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?
Aviation myths that will not die
- Thread starter fastmongrel
- Start date
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GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
The "Fork-Tail Devil" name came from the P-38 pilots.
The Germans simply called it a "Lightning".
The Germans simply called it a "Lightning".
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.
Germans called it both P-38 and Lighting.
The 'fork tailed devil' is 1st mentioned in the manual for the P-38.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
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"...
He was USAAF, stationed in the PTO...and happened to be flying the "Fork-Tail Devil"...
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
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
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
You mean that P-38 that eventually seized it's engines because of the poor quality Italian fuel? 
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
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
Master Sergeant
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
Chief Master Sergeant
- 4,002
- Jun 25, 2013
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
Chief Master Sergeant
- 4,002
- Jun 25, 2013
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
Senior Airman
- 731
- May 1, 2016
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
Chief Master Sergeant
- 4,002
- Jun 25, 2013
Guessing the nearest one?
Any pickle barrel in a (fire)storm!
fubar57
General
Does anyone have any colour pics of the pickle barrel I'm building?
