# Do fighter pilots have "their own" plane?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fighter-pilots-have-their-own-plane/968783>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 29, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fighter-pilots-have-their-own-plane/968783 "2022-07-29T15:17:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 12

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**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fighter-pilots-have-their-own-plane/968783/12 "2022-07-29T20:33:41Z")

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There’s a detailed reply in the thread I linked from @LSLGuy in post 8. Here’s a blurb:

> [@Military vehicle and crews question](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-vehicle-and-crews-question/772249/8):
>
> By contrast, the pilot has no particular connection to “his” airplane. Any pilot will fly any airplane on any given day. In my era we had about 2x as many pilots as aircraft and so not everyone could have their name on an aircraft at once. The brass all had their name on one permanently, so the ordinary guys had to share naming on the few remaining airplanes. They typically got their name on a plane for only a few months out of a typical 2-3 year tour. Getting your picture taken on the ladder standing by your name on “your” airplane was an important part of the ceremony.

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