A FAMILY. 1973

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1973

15.2 x 11.6cm, 16pp plus card covers and printed dust jacket. Artist’s book listing a series of forenames in facsimile of handwriting in red
The names are “Rufe Betty, Val, Tony, Kate, judy, Nick, Cherry, Jill, Jake, Nell, Emily, Zeke” which are all nicknames of world war aircraft.
“In the second half of 1942, a colorful set of code names was developed in the Southwest Pacific Theater by the Air Technical Intelligence Unit (ATIU) of the Allied Air Forces in Australia. The head of the unit, Captain Frank T. McCoy Jr. was from Nashville, Tennessee, and the first few code names were hillbilly names such as ZEKE, NATE, PETE, JAKE and RUFE, as they were simple, short and distinctive. The basic system spread rapidly, and by late 1942, was adopted for use by both the USAAF and USN. In general, the code names were assigned using the following system, although several exceptions exist:”. Hence Finlay shows the various aircraft as a related family because of this familiar way of reference. VG+.

A 3 x 14cm, 1pp “bookmark” which has the name of the Press on it and a red circle – referencing the Japanese origin of these airplanes.