Q:

Thunderbirds F.A.B

In Gerry Anderson's 'Thunderbirds'(1965-66), the Tracy brothers (Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and Alan) would respond on the radio 

"F.A.B."

meaning 'affirmative' or 'understood'. 

There are many theories as to the meaning to this acronym.  While watching 'The Right Stuff', I noted that Virgil Grissom would respond to the other astronauts with the phrase 

F..... A, Bubba! 

meaning 'affirmative' or 'understood'.
Given that this was a phrase used by the real Mercury Astronauts, five of whom were the namesakes for the Tracy boys, could this Gerry Anderson's source for the acronym?

A:

If those real-life astronauts provided the show with any inspiration beyond their names, I can't find documentation to support it--in fact, quite the opposite.
Gerry Anderson says F.A.B isn't meant to be an abbreviation for any particular phrase; the real-life inspiration was "fabulous" ("fab" was a common slang in the 60s) and that's it.

FAB stands for absolutely nothing! In the Sixties when the series was made the abbreviation "fab" as in "fabulous" was all the rage and I just changed it a bit.

There's apparently a tie-in comic where F.A.B means "For Always Brothers," but I can't track down the source yet. Even that citation points out it's just one issue of a comic (whose writers probably had little to no contact with the TV show).

