ericbee123 wrote:Always wondered why the Vulcan was named after Spock's home planet from Star Trek ?
Is it because the shape of it is similar to the Live Long and Prosper hand sign ? That would be logical.
I'm assuming a fair bit of irony in your question, which is appropriate as the Vulcan is shaped like an iron, particularly as Star Trek did not appear until 14 years after the Vulcan was named
.
Interestingly, following the Avro 698's first and very aerobatic appearance at Farnborough in September 1952, Flight magazine ran an article suggesting the names Apollo, Assegai, Avenger and Albion for the new bomber. The Air Ministry had already shortlisted Artemis, Arqus, Arcturus, Aries, Arthur, Agravaine, Apollyon, Alcock, Acendant, Adamant, Attila, Bowland, Drake, Grenville, Ottawa (Avro's favourite), Raleigh and Sidney. The decision to create the 'V-class' came after the Valiant had already received its name. The name for the Handley Page H.P. 80 would be picked from a shortlist of Vanquisher, Victor, Vulcan and Vehement, with the Avro 698 receiving its name from the same shortlist in October 1952.
Vulcan of course is the Roman god of fire, so quite an appropriate name for a nuclear bomber.