Admiral Shyte-Awk
Title
Admiral Shyte-Awk
Description
Top - photograph of an airman in the cockpit of a Lancaster. On the fuselage below nose art of duck with peaked cap walking down road with sign to Berlin. Row of bomb symbols underneath.
Below - explanation that Admiral Shyte-Awk was the aircraft that Pete Perry flew during tour of operations. Explains how station commander ordered nose art removed but relented and explanation of admiral title.
Below - explanation that Admiral Shyte-Awk was the aircraft that Pete Perry flew during tour of operations. Explains how station commander ordered nose art removed but relented and explanation of admiral title.
Creator
Language
Format
One b/w photograph and accompanying text
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
MPerryWRP1317696-170719-09
Transcription
[photograph]
[underlined] Admiral Shyte-Awk [/underlined]
ZN-Z Admiral Shyte-Awk, the aircraft that Pete Perry DFC flew doing a tour of operations, then on to his second tour when the war ended. First he flew Admiral Dumbo ZN-T, the flying elephant (and it was) so he was pleased to get ZN-Z.
A new station commander decided to inspect the airfield, ground crew, aircraft, etc. and took umbrage at the name of ZN-Z; he ordered the ground crew to remove it. As soon as he moved on, Pete's ground crew sergeant rang Pete for help and was informed to obey the last order, then was ordered by Pete to leave the name on! Pete then went to his Squadron C.O. who obviously stood up for Pete and his crew, knowing that they would probably feel superstitious about a change of name after flying successful operations in ZN-Z Admiral Shyte-Awk, so the name stayed.
[underlined] Why the Admiral Prefix? [/underlined]
At that time 106 Squadron was still the 5 Group designated ship attack Squadron and there were two Fleet Air Arm Observer lieutenants attached to them: every time they bombed a port, they went along to identify what German naval ships were there.
Audrey J. Perry
[underlined] Admiral Shyte-Awk [/underlined]
ZN-Z Admiral Shyte-Awk, the aircraft that Pete Perry DFC flew doing a tour of operations, then on to his second tour when the war ended. First he flew Admiral Dumbo ZN-T, the flying elephant (and it was) so he was pleased to get ZN-Z.
A new station commander decided to inspect the airfield, ground crew, aircraft, etc. and took umbrage at the name of ZN-Z; he ordered the ground crew to remove it. As soon as he moved on, Pete's ground crew sergeant rang Pete for help and was informed to obey the last order, then was ordered by Pete to leave the name on! Pete then went to his Squadron C.O. who obviously stood up for Pete and his crew, knowing that they would probably feel superstitious about a change of name after flying successful operations in ZN-Z Admiral Shyte-Awk, so the name stayed.
[underlined] Why the Admiral Prefix? [/underlined]
At that time 106 Squadron was still the 5 Group designated ship attack Squadron and there were two Fleet Air Arm Observer lieutenants attached to them: every time they bombed a port, they went along to identify what German naval ships were there.
Audrey J. Perry
Collection
Citation
A J Perry, “Admiral Shyte-Awk,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 20, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/36273.
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