The War Department cooked up many creative ways to sell war bonds during WWII. In 1942 citizens of Ada County were given the chance to name a B-17 Flying Fortress, which would be the designated Ada County bomber.
The contest to name the bomber got good play in the Idaho Statesman. The rules were simple: The name had to be 24 characters or fewer and it had to be associated with Ada County.
More than 1,000 people entered the contest for a chance to win a $25 war bond. The proposed names ranged from the obvious to the ridiculous. Esto Perpetua was what Mrs. Merle Green of Caldwell proposed. Cruis-Ada (as in, crusader) was a cute play on words. Someone suggested Syringa, the state flower. Arrowrock Whizz Bang was one entry. Playing up the war bond theme Mrs. Lulu Johnson of Meridian entered the name Ada’s Victory Bondadier.
Several entries honored William E. Borah and C.G. “Kiddo” Phillips, the owner of KIDO radio who had recently passed away.
The winning name was Adavenger. Six people came up with that one, so someone drew the name out of a fishbowl at a war bond event at the Boise Victory Center. Maurine Busath was the first one picked, so she got the war bond.
A few weeks later the paper ran a picture of the B-17 with Adavenger painted just behind the machine gun turret in the nose. The Adavenger was one of 12,731 B-17 aircraft produced by Boeing in Seattle for the effort.
The War Department promised to send news to Ada County about the bomber’s activities “unless military censorship prevents.”
In September, the Statesman reported that the Flying Fortress was “off to bomb Berlin.” The airplane was never mentioned again in the pages of the newspaper.
The contest to name the bomber got good play in the Idaho Statesman. The rules were simple: The name had to be 24 characters or fewer and it had to be associated with Ada County.
More than 1,000 people entered the contest for a chance to win a $25 war bond. The proposed names ranged from the obvious to the ridiculous. Esto Perpetua was what Mrs. Merle Green of Caldwell proposed. Cruis-Ada (as in, crusader) was a cute play on words. Someone suggested Syringa, the state flower. Arrowrock Whizz Bang was one entry. Playing up the war bond theme Mrs. Lulu Johnson of Meridian entered the name Ada’s Victory Bondadier.
Several entries honored William E. Borah and C.G. “Kiddo” Phillips, the owner of KIDO radio who had recently passed away.
The winning name was Adavenger. Six people came up with that one, so someone drew the name out of a fishbowl at a war bond event at the Boise Victory Center. Maurine Busath was the first one picked, so she got the war bond.
A few weeks later the paper ran a picture of the B-17 with Adavenger painted just behind the machine gun turret in the nose. The Adavenger was one of 12,731 B-17 aircraft produced by Boeing in Seattle for the effort.
The War Department promised to send news to Ada County about the bomber’s activities “unless military censorship prevents.”
In September, the Statesman reported that the Flying Fortress was “off to bomb Berlin.” The airplane was never mentioned again in the pages of the newspaper.
A B-17 Flying Fortress like this one carried the name Adavenger when it was deployed to England for the war effort. A reporter in Seattle commenting on its defensive firepower when the model was introduced said, “It’s a flying fortress.” The name stuck. Photo by Airwolfhound - commons file, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70277974
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