Aviation myths that will not die

[grampi]

1. The Tuskagee Airmen never lost a bomber they were escorting.

2. The Stuka was more vulnerable than other Dive Bomber.

3. The Germans called the P-38 the Fork Tailed Devil.

That's funny. I have a soft cover book at home about the P-38 titled "the fork tailed devil." Where did that name come from, and what did the Germans call it?

 

[GrauGeist]

The "Fork-Tail Devil" name came from the P-38 pilots.

The Germans simply called it a "Lightning".

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

That's funny. I have a soft cover book at home about the P-38 titled "the fork tailed devil." Where did that name come from, and what did the Germans call it?

The Germans called it a P-38...

The name Fork Tailed Devil term was made up by an author and reporter. There is zero factual evidence of anyone in the Luftwaffe ever calling it that.

 

[tomo pauk]

That's funny. I have a soft cover book at home about the P-38 titled "the fork tailed devil." Where did that name come from, and what did the Germans call it?

Germans called it both P-38 and Lighting.
The 'fork tailed devil' is 1st mentioned in the manual for the P-38.

 

[pbehn]

We can all imagine Gabel-schwanz-teufel being shouted out over the radio, it trips off the tongue like a melody.

 

[GrauGeist]

My great-Uncle Jimmy was calling it a "Fork-Tail Devil" during the war.
He was USAAF, stationed in the PTO...and happened to be flying the "Fork-Tail Devil"...

 

[FLYBOYJ]

A Martin Caidinism. Same as the YB-40 being flown in Italy to bring down a rouge Italian pilot flying a captured P-38.

 

[GrauGeist]

You mean that P-38 that eventually seized it's engines because of the poor quality Italian fuel?

 

[grampi]

Also, so it's not true that on certain model B-17s the belly gunner could not get out of the turret in the event of a wheels up belly landing?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Also, so it's not true that on certain model B-17s the belly gunner could not get out of the turret in the event of a wheels up belly landing?

The only B-17 ball turret I've seen up close and personal had an entrance hatch in the back behind the gunner. So for the gunner to enter in flight the turret had to be tilted 90° down; ditto for evacuating. Clearly, if the power drive for the turret was shot out, the gunner was trapped unless he wanted to open the hatch and fall out backwards. Most gunners couldn't fit themselves and a chute in the ball, so that didn't leave much for options if the turret wouldn't tilt and the landing gear wouldn't come down.
One of my dad's co-workers had been the smallest guy in the crew (at 6' and 195 lbs!) of a B-17 named "King Kong", so guess who got to ride the ball? Dang, I wish I still had that picture!
Cheers,
Wes

 

[warbird51]

Remember the movie "Airplane?"

I hooted when they showed a Boeing 707 jet airliner, but they played audio sounds consistent with a propeller aircraft. I thought that was a good joke.

It's like being an off-road motorcycle rider and seeing these old movies where they dub in the sound of a 2-stroke engine when they show a 4-stroke bike or vice versa. I always thought that was stupid ... or intentionally funny, I was never sure which. So, I chose to be entertained and laughed at it.

Hey Elmas,

What if you wanted to make the tank movie, but the only tansk you could get were the second one?

Would you choose to no make the movie or take poetic license and do it anyway?

The was a tv series in the late 50's based on the comic books called Steve Canyon. One of the episodes shows a C-130A starting up with recip sounds. I LMAO when I saw it

 

[Freebird]

There are so many WW2 myths that won't die....
that Italian soldiers, sailors, and airmen were incompetent cowards, that the French just curled up in little fetal balls when the Germans showed up, and that Polish Lancers charged German tanks with spears, .....

Myths become such because they strike some deep cultural chords, which is why they're so hard to get rid of.

Or that Singapore was lost because the guns fired the wrong way...


Another aviation myth - the Swordfish was obsolete biplane.
As far as I know, in 1941 no other nation had a torpedo bomber with airborne search radar.

 

[swampyankee]

Or that Singapore was lost because the guns fired the wrong way...


Another aviation myth - the Swordfish was obsolete biplane.
As far as I know, in 1941 no other nation had a torpedo bomber with airborne search radar.

The Swordfish was actually a fairly recent design to a very stringent specification, one a lot of manufacturers probably no-bid. The related myth, that "German AAA couldn't track it because it was so slow" is, of course, utter nonsense: one doesn't design systems that won't work against aircraft existing during the design process, such as the Swordfish's predecessor.

 

[swampyankee]

How about "the Norden bombsite is so accurate, our bombardiers at 30,000ft can hit a pickle barrel with it.". Sort of runs along the lines of "accurate strategic day light bombing".

They could hit a pickle barrel from 30,000 ft, but only a pickle barrel. Cities were beyond the spec.

 

[pbehn]

They could hit a pickle barrel from 30,000 ft, but only a pickle barrel. Cities were beyond the spec.

Cities were known to contain many pickle barrels.

 

[pinehilljoe]

Production ended in 1944. An old design probably didn't raise a lot of interest to the Allies, to bring copies back to the UK or USA, my guess is any left on the ground at the end of the War were chopped up.

 

[swampyankee]

Cities were known to contain many pickle barrels.

How would it know which pickle barrel?

The poor bomb probably got all confused.

 

[Tieleader]

How would it know which pickle barrel?

The poor bomb probably got all confused.

Guessing the nearest one?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

How would it know which pickle barrel?

The poor bomb probably got all confused.

Any pickle barrel in a (fire)storm!

 

[fubar57]

Does anyone have any colour pics of the pickle barrel I'm building?