I think sometimes in the military they do refer to them as “ships” like “two-ship formation”
Yeah, I have heard aircraft referred to as ships in the last 10 years or so. One instance I recall was that air force enlistees wanted to be pilots because “then you are captain of your own ship” meaning captain of an aircraft is afforded more control and prestige. The other was a seasoned non-milatary pilot who flies charter prop aircraft and helicopters. He was speaking in an animate fashion about a helicopter that did a miraculous job of pulling a helicopter out of an auto-rotation over a children’s elementary school. He was referring to ‘the ship’ or ‘forgetting to fly the ship’ and staying above the ‘deck’ etc. I don’t recall my father, a pilot, every speaking this way of aircraft - seems to be on the newer or military side.