The Epoch's "Japanese" name (as taken from the retranslation, at least) is Sylbird, which seems to be a portmanteau for Silver Bird. This was the English name for the Sylbervogel, a ramjet rocket designed by Eugen Sänger before the end of WWII for the Germans. The purpose was to create a rocket to strike at America from Germany. Curiously, the Silver Bird used its fuselage to produce lift; the Epoch's design is vaguely similar to body-lift designs as well. More curious still is that Eugen Sänger was a leading expert in aircraft design. Notably, so was Belthasar. And finally, the Epoch does fulfill a long range missile function in CT; it was launched in 2300 and hit Lavos' shell in 1999 (a very long distance to fly), destroying it as a powerful missile might.
Given that the connections are vague and circumstantial, it seems quite unlikely that the CT team named the Epoch after the Silver Bird, but I thought the similarities were interesting enough to merit mentioning here.
