American/British Nomenclature during World War II

[Spitty]

When building a british plane....Jig drill with xxxxxxxx part...
And fettling with lots of swearing about the handbuilt extra complication of British cottage industrial assemblies....

That's why we invented the elongated bolt hole. If Part A has a 1/8x1/2in hole on the X axis & Part B has the same size hole on the Y axis you now have a 1/2x1/2in area in which to get the bolt in the 1/8in *hole*. First came across this on a Spitfire, wouldn't at all surprise me to find the same thing on a new Typhoon...

And there's bigger versions, 3/16x3/4 & 1/4x1in spring to mind. 3/16x3/4 are VERY popular. If you ever get a chance to look inside a Spitfire fuselage behind the cockpit you'll be all "Holy sugar, he wasn't joking"

Considering most of the bolts holding bits on are 2ba,4ba and 6ba which sorta equals to 3/16",5/32" and 1/8" then yes theres a looot of elongated holes ...Or just drill new ones...Edge distance?Whats that!!!!

[Aeronut]

When building a british plane....Jig drill with xxxxxxxx part...
And fettling with lots of swearing about the handbuilt extra complication of British cottage industrial assemblies....

That's why we invented the elongated bolt hole. If Part A has a 1/8x1/2in hole on the X axis & Part B has the same size hole on the Y axis you now have a 1/2x1/2in area in which to get the bolt in the 1/8in *hole*. First came across this on a Spitfire, wouldn't at all surprise me to find the same thing on a new Typhoon...

And there's bigger versions, 3/16x3/4 & 1/4x1in spring to mind. 3/16x3/4 are VERY popular. If you ever get a chance to look inside a Spitfire fuselage behind the cockpit you'll be all "Holy sugar, he wasn't joking"

Perfectly acceptable engineering practice on a steam locomotive and it shouldn't be forgotten that Mitchell started his career in a Locomotive works.

[wolf]

When building a british plane....Jig drill with xxxxxxxx part...
And fettling with lots of swearing about the handbuilt extra complication of British cottage industrial assemblies....

That's why we invented the elongated bolt hole. If Part A has a 1/8x1/2in hole on the X axis & Part B has the same size hole on the Y axis you now have a 1/2x1/2in area in which to get the bolt in the 1/8in *hole*. First came across this on a Spitfire, wouldn't at all surprise me to find the same thing on a new Typhoon...

And there's bigger versions, 3/16x3/4 & 1/4x1in spring to mind. 3/16x3/4 are VERY popular. If you ever get a chance to look inside a Spitfire fuselage behind the cockpit you'll be all "Holy sugar, he wasn't joking"

[Noha307]

It's an interesting thought, but it would only work when 'new' designs were developed in secrecy >during< a conflict.
Just like bold markings on otherwise camouflaged vehicles, in operational practice knowing what your own stuff is is more important than depriving the enemy of that casual knowledge. (a good, albeit obscure example is the Polish Wz35 'Uruguay' an effective anti-tank rifle so shrouded in secrecy, that when they were needed, no one knew they existed)
Also, in peace time, commercial concerns arise. A manufacturer is more than happy to produce things for export where allowed, and marketing is required (TBH, marketing is required to get something adopted within a normal procurement. "Sexiness" and selling sometimes trump conventional or best practice, which is why the F-117 was black instead of splinter blue, and the F-35 isn't the F-24 like it should be

I was looking through old newspapers today and I happened to come across a relevant article:

U.S. Planes Prove Able to Dispose of Nazi Craft
[Unrelated text omitted]
Okeh Popular Names
At the same time the war and navy departments announced official adoption of popular names, such as Flying Fortresses and Liberator bombers, for combat aircraft. The two services have been using code letters to identify types of planes. They adopted popular names "in order that the general public may get a better idea of the character of military aircraft and more easily identify the combat planes mentioned in press dispatches form the battlefields of the world."
[Unrelated text omitted]
In adopting popular names, the army and navy fall in line with a practice long in effect in England. Some of the British names for U.S. aircraft have been approved, and the British are being asked to call the navy's carrier fighter the Grumman Wildcat instead of "Martlet," as it is known in England.
'Harvard' Becomes 'Texan'
At the request of the manufacturer, North American's advanced trainer, known in Britain as the "Harvard," will be called the "Texan" in the army-navy listing. The name "Warhawk" was adopted for the Curtiss P-40 which has been called in series the "Tomahawk," "Kittyhawk" and "Warhawk."
[List of aircraft names omitted]

Source: “U.S. Planes Prove Able to Dispose of Nazi Craft,” Salt Lake Tribune, January 4, 1943, 2.

