Airco Amiens and Vickers Vimy (Bourges, Amiens and Vimy all being in France).

• Heavy bombers received the names of cities and towns - Short Stirling, Avro Lancaster, Handley Page Halifax. Likewise Transport aircraft also received the names of cities and towns - Avro York, Vickers Valetta, Handley Page Hastings, Blackburn Beverley.

• Flying boats were given the names of coastal or port communities - Saro London, Supermarine Stranraer, Short Sunderland.

• Land-based maritime patrol aircraft were named for naval explorers - Avro Anson (George Anson, 1st Baron Anson), Lockheed Hudson (Henry Hudson), Avro Shackleton (Ernest Shackleton), Bristol Beaufort (Francis Beaufort).

• Aircraft for army co-operation and liaison and gliders were given names associated with mythological or legendary leaders; e.g. Westland Lysander, Airspeed Horsa, General Aircraft Hamilcar, Slingsby Hengist. A sense of irony was present when some of the names were chosen as Hengist and Horsa were the mythical Germanic leaders in the invasions of the British Isles in the 5th century.

• American aircraft, whether purchased directly or sourced under Lend-Lease, were given American-themed names following established patterns, e.g. the Martin Baltimore, Consolidated Catalina. The American services, with the exception of the U.S. Navy, were not generally in the habit of giving aircraft names, and many British-chosen names would later be adopted; e.g. the North American P-51 Mustang began life as the North American Mustang Mk.I with the RAF. U.S. Navy names, conversely, were being inceasingly adopted by the Fleet Air Arm as 1942 and 1943 progressed, as in the case of the F4F Wildcat shedding its alternative Fleet Air Arm "Martlet" name in favour of the "Wildcat", the original American naval name.

• Naval versions of aircraft not originally ordered for the Fleet Air Arm were given the prefix "Sea" - Sea Hurricane, Sea Venom - though Seafire for the navalised Supermarine Spitfire as a contraction of "Sea Spitfire". Sometimes a named RAF version of an aircraft would be cancelled with the naval version entering service without a corresponding land-based name, e.g. Hawker Sea Fury, de Havilland Sea Vixen.

• Naval aircraft ordered as such had names with a nautical theme - e.g. Supermarine Walrus, Blackburn Roc, Fairey Gannet. Torpedo bombers were given 'fish' names, e.g., Blackburn Shark, Fairey Swordfish, Fairey Barracuda. Mythological names, particularly with an association with water were common, such as Blackburn Iris - named for the goddess of sea and sky, and Nimrod the mighty hunter, used for the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and Hawker Nimrod. Nimrod aside, many naval fighters were named for birds - such as the Fairey Flycatcher, Fairey Fulmar, Blackburn Skua and Grumman Martlet (the martlet being a heraldic bird).

• Training aircraft were given names related to academic institutions - Airspeed Oxford, North American Harvard, Boulton Paul Balliol, Fairchild Cornell. As with other American aircraft purchased, appropriate US names were used - the Harvard and Cornell universities. Alternative names for teachers were also used - De Havilland Dominie, Percival Provost, Miles Magister, Percival Proctor.

• Aircraft built for one role such as the Avro Anson or Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle but converted to other roles rarely changed their names. However significant changes in a design might result in a name change - the Avro Manchester was renamed Avro Lancaster, which was in turn renamed Avro Lincoln as the design was improved, however the Lincoln had more in common with the Manchester than the late models of Spitfire did with the early versions so it wasn't consistent.

• A trend might also be followed by a manufacturer - Hawker Hurricane, Typhoon, Tornado, Tempest.
• Where civilian aircraft types have been taken into service, their existing names or alphanumeric designations have often been retained, e.g. the Vickers VC10 or Lockheed TriStar.

The systems began to change in the immediate post-Second World War period with the V bombers and types such as the Supermarine Scimitar. The RAF's three post-war jet-engined, swept wing strategic bombers were given names beginning with "V" - Vickers Valiant, Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor (the V bombers).