[ARCHIVED THREAD] - WW2 Fighter Names. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 8/16/2001 9:02:04 PM EDT
| What are some of the coolest WW2 fighter names, and are there websites where I can find them? |
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I can't help you with the names of WWII fighters as my dad flew B-24's. here's pics of two of his B-24's. mmk A.W.O.L [url]www.b24bestweb.com/awol1.htm[/url] PUNJAB [url]www.b24bestweb.com/punjab1.htm[/url] [url]www.b24bestweb.com/punjab2.htm[/url] [url]www.b24bestweb.com/punjab3.htm[/url] |
| Fock-Wulf 190, Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, F4U Corsair, P51 Mustang, Messerschmitt Me-262, Messerschmitt Me-109 (it was alright but fock-wulf 190 is better in my opinion). I also like the Hellcat, Bearcat, etc. Prolly my favorite is corsair, with spitefire in second and fw-190 coming in 3rd. |
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Quoted: Fock-Wulf 190, Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, F4U Corsair, P51 Mustang, Messerschmitt Me-262, Messerschmitt Me-109 (it was alright but fock-wulf 190 is better in my opinion). I also like the Hellcat, Bearcat, etc. Prolly my favorite is corsair, with spitefire in second and fw-190 coming in 3rd. Avenger, anyone? |
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Quoted: Oops I should have clarified. The names the pilots gave to all of those planes. sorry Some of my favorites are: SPAMCAN (F4U), All Hell (P-47), Happy Jack's Go Buggy (P-38) , Willit Run? (P-51), Big Hog (F4U), Grim Reaper (F4U), Get 'Em Blue Dog (F4U), Zoom Zoozie (P-51), Big Beautiful Doll (P-51). It seems Army Air Corps pilots (particularly P-51 pilots) named their mounts much more frequently than Navy or Marine Corps pilots. |
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In War2, Marine Corps squadrons rotated aircraft among aviators. VMF211 had twenty Corsairs and forty aviators. You flew what was on the line. You had some choice but nobody had their own. Consequently a particular name wasn't painted on the aircraft. This was explained to me last month by my Father-in-Law who made Ace in the South Pacific flying Corsairs. BTW during the same visit, I mentioned a coffee mug on a shelf at his house. Only then did he tell me that he was in the first jet squadron in the US Navy. And has photos. Those guys are amazing. |
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Quoted: My grandfather was a naval aviator in WWII, he named his Corsair [i]"RETRIBUTION"[/i] Sorry no pic's thanks to ex wife. [i][b]"If you're not part of the Solution, you're part of the problem"[/i][/b] sgb [b]AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!![/b] Say it ain't so, sgb! Take the house, the car, the dog if you must, but pictures of Dad's Corsair? The rotten (*&%*!! (horrified)Jarhead out. |
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Quoted: In War2, Marine Corps squadrons rotated aircraft among aviators. VMF211 had twenty Corsairs and forty aviators. You flew what was on the line. You had some choice but nobody had their own. Consequently a particular name wasn't painted on the aircraft. The Marine Corps has always done more with less. |
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Quoted: Gen, "Chuck" Yeager's Mustang: "Glamourous Glennis". Also the name of the Bell X-1 aircraft that he flew in breaking the sound barier. Thank you raf. I was just getting ready to bust his balls and correct him on it being the X-1. I didn't know about the Mustang. [:E] |
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It was the P-39 Aircobra, known more commonly as the iron dog. Typhoon an excellent ground attack plane that could "mix it up" if need be. I'm sure the Germans were scared of bad weather when they thought a Typhoon was on the way. Tempest and improved Typhoon, not that much better flying wise, more armor, hp, and stores. Was used for ground attack and was fast enough to intercept V-1's. |
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I think the moniker "Warhawk" was pretty cool and it sounded good with "P-40" The old war birds have way cooler names than their modern day counterparts. For instance: F-22 Raptor? That's a toxonomical classification for all birds of prey, pretty weak if you ask me. They could have come up with something more specific and sinister like Viper or something IMO. Tomcat is cool but I think it was a callsign for someone at one time or something like that. Falcon is OK, Eagle just sucks IMO. Thunderbolt is OK but Wharthog is way cooler. Intruder is a bad assed name and Phantom is way cool. Hornet blows, along with Super Hornet. The coolest of all designations was the B-17 "Flying Fortress" it just sounds like impending doom! |
