Jumbo Jets?

Have you ever wondered how the word jumbo entered our English language and was then applied to jet airliners?

Apparently, the word was derived as a name for a famous over-sized pachyderm and is comprised of "two Swahili words: jambo, which means "hello," or jumbe, which means "chief."" I haven't found any record of who first used it as a descriptor for the Boeing 747 when that amazing aircraft took to the skies. Was it some genius in the Boeing marketing department? Or perhaps an aviation reporter at a Seattle newspaper?

Anyway, there's a Canadian connection in that Jumbo expired at St. Thomas, Ontario after a collision with an express train. The name of the locomotive engineer is not recorded. Just as well. Who would want to be known as the man who brought down Jumbo?

Tomorrow I have an item about two other Jumbos that were also brought down by Canadians.

More information about Jumbo the elephant and his sad demise is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo
and here:
http://www.picturehistory.com/find/c/359/mcms.html