Well done David. The malta crews were a strange lot!! They also called the ASV Wellington the "goofington" though it's nickname in Britain was "sticleback". There was an alternative nickname for the torpedo version but wasn't as original - "torpington"
I think Wellingtons with bombs were also called Bombingtons. Don't know about strange, Kyt, inventive and looking for anything to pass the time in between hunting maybe! The Goofingtons, once they found a convoy etc, would flick on a homing beacon while shadowing the ships so the Fishingtons and Bombingtons (and Beauforts...grin) could come on in. Fascinating stuff.
That is the cable of a barrage balloon wrapped around the propeller of Guy Gibson's Hampden bomber. I have the photo saved on my puter.
Quite right Kitty, you remember it from when I posted it on the "other" site. On May 17th, 1940 when serving with 83 Squadron on a raid to Hamburg, Gibson's Hampden L4070 struck a barrage balloon cable resulting in the cable wrapping around the propellor hub. What happened to the balloon is not known. Your turn Kitty.
Actually the RAF didn't call them anything. The names came from the Maltese, and the myth of only three aircraft came about from that name. However, the reason the Maltese only saw three was because only three took off together at any given time.
Ah, here we go, couldn't find the link: Håkans Aviation page - Gloster Gladiators and Fiat CR.42s over Malta 1940-42
