# Famous Names of Airplanes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701 "2009-12-18T01:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/1 "2009-12-18T01:53:40Z")
I overheard because, well once again I was listening to someone yell into a cell phone, and anyway she said she was going to list a bunch of famous airplane names. Then she got off the bus. Anyway, I got to thinking, I can only think of two famous airplane names: “The Spirit of St Louis,” (Charles Lindberg) and “The Enola Gay.” (Atomic Bomb) Can anyone else help me out here. Name me some famous airplane names and why? ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/2 "2009-12-18T01:58:59Z")
Air Force One ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/3 "2009-12-18T02:02:39Z")
Spruce Goose ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/4 "2009-12-18T02:04:57Z")
**Glamorous Glennis** , the X-1 that Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier with. ---
**Author:** ![imfloating](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc79bd/32.png) [@imfloating](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imfloating)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/5 "2009-12-18T02:06:15Z")
The Wright Flyer ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/6 "2009-12-18T02:06:52Z")
The Wright Flyer. Clipper _Maid of the Seas_ (lost in the bombing of Pan Am 103) The _Memphis Belle_, a famous B-17. _Sentimental Journey_, for the same reasons. _Miss Veedol_, the plane that made the first nonstop trans-Pacific flight. The Phoenix from the movie of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/7 "2009-12-18T02:06:58Z")
[The Vin Fiz](http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Vin_Fiz/EX6.htm) [Winnie Mae](http://www.air-racing-history.com/aircraft/Winnie%20Mae%20Lockheed%20Vega.htm) ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/8 "2009-12-18T02:08:21Z")
Alexander Graham Bell’s Silver Dart > [@](#): > > …the Silver Dart embodied all of the advancements found in the earlier machines. On February 23, 1909, Bell was present as the Silver Dart flown by J.A.D. McCurdy from the frozen ice of Bras d’Or, made the first aircraft flight in Canada ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/9 "2009-12-18T02:08:33Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Spruce Goose That was the nickname that various news reporters gave the plane. Hughes himself hated it and it was never used in any official way for the plane. The official name was _Hercules._ ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/10 "2009-12-18T02:16:06Z")
Pappy Boyington’s “lulubelle” ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/11 "2009-12-18T02:54:59Z")
Songbird. Sky King’s airplane. Sky King was the main character on a TV show of the same name that I watched on Saturday’s when I was kid in the late 50s. Omigod, how I loved Saturday TV. > **[The Official Sky King Website](https://www.skyking.com/)** > > The Official Sky King Website. Welcome to the website of the Sky King Productions! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/12 "2009-12-18T03:25:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Air Force One Technically that’s not a name, though; it’s a radio callsign that would apply to any (USAF) airplane which the President of the United States is a passenger on. Not as well known as _Enola Gay_, but [_Bockscar_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bockscar) was the bomber that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/13 "2009-12-18T03:26:26Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > **Glamorous Glennis** , the X-1 that Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier with. Bugger! See what I get for commuting today? Ok… [_Spirit of Columbus_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_of_Columbus.jpg), a 1953 Cessna 180 in which Geraldine ‘Jerry’ Mock became the first woman to pilot an aircraft around the world in 1964. [_The Swoose_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swoose), a B-17D flown by Frank Kurtz. He named his daughter, actress Swoosie Kurtz, after the plane. . ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/14 "2009-12-18T03:46:10Z")
> **[MacCready Gossamer Condor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Condor)** > > The MacCready Gossamer Condor was the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight; as such, it won the Kremer prize in 1977. Its design was led by Paul MacCready of AeroVironment, Inc. > The Kremer Prize had been set up in 1959 by Henry Kremer, a British industrialist, and offered £50,000 in prize money to the first group that could fly a human-powered aircraft over a figure-eight course covering a total of one mile (1.6 kilometers). The course also included a ten-fo... ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/15 "2009-12-18T03:51:09Z")
The Batplane? ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/16 "2009-12-18T04:29:00Z")
There are a few racing airplanes that are well known, such as [Dago Red](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dago_Red) and **Strega**. Then there’s **Fifi** , the only flyable B-29 remaining. And Betty Skelton’s aerobatic plane **Lil Stinker**. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/17 "2009-12-18T04:57:01Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [_The Swoose_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swoose), a B-17D flown by Frank Kurtz. He named his daughter, actress Swoosie Kurtz, after the plane. I can’t believe someone posted that one before I could. I’ve actually seen that plane; well, most of it, anyway. [The Ruptured Duck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruptured_Duck_%28B-25%29), one of the B-25s used in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/18 "2009-12-18T05:00:26Z")
[Space Ship One](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne) and [Voyager](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager), both designed and built by Burt Rutan. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/19 "2009-12-18T11:59:04Z")
I didn’t think SpaceShipOne counted, it’s a space ship. If it does, then the VSS Enterprise counts. That’s the first SpaceShipTwo. If it doesn’t, Eve counts. That’s the first WhiteKnightTwo. Named after Branson’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/20 "2009-12-18T13:33:38Z")
_Clipper Maid of the Seas,_ the Pan Am airplane that Qadaffi destroyed over Lockerbie, Scotland [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701.md?page=2)