# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JessMagic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@JessMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/61 "2011-11-27T14:51:12Z")
Led Zep’s plane (sort of), The Starship: > **[The Starship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starship)** > > The Starship was a former United Airlines Boeing 720 passenger jet, bought by Bobby Sherman and his manager, Ward Sylvester, and leased to touring musical artists in the mid-1970s. > The Starship, N7201U (S/N: 17907), was the first Boeing 720 built. It was delivered to United Airlines in October 1960 and then purchased in 1973 by Contemporary Entertainment. > English rock band Led Zeppelin used the aircraft for their 1973 and 1975 North American concert tours. During the 1972 tour and in the early ... ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/62 "2011-11-27T15:37:21Z")
Mother of all flying machines _The Starship Enterprise._ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/63 "2011-11-27T18:29:40Z")
[Kee Bird](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kee_Bird) and [Glacier Girl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_Girl), famous for getting stuck in Greenland’s ice. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/64 "2011-11-27T21:24:35Z")
The [Laden Maiden](http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33364) (which I have been in) The [Gimli Glider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider). ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/65 "2011-11-28T01:22:47Z")
The [Good Ship Lollipop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Good_Ship_Lollipop). Yes, it was an _airplane_, not a boat. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/66 "2011-11-29T16:52:08Z")
[The Liberty Belle](http://www.libertyfoundation.org/index.html) And here’s a [list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortresses)of other B-17s either on display, in restoration, or flying from our friends at Wikipedia. [Spirit of Texas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_Texas) Flown by H. Ross Perot Jr. and Jay Coburn this helicopter completed the first circumnavigation of the world by helicopter [Chicago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aerial_circumnavigation) First plane to complete a round-the-world flight from April 6 to September 28, 1924 [Polar Star](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Gamma) Flown by Lincoln Ellsworth, this plane completed the first trans-Antarctic flight in November 1935 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/67 "2011-11-29T17:42:44Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Mother of all flying machines _The Starship Enterprise._ On a more serious note, the Space Shuttle _Enterprise_, along with her various siblings, such as _Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis_, and _Endeavour_. Admittedly, they didn’t make very _good_ airplanes, but then again, what they were designed to do, they did better than most other planes could hope to. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701/68 "2011-11-29T23:38:59Z")
So I’m reading this thread, just hoping no one mentions the Gimli Glider so that I can do it, and what do you know, post #30… I got to it in 2009, so I never had a chance. 😃 The [Pregnant Guppy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Pregnant_Guppy) was a single variant of the Boeing 377, named because it looked like, well, a pregnant guppy. Not quite meeting the OP’s criteria, but interesting nonetheless: The Pregnant Guppy is the inspiration for the handful of [Super Guppies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy) and the two Mini Guppy planes. I’m not sure if they have individual names, but the Airbus Beluga is interesting because “Beluga” was originally an unofficial name for the Super Transporter. It became so popular that Airbus changed the name, though it applies to 5 aircraft, not just one. Similarly, there are 4 Dreamlifter (747 Large Cargo Freighter) airplanes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-names-of-airplanes/521701.md?page=3)