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Someone does not know their aircraft naming history. The F-14 was built by Grumman. Grumman had a long history of naming its fighter aircraft with names that ended in "cat". Hellcat Tomcat Bearcat Tigercat Wildcat The Viper is the "unofficial" name for the F-16. Remember that the Air Farce WAS the first "politicaly correct" service, and as such there was no way that they would name an aircraft with a name that sounds sinister. A couple others: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II aka "Rhino", "Flying Brick" Republic Aircraft A-10 Thunderbolt II aka Warthog F4-U Corsair aka "Hose Nose" A-7 Corsair II aka SLUF (Short Little Ugly Fucker) |
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Quoted: Assumeing your right, the "Swallow" was not a menaceing name. However, 100mph faster than the fastest allied plane and three 30mm cannons? That's menaceing. Ever saw the kills ratios of the ME-262? Yes it was one of the great planes, but the kill ratios were because of the caliber of pilots flying them. Put an average pilot in one, if he did anything other than use the superior speed to run away, he'd get his tail shot off. Even in the hands of an expert pilot, if they were caught taking off or landing they were helpless. |
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Yes, Adolf Galland and many other excellent pilots flew these aircraft. They were part of the reason they had excellent kill ratios. My final point: The P-80 shooting star, which came years later, performs virtualy identicaly to the 262. P.S. at the very end of the war, they were sticking Hitler Youth into the cockpits which is why the ratios are not even higher. |
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In the end, you'll get no argument from me the 262 was way ahead of anything else produced during the war. If Hitler had the raw materials to make jet engines that lasted more than 5 hours of run time, and a training program to produce enough pilots to fly them, our daylight bombing raids would have never succeeded. Consequently, their aircraft manufacturing facilities would have gone on virtually unimpeded, the end result being a much longer war. |
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I've always heard that the 262 pilots would wait until the bay doors where open on bombers. This meant that the bombs were armed. Then, the 262 would fly thru the formation with their 30mms blazing, often hitting the armed bombs, thus almost vaporizing the bombers. Any truth to this? brouhaha |
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Quoted: I've always heard that the 262 pilots would wait until the bay doors where open on bombers. This meant that the bombs were armed. Then, the 262 would fly thru the formation with their 30mms blazing, often hitting the armed bombs, thus almost vaporizing the bombers. Any truth to this? brouhaha I have read this myself, but I can't recall where, and I don't know if it was true. Since the majority of 262 pilots were very experienced aces, and the 262 didn't carry much ammo, it wouldn't surprise me if they used this tactic. A bombload exploding in a tight bomber formation would probably result in more than one aircraft going down as well. |
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Quoted: I've always heard that the 262 pilots would wait until the bay doors where open on bombers. This meant that the bombs were armed. Then, the 262 would fly thru the formation with their 30mms blazing, often hitting the armed bombs, thus almost vaporizing the bombers. Any truth to this? brouhaha Doubtful. Considering the HORDES of escorting fighters and the limited range (flight time) of the 262 I'd think that they wouldn't be able to do much more than take every attack opportunity that presented itself WHEN it was presented. I'd also think that a German fighter pilot would be much more interested in downing a bomber PRIOR to it dropping its bombs on his home. Now, as to bombs being 'armed' in the bomb bay when the doors were opened. Doesn't sound like good, safe practice to me. That's why the bombs arming props were pinned while in the bay. The pins were pulled as the bomb dropped free, the props began spinning and, after enough time to clear the aircraft, the bomb became armed. Same technique was used on WWII torpedoes to prevent them from detonating either in or near the boat. I HAVE seen German gun camera footage (I thoroughly researched this in an earlier life) of Forts and Libs exploding into bits from their bombload detonating (often taking the attacking fighter with it). This was a direct result of the wide use of cannons on German fighter aircraft. Put a few cannon rounds into the bomb bay and bombs can go off, armed or not. CB |
