Her name "Swoosie" is derived from "Swoose" - half swan, half goose - which was the name of the B-17D bomber that her father piloted in World War II. This same aircraft (USAAC 40-3097) once carried future-president Lyndon B. Johnson back to Australia from Port Moresby, New Guinea, after he rode as a Navy observer on a B-26 raid on Lae. It is now owned by the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
