When Hillary Clinton visited Iraq last month the army Blackhawk helicopter used to transport the senator was given the call sign "broomstick one".  And they say the US armed services have no sense of humour!

This of course rankled the Royal Air Force who themselves were considering the monikerfor Britain’s foreign minister, one Margaret Becket, for her trip! 

Both did consider “Speedbird” but that is still the British Airways call sign, a name lost in antiquity and a concession made by BEA when it took over (or officially combined) with BOAC.

If Santa decides to come he could be called “Bobsleigh” but the bearded man might not be welcome in these politically correct times. 

INCIDENTALLY  PLUS

Not a true “Incidentally” but nevertheless worth a mention, is the winning of a campaign by ABTN (and others) to establish a proper name for EMA.  The airport is now to be officially called East Midlands Airport – Nottingham, Leicester, Derby.  We are not sure how many committee meetings were required to establish the running order of the secondary names but we think it should be alphabetical, not the other way around.  None of this of course worries the good folk of Doncaster.  They grabbed the name Robin Hood and neither the Sheriff nor anyone else can do a thing about it.  Kevin Costner will be pleased!