[Dave Hadfield]

What a great thread -- a wrenching span of miscommunication.

I'm not tyred of it in any way.

[ZRX61]

When building a british plane....Jig drill with xxxxxxxx part...
And fettling with lots of swearing about the handbuilt extra complication of British cottage industrial assemblies....

That's why we invented the elongated bolt hole. If Part A has a 1/8x1/2in hole on the X axis & Part B has the same size hole on the Y axis you now have a 1/2x1/2in area in which to get the bolt in the 1/8in *hole*. First came across this on a Spitfire, wouldn't at all surprise me to find the same thing on a new Typhoon...

And there's bigger versions, 3/16x3/4 & 1/4x1in spring to mind. 3/16x3/4 are VERY popular. If you ever get a chance to look inside a Spitfire fuselage behind the cockpit you'll be all "Holy sugar, he wasn't joking"

Considering most of the bolts holding bits on are 2ba,4ba and 6ba which sorta equals to 3/16",5/32" and 1/8" then yes theres a looot of elongated holes ...Or just drill new ones...Edge distance?Whats that!!!!

I was translating into SAE

[Stephan Wilkinson]

He wouldn't budge on anything else though, especially "aluminium".

Aluminium actually makes perfect sense. Do we Americans talk about potassum, chromum, magnesum, titanum, etc.? Of course not, so why should "aluminum" be the sole exception?

[shrike]

He wouldn't budge on anything else though, especially "aluminium".

Aluminium actually makes perfect sense. Do we Americans talk about potassum, chromum, magnesum, titanum, etc.? Of course not, so why should "aluminum" be the sole exception?

Platinum, Molybdenum, Lanthanum, Tantalum

[Stephan Wilkinson]

The truth, it turns out, is that the guy who discovered the element Al, Sir Joshua Davy, named it himself, as he had every right to do. Unfortunately, he first named it alumin. Then he changed his mind and renamed it aluminium. And finally he changed his mind again and dubbed it aluminum. So it's all his fault. The British chose to call it aluminium simply because somebody in a position of authority liked the sound of it. The Americans went with Davy's wishes.

[Noha307]

So, I think I found the source of Mr. Savile-Sneath's ire:

Airplane Name For the Future
---
(By Associated Press.)
Washington, Oct. 27. - The name aeroplane to designate heavier than aircraft has been discarded officially by the national advisory committee for aeronautics. In a report issues (sic) today on "Nomenclature for aeronautice" (sic) the name airplane is substituted for any "form of aircraft heavier than air which has wing surfaces for sustenation, with stabilizing surfaces, rudders for steering, and power plant for propulsion through the air. The landing gear may be suited for either land or water use."

An introduction to the report says it is to eliminate duplications and erroneous use of aeronautical terms. Only new terms, peculiar to aeronautics, are defined in the appended list of 142 words and phrases.

Examination of the preferred terms shown, indicates that an effort has been made to eliminate also all foreign words which have come into use through the development of aircraft. Most of these are French. Very few such words have been retained, however, even such terms as volplane being discarded in favor of glide and volpique rejected for nose dive. One French term retained is cabre, which is defined as meaning the flying attitude of a machine which travels "down by the stern when in air.

(Source: “Airplane Name For the Future,” Charlotte News, October 27, 1916, 1.)

I would think he would at least be happy that the French terms were being thrown out. I do find it ironic that the claimed premise for the change also seems to be based on the idea of only using the most logical and accurate terms, since that is one of his objections to the American term "propeller".

As an aside, I seem to remember it being suggested somewhere that the reason for the "V" in the hull classification symbol for aircraft carriers ("CV") and designations for naval squadrons ("VF") was that it came from the French word "voler" meaning "to fly". Apparently, the former begin in 1920, so this article could be seen providing evidence against that argument. (I have to admit, it sounds just as equally flimsy an explanation as the multiple theories for why U.S. aircraft registrations start with "N".)