KC-46 Pegasus - Nomenclature
The Air Force intended to designate its next aerial refueling aircraft the KC-45, regardless of whether Boeing's KC-767 or Northrop Grumman's KC-30 won the KC-X tanker replacement contest. The Air Force approved the designation on 14 November 2006, based on an Air Mobility Command recommendation.
There were two series of C-planes, one beginning in 1924 and ending in 1962, and another one beginning in 1962 and continuing to the present day. The Beechcraft Model 18, or "Twin Beech", as it was better known, is a 6-11 place, twin-engine, low-wing, conventional-gear aircraft that was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. This model saw service during and after World War II in a number of versions including the United States Army Air Forces C-45 Expeditor.
Andreas Parsch reports that "The C-42 designation was not assigned. There is a very popular small sport plane, which is marketed world-wide under the "C-42" (or "C42") label: the German Comco-Ikarus C-42. A DOD source said unofficially, that there was some concern about potential legal issues if C-42 would be used for an MDS, and that this number was therefore skipped. The designations C-43 and C-44 were skipped to avoid potential confusion with the existing T/CT-43 and T-44 designators. According to unofficial information from DOD, there is an informal policy in effect to avoid duplication of "well-known" numbers. However, C-45 was not skipped (KC-45A is the official MDS for the KC-X tanker program), and it remains unclear why T-45 should be any less "well-known" than T-43 and -44. One possible explanation is that both the T-43 (Boeing 707) and T-44 (Raytheon/Beech King Air) are transport-type airframes (the T-45 is a two-seat jet), and that it was therefore avoided to assign numbers 43 and 44 to other transport aircraft as well." One authoritative source asserts that the C-43 is the US Coast Guard military version of Canadair CL-641 Challenger, but there is no such aircraft.
When the Airbus KC-30 entry won the tanker competition, it assumed the KC-45 nomenclature. In principle, two entirely different aircraft cannot, or at least should not, have the same designation though there is one famous exception to this rule. So when Boeing finally won the competition, the KC-45 designator was already taken, leaving KC-46 next in line.
The KC-46A Pegasus received its official name “Pegasus” on 10 February 2014. The name Pegasus h was announced at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium Feb. 20 in Orlando, FL.
The DoD 5000 series and Air Force regulations 63 series for how to do program management are very complex and hard to figure out. The popular naming process is equally complex. The Air Force spent a couple of years trying to get to the name Pegasus, but thanks to the Secretary, the Chief, and particularly former Air Mobility Command Commander General Selva, they got to the name Pegasus and it received wide acclaim from across the enterprise.
Tanker program spokesman Jerry Drelling told the Puget Sound Business Journal that Boeing liked the Air Force name. “In Greek mythology, the meaning of the name Pegasus carries an emphasis on helping others, and doing that in many ways,” he wrote. “Given the KC-46A tanker’s multi-role capabilities — air refueling and the transportation of patients, passengers and cargo — the U.S. Air Force couldn’t have settled on a better, more inspirational name.”
Pegasus, in Greek mythology, was a winged horse, the offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, which sprang from the body of the latter when Perseus struck off her head. When Medusa was slain by Perseus, there sprang from her body the winged horse Pegasus. He was called Pegasus because he was supposed to have made his appearance near the sources of the ocean.
The son of Glaucus, and grandson of Sisyphus, according to the narrative in Iliad, Bellerophon. was driven forth by King Proetus on account of the false accusations of his wife Anteia, who had become enamored of him, but had been repulsed. Prcetus sent him to Anteia's father, Iobates, King of Lycia, with a scaled message, which advised his death. To accomplish his death, Iobates sent him to kill the Chimsera, and, when he had accomplished this task, dispatched him against Solymi and the Amazons, both of whom he defeated, finally destroying an ambuscade set by Iobates to slay him. Satisfied of his bravery and innocence, Iobates gave him his daughter in marriage. Later writers modified the story in various ways. Bellerophon was transferred from Argos to Corinth and made son of Poseidon. He was also aided in killing the Chimera by Athena, who enabled him to capture the winged horse Pegasus.
Pegasus was caught at the spring Pirene, in Corinth, by Bellerophon, who tamed Pegasus by means of a golden bridle which the goddess Athena (Minerva) presented to him. Mounted on the back of Pegasus, Bellerophon was able to slay the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster, part lion, part goat, and part dragon. Bellerophon made use of him in his conflict with the Chimera and in subsequent wars. Pegasus remained the faithful companion of Bellerophon, carrying him wherever he chose.
At last Bellerophon impiously attempted to mount up to heaven, but Zeus (Jupiter) sent a gadfly which stung Pegasus so that he threw Bellerophon, who fell to the earth, lame and blind. Pegasus was believed to have flown up to heaven and to have taken his place among the stars. Pindar tells how Bellerophon tried to ascend to heaven upon Pegasus, but was dashed to the earth. This version was combined with an earlier account by making Bellerophon fall upon the Aleian Plain, where he wandered blind and lame. Bellerophon's adventures formed the subject of a lost play by Sophocles, and of two lost plays by Euripides. In art Bellerophon is frequently represented with Pegasus alone, but more often in battle with the Chimera.
But he left behind him traces of his residence upon earth. One of these long existed in the shape of the Hippocrene spring on Mount Helicon, which was popularly believed to have been caused by a blow from Pegasus' hoof. The same story is told of several other fountains in Greece. The muses of Mount Helicon are represented as paring special honor to Pegasus for his gift. Pegasus, in later days, became the steed on which the poet is carried into the realms of poetic fancy. In astronomy the Flying Horse, one of the 20 ancient northern constellations, bounded on the north by Lacerta and Andromeda, on the south by Aquarius, on the east by Pisces and on the west by Equeleus and Delphinus. It is on the meridian in September at midnight. Alpha Pegasi is Markah, Beta Pegasi is Scheat and Gamma Pegasi is Algonib. These with Alpha Andromeda constitute the great square of Pegasus.
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