What's In A Name? |
"Slow Flight"My dad is my co-owner. Dad was a crew member at the end of WWII in PBY-5A's. The British gave the PBY's the nick name "Catalina". They were known for their low air speeds. It was a common saying that they "take off at 90 knots, cruise at 90 knots and land at 90 knots". The actual airspeeds were a bit different, but it was also said that "Nothing flies slower than a PBY". Dad and I are both licensed pilots. Dad flew a wide variety of planes and is rated in multi engines, retractable gear, IFR and seaplanes. I am only rated in small single engine sea planes (Cessna 172 on floats). So we wanted an aviation theme for the boat name. We are also members of a group trying to purchase a PBY-5A to bring back to the old Navy seaplane base at Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island (PBYMF). After a few weeks of sailing, Dad came up with the name "Slow Flight" based on the flight characteristics of the PBY. I added a graphic of a PBY-5A on both sides of the boat. Then I made the lettering for the name slant back toward the stern on both sides just as they often do on airplane numbers (italics on the port side and reverse italics on the starboard side). More recently I added a spinnaker to my sail inventory and drew a picture of a PBY-5A on it. Looks great. Did you know that it was a PBY which found and continued to track the German battle ship Bismarck? It was also a PBY which found the Japanese Navy near Midway. And it was a PBY which found the Japanese forces occupying the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. One admiral once needed to be flown to a different location during the war in the Pacific. He took the first plane which could carry him and his entourage. It was a PBY. But he couldn't go without a fighter escort. So two fighters were sent along. The admiral asked "Why do those fighters keep circling our plane?". The answer was "Because if they didn't, they would fall out of the sky.". I've gotten some guff about racing with a boat with Slow in its name. But I'm not changing nothin'!
Boat renaming ceremonies:
Ralph's Really Right Renaming Regimen
I work from home. You can too!
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