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Hitler Youth NEVER flew the Me262. Much too complicated and dangerous aircraft for beginner pilots. The Heinkel He 163 was the plane designed to be flown by inexperienced pilots. It looks almost exactly like an A 10, except it had only one engine. It was made largely of plywood, had unswept wings, and was designed to be cheap, easy to make in quantity with what the Germans had left, and easy to fly. THe 262 accumulated very high kill ratios because of the targets they were sent after, lumbering 4 engine bombers. THey were RELATIVELY easy to shoot down, once allied fighter pilots learned the secret, attack when they were taking off and landing. Several were shot down. One of my dad's instructors in flight school did it the old fashioned way, he just pulled his nose way up, blocking out the 262 from view, and hosed him with 6 .50s, he was credited with the kill. I believe one allied plot shot down 2 one a single mission. |
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Quoted: The Viper is the "unofficial" name for the F-16. One of my favorite Mustang names was "Miss Behavin". Great nose art! |
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Quoted: Yes, Adolf Galland and many other excellent pilots flew these aircraft. They were part of the reason they had excellent kill ratios. My final point: The P-80 shooting star, which came years later, performs virtualy identicaly to the 262. P.S. at the very end of the war, they were sticking Hitler Youth into the cockpits which is why the ratios are not even higher. The Shooting Star did not come years later. They were flying during WWII and were ready to be put into service if needed, but were deemed not necessary. Two actually flew sorties in the Mediterranean during the war but encountered not enemy aircraft. see [url]http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p80.html[/url] , particularly the 'service history' section. . 44-83028 and 83029 were shipped to the Mediterranean. They flew some operational sorties, but they never encountered any enemy aircraft. They were both returned to the USA after the war. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth YP-80As were delivered in early 1945 to the 31st Fighter Squadron of the 412th Fighter Group at Bakersfield Municipal Airport in California for service tests. The first production P-80A was accepted by the AAF in February of 1945. The group relocated to Santa Maria AAF, California in July of 1945. It moved again in November of 1945 to March Field, California. After the war in Europe was over, P-80As began to replace the P-51D and the few P-59As which had served with stateside units. The first 17 P-80As off the line were assigned to the 31st Squadron of the 412th Fighter Group, supplementing the YP-80As that the Group had already received. More P-80As went to the 29th and the 445th Squadrons of this group in the summer of 1945. This group was in preparation for deployment to the Pacific when Japan surrendered. In the summer of 1945, approximately 30 P-80As were sent aboard an aircraft carrier to the Philippines in preparation for the final assault on Japan. The planes were to be issued to the 414th Fighter Group, based at Florida Blanca. Unfortunately, the planes had been sent without their tip tanks and their aircraft batteries, so they sat aboard the aircraft carrier for 30 days waiting for this equipment. By the time that the batteries and wingtip tanks were delivered, the war in the Pacific had ended, so the P-80 never got a chance to enter combat in the war against Japan. |
| The first test flight of the Me-262 was on April 18, 1941 and the first fully jet propelled Me 262 flew on July 18, 1942. It would have seen combat not long thereafter had Hitler not been obsessed with making it into a bomber. Granted, the P-80 might have seen action in 1946, but the Me-262 was indeed flying "years before". |
| Citadelgrad, just saw a history channel special called "Luftwaffe 1946" where they were training beginner pilots with a crash course in how to fly the 262. They simple took a "pilot", stuck him into the cockpit, and said "here are the controls and off you go". At the end of the war Germany was so desperate they were puting beginners aka anyone into the 262. Same was true of the Me 163 which were manned in many cases by Hitler Youth. |
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Quoted: The first test flight of the Me-262 was on April 18, 1941 and the first fully jet propelled Me 262 flew on July 18, 1942. It would have seen combat not long thereafter had Hitler not been obsessed with making it into a bomber. Granted, the P-80 might have seen action in 1946, but the Me-262 was indeed flying "years before". You just have to be right. The P80's flew combat patrols in 1945 in the Med and were poised to take part in the invasion of Japan prior to the Japanese surrender. So the 262 was flying two years before, but P51's could shoot them down. |
| The Germans were the third largest operator of B-17's. They would take B-17's that had crash landed or were forced down and rebuild / remark them. Then they would fly "catch-up" to a formation of B-17's and join up on the formation. Before the formation knew they were not part of the group the German B-17 would climb above the formation and drop bombs on the group below. |