When aircraft became "Ships"

[DamonE]

This has been a burning question for me for sometime. I have seen aircraft often being referred to as a 'Ship' or a 4 Ship formation in books .I can understand if it referrers to a bomber or multi crew/engine aircraft and perhaps a captain and crew scenario .But even a single engine fighter aircraft can be described as a 'Ship' Does anyone know how the term came about ? Is it just American Air Force (USAAC) slang or jargon ? Your replies are welcome.
Thanks, Damon E

[JohnB]

It's certainly not just USAAC jargon.
It predates the USAAC, and can be found in WWI RFC use.

Obviously, it was used by pilots and others in discussions as a shorter way to refer to the aircraft without saying "aeroplane".

[Randy Wilson]

A caption (on the negative best I can tell) on a photo taken at Love Field, Dallas, Texas on 12 November 1918 shows a "25-ship" line up of JN-4s, part of a "Flying Frolic" to celebrate the end of the First World War. My guess is the term ship for an airplane came from "airship".

Randy

[Mark Allen M]

Ah yes! the ole "ship" distinction ...








Four ship formation of P-51D Mustangs over Essex, late 1944


Vultee XP-54-048 Ship 1 in an enclosed area at the Vultee facility, Downey, California 11-2-42

[Randy Wilson]

Hi Mark - yes, those first three are some of the same set of photos that I ID'd for the SMU archives in Dallas. There were 70 photos in all. May I ask where you found them and if there were more? All the best.

Randy

[Russ Matthews]

And let's not forget .. Shirley Temple's famous "Good Ship Lollipop" was an American Airlines DC-2

Still from Bright Eyes (Fox Films, 1934). Note the sign for "VISITING SHIPS" in the background.

Last edited by Russ Matthews on Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark Allen M]

Hi Mark - yes, those first three are some of the same set of photos that I ID'd for the SMU archives in Dallas. There were 70 photos in all. May I ask where you found them and if there were more? All the best.

Randy

Of course you may ask.
http://barnstmr.blogspot.com/2011/01/19 ... as-tx.html
https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/pa ... uage%3Anol

[CoastieJohn]

I would venture to say it was a carryover from the nautical terminology. Ships were here before LTA's or aeroplanes were the buzz. Like a floating ship, there was no doubt a command structure in place in airborne ships. Capt, maybe a First Officer, etc. Also groupings or fleets of aircraft (think of a fleet of ships) may have had something to do with the carry over also. Then there were the flying boats.....

[Chris Brame]

And let's not forget .. Shirley Temple's famous "Good Ship Lollipop" was an American Airlines DC-2

...which crashed with the loss of all 17 aboard on January 14, 1936 near Goodwin, AR. Apparently CFIT; the CAB report on aviation-safety.net lists the cause as undetermined. It was the worst U.S. air crash at the time

[CoastieJohn]

And let's not forget .. Shirley Temple's famous "Good Ship Lollipop" was an American Airlines DC-2

...which crashed with the loss of all 17 aboard on January 14, 1936 near Goodwin, AR. Apparently CFIT; the CAB report on aviation-safety.net lists the cause as undetermined. It was the worst U.S. air crash at the time

IAW with what I found doing a Google News Archives search....the name of the aircraft was the "Southerner".

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 61,6034860

A few crash pics here.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 29,6195181

[DamonE]

Thanks for the info guys! Great to see the images of the JN-4 Jenny's .Any more would be most welcome. Another term also scratching my brain is the 'Plane Captain', referring to (though not limited to) ground marshalling personal at training stations .Any ideas on how that term came about, would be most interested. ( see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxo0L57ebag for reference at approx. 2:38 min ).
Look forward to your reply's. Damon .