I can't think of any Air Force that has Sea Creatures for a Squadron name.
Even the Chinese have it in their Navy.
Think of a bird that flies over Water. Pelican.
There is no K-8 sqn named Sherdils. Sherdils is merely an aerobatics group that borrows jets from No.1 FCU.
No.19 sqn'x former name was war hawks (during F-7 times). Now its Sherdil. Squadron insignia remains the same.
See, that's my point.
- You have a Aerobatics Team that for some reason choose the name of an (exsisting) Squadron. Its as if the English Dictionary and/or the Urdu لغت miraculously ran out of words.
- And at the other end of the rainbow, No. 19 Squadron moved on from War hawks to Sherdils, but couldn't for some reason part from the Hawk insignia. So on the Patches, the Hawk still appears, but on the Tail of an F-16 is a Lion. There are some mysteries that should never be touched.
Apparently, there is something behind the name 'Dashings'. I swear to God..., I don't care if my sh!tty Mitsubishi shot down an F-35 with its exhaust pipe - I would name it: Dashings.
Sorry, the list I had put it as plural. But i'll make my point about the 'Phoenix' as you did for the History of the 'Black Panthers'.
A Phoenix is a long-lived bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again.
So you see my reservations as to why they named an entire Squadron after 1 mystical creature. As I stated in my earlier post, it would have suited one of the VIP Transports in the PAF. Oh well, its water under the bridge. Wish a great deal of thought would have gone in naming them that.
Originality argument aside. It fits the image
I hate knockoffs, especially when its a prominent one. Truth be told, the Bulls insignia isn't all that hard to create. Hell, I could design one on my own if I put 5-man hours into it.
So, cats, lions, tigers are all subspecies of a panther type.
I always assume it being the other way around, that Lions, Tigers, Panthers, Pumas, Cheetahs were subspecies of...Cats.
Truth be told, I hate 2-word Squadron Names regardless of which Air Force/Navy it may be.
Ours: Tail Choppers, Black Panthers/Spiders
Don't get me started if the word 'The' is part of it.