The Fork-Tailed Devil..History of the P-38

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DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
I can agree that if anyone did, it was the ground troops.
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Having an aircraft flying at low altitude firing 4 .50 cal and a Hispano 20mm at the same time dropping two 500 lb bombs would definitely make me scream the Devil! So we can all make the final judgment that the Wehrmacht called the P-38 "The Forked Tailed Devil" but not the Luftwaffe.
 
P38 Pilot said:
So we can all make the final judgment that the Wehrmacht called the P-38 "The Forked Tailed Devil" but not the Luftwaffe.
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No I will not make that judgement. You can, but I will not. Because frankly I think it was one person that may have said it. Not the whole Wehrmacht. One POW who had a bad day is not the whole Wehrmacht. There are also no German accounts of any "Group" calling it that.
 
Well what ever the source, it sure made for a fine legend, didnt it.

Did the allied airmen ever call the -190 the "Butcher Bird"?
 
syscom3 said:
Well what ever the source, it sure made for a fine legend, didnt it.
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Yes it is an interesting story.

syscom3 said:
Did the allied airmen ever call the -190 the "Butcher Bird"?
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Nope they never did. It got that name from the Germans not the allies.

The actual name given by the Germans for the Fw-190 was the "Wuerger" which is a bird of prey or litterally "Butcher Bird".

So sorry syscom, no comparison there...:D
 
i still prefer the spit one ;)

there are many names around for many different thing, many of which were used by small groups of people but after the war were blown out of all proportion and some that went the other way it depends on what the people that lead us want us to think, and as with the butcher bird issue sometimes it's just down to translation for example i believe the British actually called the Tiger II the Royal Tiger, but the name King Tiger seems to be the one that stuck........
 
King Tiger is it's proper title, that's probably why it stuck. But it has many names.
 
Yes Lanc sometimes it comes down to translation. I can actually see that with the Butcher Bird because Wuerger means Shrike, Bird of Prey aka Butcher Bird.
 
plan_D said:
King Tiger is it's proper title, that's probably why it stuck. But it has many names.
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No it's not!
It's a bad translation of the German name Königstiger (Panthera tigris tigris) wich actually translates to Bengal Tiger in English!
 
Did the British call the Tiger II, the King Tiger? Yes, yes they did...so that's it's title in English.
 
Cdat88 said:
Thats right! The P-38 was the best da*n can opener ever made, and anyone who disagrees can go....

what plane?

Oh...nevermind...:oops:
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:lol:

I still have a P38 Can Opener! I love the damn thing. I never could carry mine on my dog tags though. I was allways afraid if I fell or had to dive it would puntcure me!
 
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
:lol:

I still have a P38 Can Opener! I love the damn thing. I never could carry mine on my dog tags though. I was allways afraid if I fell or had to dive it would puntcure me!
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I thought I was the only one that worried about that. I felt like in the movie Patton, worrying about getting shot in the nose.

I also still have mine. You can order them by the case on Ebay.
 
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