Fascinating, indeed, and thanks for the amazing explanation. When I saw the subject line it made no sense to me, but if it's good enough for a
Baptist preacher, hey, why should anyone complain? ;)
I suppose there's no reason why a WWII bomber might not also have been named T9C - look at
Enola Gay! Which is more recognisably human, of course.
Maybe the T9C people were premature? I once met a tall, welll-built man who must have had a name but was universally known as Boxy "because" when he was born, he was so tiny that his parents bedded him down in a shoe box. And the nickname stuck. Seems a weird reason, but it was normal to him which is what counts.