What was the most common individual aircraft nickname?

[Noha307]

I know that a lot of individual aircraft nicknames get reused multiple times, so I was just wondering: What nickname was used on the most aircraft?

To be clear, I am not asking about nicknames for a model of aircraft like the C-17 being known as the Globemaster III, but for an individual airframe. (i.e. The type of nickname that often forms part of the nose art.) Also, while I didn't specify, feel free to include post World War II or civilian aircraft if you like.

The two possible candidates that I know of are Liberty Belle and of course Memphis Belle with 28+1 and 9+1 airframes respectively. (The +1 depends if you count the warbird Liberty Belle and a civilian airliner called Spirit of Memphis Belle, respectively.) Anyone know of anything that can beat those? How about for non-bombers?

[JohnTerrell]

"Sleepy Time Gal" was an extremely popular one in WWII - multiple B-17's, B-24's, B-29's, P-61, P-47 and P-51.

"Moonbeam McSwine" was another popular one in WWII - multiple B-17's, B-24, Mosquito and P-51 I'm aware of, which of course came from the "Li'l Abner" series. There was also a P-51 of the 15th FG named "Moonshine McSwine".

"Heavenly Body" was another name that found itself on a number of bombers plus at least one P-51.

[JohnB]

A quick glance at my trusty B-17 Nose Art Name Directory
lists a lot of names that were popular.
A song or film title seem to suggest many names.

In no particular order...
(The) Bad Penny: 13
Boomerang: 15
Heaven Can Wait: 11
Homesick Angel:14
Lady Luck: 16
Lassie Come Home: 10
Fearless Fosdick: 10
Old Ironsides: 11
Paper Doll: 19
Sleepy time Gal:13
(The) Reluctant Dragon: 11
Queenie: 16
Piccadilly Lilly (various spelling): 11
Pistol Packin' Momma: 16
Patches: 19
Paper Doll: 20

And many more.
And that's just B-17s.

Last edited by JohnB on Fri Aug 30, 2019 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark Sampson]

My father's B-17 was called the "Section 8", a name I've never seen on another airplane.
It's well known that Disney sent illustrators to the air corps to help design and paint nose art... thus a drooling Disney wolf is part of the "Section 8" logo.
So the aircrews may have had some help naming their planes, as well as assistance designing their nose art.

[quemerford]

Memphis Belle must be in the teens by now?

[Dan K]

During a VERY Quick sweep through B-24 Nose Art Name Directory, I believe "Pistol Packin' Mama" was most-numerous at around 30 examples.

Not mentioned on the leader board yet is "Daisy Mae". "Paper Doll", "Lady Luck", and "Patches" in the higher counts for Liberators as well.

For those inclined to check it out online:

https://epdf.pub/b-24-nose-art-name-dir ... mbers.html

[Thomas_Mac]

My father's B-17 was called the "Section 8", a name I've never seen on another airplane.

There is a restored P-51 named "Section 8"

[Stephan Wilkinson]

My late friend Bob Parke named his B-17 Eustice Tilley. Unless you were a reader of The New Yorker Magazine, you had no idea what that name meant, but Bob had been an ad salesman for The New Yorker before he went into the AAF. He had a lot of persuading to do with his crew before they allowed the name to be painted on the nose.

[JohnB]

I would wager that my father ( B-17 co-pilot at the end of the war), and most other B-17 pilots from somewhere West of the Hudson, weren't readers of The New Yorker.