Nicknames actually used during WWII for American Fighters

[Dan K]

I'm trying to keep it to WWII American Fighters.

WWII American fighters

WWII American fighters

WWII American fighters

*sigh*

[Airlift48]

Yeah.....forgot to keep that in mind when I was reading the thread........

[Elroy13]

I do not think "whistling death" was used for the Corsair by anyone except the war correspondents. It is hard to imagine those words coming out of the mouth of a navy or marine airman of the time. And it is almost certain that the Japanese did not use the expression.

It was the Japanese that came up with the nickname "Whistling Death".

[Jerry O'Neill]

I'm trying to keep it to WWII American Fighters.

WWII American fighters

WWII American fighters

WWII American fighters

*sigh*

Thank you Dan!

The only American Fighters I can conistently come up with are the P-47 and the Corsair.
P-47: Jug
Corsair: Hose Nose, Hog

Any others?
Jerry

[k5083]

I do not think "whistling death" was used for the Corsair by anyone except the war correspondents. It is hard to imagine those words coming out of the mouth of a navy or marine airman of the time. And it is almost certain that the Japanese did not use the expression.

It was the Japanese that came up with the nickname "Whistling Death".

So we are told. I doubt it. I also have never seen any real evidence that the Germans came up with "fork-tailed devil", although that is a little more plausible.

It is very rare for a combatant to use a complimentary nickname to describe an enemy's weapon. Can you think of any instance in which the US or British bestowed such a respectful sobriquet on a piece of enemy equipment? Without convincing evidence to the contrary it is safe to assume that the other side didn't either. On the other hand, it was very common for Allied war reporters to put words in the mouths of the enemy that made them seem respectful or afraid of our forces or equipment. I have no doubt that German and Japanese propagandists did the same.

I.e., don't believe everything you read, no matter how many times.

August

[MacAir]

Spoke to my father-in-law who was a FE on B-17's [483rd BG] and he said that in general they just referred to the numbers:

B17 = 17
P51 = 51
AT6 = 6
Me109 = 109 [he was WIA by one]
etc.

My father [ex-RAAF] always referred to aircraft as:

B-24 = Lib
C-47 = Douglas
Spitfire = Spitty
P-40 = Kitty
Tiger Moth = Tiger

[marine air]

Beech SNB (C-45) "Slow Navy Bomber"

Ryan Pt-22 "Maytag fighter"
The British called the Chesapeake the "Piece of Cake"
post WWII;
A-3 "Whale"
F-8 and A-7 called "Hoovers" and "vacuum cleaners" heard this by Marines, because of their intakes proximity to ground.
Ch-47 CHinook called the "schitt hook"

[JDK]

I do not think "whistling death" was used for the Corsair by anyone except the war correspondents. It is hard to imagine those words coming out of the mouth of a navy or marine airman of the time. And it is almost certain that the Japanese did not use the expression.

It was the Japanese that came up with the nickname "Whistling Death".

So we are told. I doubt it. I also have never seen any real evidence that the Germans came up with "fork-tailed devil", although that is a little more plausible.

It is very rare for a combatant to use a complimentary nickname to describe an enemy's weapon. Can you think of any instance in which the US or British bestowed such a respectful sobriquet on a piece of enemy equipment? Without convincing evidence to the contrary it is safe to assume that the other side didn't either. On the other hand, it was very common for Allied war reporters to put words in the mouths of the enemy that made them seem respectful or afraid of our forces or equipment. I have no doubt that German and Japanese propagandists did the same.

I.e., don't believe everything you read, no matter how many times.

August

Hi, August, Elroy,

I was intrigued by this, and we went through a very interesting exercise on the Flypast forum about it. For a number of reasons, it is almost certainly untrue that the Japanese ever called the Corsair or Beaufighter by the nicknames often ascribed. Thanks to Oliver on FP, we found a very early Allied propaganda use of the term for the Beau, and that's as solid evidence as we are likely to get. It's an interesting thread. My mind's open, and if anyone can come up with any Japanese documentation or evidence that it was used, I'll be very impressed.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=65650

[Steve Nelson]

The only nickname I've ever heard that the Japanese came up with themselves was for the G4M "Betty" bomber. Crews apparently referred to it as the "Type 1 Cigarette Lighter" because of it's propensity to catch fire when hit.

Also, the nicknames "Emil," "Dora," "Gustav" etc. for various marks of Bf-109s and Fw-190s are apparently post-war allied inventions.

Back to 'Merican birds, I always get a little annoyed when I hear people refer to the P-40 as the "Tigershark." That one obviously has its origins in the sharkmouth paint jobs carried by the AVG "Flying Tigers." In service, the P-40 series was never known as anything other than Hawk..Tomahawk, Kittyhawk, or Warhawk.


SN

[k5083]

Back to 'Merican birds, I always get a little annoyed when I hear people refer to the P-40 as the "Tigershark." That one obviously has its origins in the sharkmouth paint jobs carried by the AVG "Flying Tigers." In service, the P-40 series was never known as anything other than Hawk..Tomahawk, Kittyhawk, or Warhawk.

Once when going through the Yanks Air Museum under its previous management (circa 1990) I happened to call their P-40 a "Warhawk." My guide got all huffy and said he never heard of a Warhawk, as far as he knew there is no such thing, and what they have is a Kittyhawk.

It seemed rude to argue with him so I didn't, but I've always thought he was wrong. Yes, the Brits used only Tomahawk and Kittyhawk (and the example at Yanks happens to be a Kittyhawk, not a Warhawk nor even a P-40), but I thought and still think that the US adopted Warhawk as the official name. Of course that raises the question of to what extent names were ever "official" among the wartime US services. They were never the sole official or primary means of designating a type as in Britain; they came into use relatively late in the war and were used more for publicity purposes than anything else. Indeed, I'm not completely clear on the exact scope of aircraft encompassed by Warhawk -- does it officially include all P-40s, or only the P-40D and later? If the latter, then I guess there was never an official US name for the P-40B/C, since the US never adopted Tomahawk and "Hawk 81" was just a Curtiss designation. That would not be too surprising since those aircraft were pretty much used up before the US naming convention got started.

August

[Steve Nelson]

I was always under the impression that the "Warhawk" name applied to the P-40N. But then I don't know if the earlier models had an official USAAF name. As far a I know, "Tomahawk" and "Kittyhawk" were British names. To further confuse matters, I don't think the Brits ever used the "Warhawk" name (I think they called the P-40N the Kittyhawk IV.".

SN

[oz rb fan]

Whether it be Me-262, Meteor, P-59, or YP-80, I recall reading that the early jets were randomly referred to as "blowjobs" by the fighter jock fraternity.

Mind you, that's just what I've read.

in tony gazes log book when he was posted to meteors he wrote "goodbye spit's hello squirts"
paul

[Dan K]

Whether it be Me-262, Meteor, P-59, or YP-80, I recall reading that the early jets were randomly referred to as "blowjobs" by the fighter jock fraternity.

Mind you, that's just what I've read.

in tony gazes log book when he was posted to meteors he wrote "goodbye spit's hello squirts"
paul

Well, I guess when you're away from your spouse that long one develops a certain fixation!