IJNAF and IJAAF Photo Site

[Mac Linehan]

My sincere appreciation to Commander Stormwolf for the links:

http://www.ijnafphotos.com/

and

http://www.ijaafphotos.com/

Note - my copy and paste does not work for some reason, I hope that this takes.

Mac

[treespider]

Nice

[ilovestrategy]

I saw some planes with male names. I thought they were all female.

[Mac Linehan]

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

I saw some planes with male names. I thought they were all female.

Some time ago, when reading a history on the Pacific War (Roland Spectre "Eagle against the Sun" IIRC), there was a paragraph about the intelligence department who came up with the code names. The list included both male and female names. To my embarrassment, I do not recall all the details.

Mac

[Torplexed]

ORIGINAL: Mac Linehan

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

I saw some planes with male names. I thought they were all female.

Some time ago, when reading a history on the Pacific War (Roland Spectre "Eagle against the Sun" IIRC), there was a paragraph about the intelligence department who came up with the code names. The list included both male and female names. To my embarrassment, I do not recall all the details.

Mac

In 1942, the American Technical Air Intelligence Unit, headed by Col. Frank McCoy, decreed that all Japanese military aircraft should thence-forward be referred to by an assigned Christian name. Male names for fighters and female names for just about everything else. Variants were described by an Arabic numeral. Inevitably some errors crept into the system. For example, the Zero-sen was christened 'Zeke', but when the clipped-wing version of the Zero-sen appeared, the Allies mis-identified it as a new type and called it 'Hap'. Then, when USAAF General "Hap' Arnold objected to this use of his nickname, the plane was re-christened 'Hamp'. Finally, when it was discovered that 'Hamp' was really 'Zeke', the plane had to be re-named again, ending the war as 'Zeke 32'.

Still, it was probably a more familiar system than the more bewildering (to the Allies) Japanese nomenclature.

[ilovestrategy]

Gotchya. Thanks for the info!

[Xavier5733]

Nice links !
Many thanks for sharing it [;)]

[Commander Stormwolf]

Little known is that the manufacturer code / model was not really used by the japanese

If you were flying a Ki-61-IIa .. you would just say

"Type 3 Fighter" or "Hien-Kai"

[DuckofTindalos]

If you exchange "little known" for "well known", then you're right.

[Mac Linehan]

ORIGINAL: Torplexed

ORIGINAL: Mac Linehan

ORIGINAL: ilovestrategy

I saw some planes with male names. I thought they were all female.

Some time ago, when reading a history on the Pacific War (Roland Spectre "Eagle against the Sun" IIRC), there was a paragraph about the intelligence department who came up with the code names. The list included both male and female names. To my embarrassment, I do not recall all the details.

Mac

In 1942, the American Technical Air Intelligence Unit, headed by Col. Frank McCoy, decreed that all Japanese military aircraft should thence-forward be referred to by an assigned Christian name. Male names for fighters and female names for just about everything else. Variants were described by an Arabic numeral. Inevitably some errors crept into the system. For example, the Zero-sen was christened 'Zeke', but when the clipped-wing version of the Zero-sen appeared, the Allies mis-identified it as a new type and called it 'Hap'. Then, when USAAF General "Hap' Arnold objected to this use of his nickname, the plane was re-christened 'Hamp'. Finally, when it was discovered that 'Hamp' was really 'Zeke', the plane had to be re-named again, ending the war as 'Zeke 32'.

Still, it was probably a more familiar system than the more bewildering (to the Allies) Japanese nomenclature.

Torplexed -

Thank You for the clarification!

And:

That is an awesome avatar...

Mac

[mikkey]

bookmarked, thanks for sharing Mac

[cohimbra]

I take this post to ask why the names of the Japanese bombers sounds
like American pin-up names:Kate, Lily, Betty, Helen... was a provocation? or what?

[Mac Linehan]

mikkey -

I was only able to post because Commander Stormwolf graciously supplied the links.

He deserves the credit.

We are both appreciative of your remarks.

Mac

[Torplexed]

ORIGINAL: cohimbra

I take this post to ask why the names of the Japanese bombers sounds
like American pin-up names:Kate, Lily, Betty, Helen... was a provocation? or what?

Here's a wikipedia link if you wish to learn more about the Allied naming of Japanese aircraft. I'm not so sure it was a provocation. The Val was actually named after an Australian Army sergeant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_ ... e_aircraft

[cohimbra]

@Torplexed

Thanks for the link, very interesting.

[LeeChard]

Great Site!

[Empire101]

Great pictures...thanks for sharing

[John 3rd]

NICE site.