der gruben flugen ze teuful and whistling death nicknames true origins?

[Citabria]

Saw in another thread and I agree with the logic, victors of wars giving their more glamorous equipment supposed nicknames that the enemy gave their planes like whistling death and fork tailed devil etc.

I don't buy it.

I would call them all bastards if they were enemy planes.

[caldera]

Bastards?  More like alt-tards, ho-tards, pick-tards, ram-tards and gang-tards.   

[Reschke]

Who knows....there aren't too many WW2 Japanese pilots left around to discredit that phrase about the Corsair and the same goes for the Luftwaffe pilots who could discredit the phrase about the P-38. Odds are they were just started by the US or Allied media at the time for propaganda purposes and they stuck.

[oboe]

German name for Allied bombers was 'Dicke Auto' which translates to "Fat Car" I think.   Fits with your theory of derogatory names vs glamourous ones.

[Karnak]

To the best of my knowledge all such claims, "Fork tailed devil", "Whistling Death", "Whispering Death", and so on were all coined by Allied media.  I can't imagine a German pilot seriously calling the P-38 a "Fork Tailed Devil", nor can I seriously imagine a Japanese soldier calling a Beaufighter "Whispering Death".  I think such claims served the dual purpose of making our equipment sound like the enemy feared it and at the same time debasing the enemy to a primitive mental level that would use such terms.

[Guppy35]

I seem to recall the German army called the Luftwaffe 'invisible' over Normandy.

Whispering Death for the Beau had more to do with the sound of the sleeve valve engines as they did somehow muffle the sound at low level the Beau's got there before the sound, or so it seemed.

Certainly Allied propaganda was going to run with anything like that though.

[Kingpin]

Bastards?  More like alt-tards, ho-tards, pick-tards, ram-tards and gang-tards.  

LOL.

So, I just did a little research to back this idea up...  "The P-51 Mustang, known for it's excellent performance at high speed and its ability to disengage and extend from a fight, was called the Zurückgeblieben Läufer, or Retarded Runner, by Luftwaffe pilots."








OK, actually I just made that up, and I claim no command of the German language.  

[Rob52240]

Since when does anyone give flattering nicknames to our enemies?  If that's the way the world worked I certainly wouldn't be a vTARD.   

I can think of 1 and a half times this has happened in military history.
The first is the Mig 29 Fulcrum
the other was when the Germans were calling the US marines devil dogs in WW1 but I don't think that one was meant to be a compliment.

I also remember a Japanese zero pilot being interviewed and talking about how much he hated the corsair, and how he still hates it whenever he hears the name.  It's human nature to hold our enemies in especially low regard personally, regardless of fighting prowess.

[Buzzard7]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp-YrzjdExs

Why wouldn't the Japanese call this Whistling Death? 4:26 into it the pilot gets her to howl pretty good.

[Harp00n]

I remember my grandfather once told me a story about his truck-convoy being strafed by a "Gabelschwanzteufel" (somewhere in Greece or Yugoslavia) which is german for "fork-tailed-devil". Germans obviously invented this nickname. 

[Raptor05121]

I remember my grandfather once told me a story about his truck-convoy being strafed by a "Gabelschwanzteufel" (somewhere in Greece or Yugoslavia) which is german for "fork-tailed-devil". Germans obviously invented this nickname. 

Hasty generalization, my friend. Could it not be possible the American propaganda was brought the the Germans attention and they adopted it?

Food for thought.

[Harp00n]

Could be...but back in the 40s where they had no internet, TV or even free radio (the "Volksempfaenger", the german standard-radio was not able to be tuned to "the enemy ) how would you plant such a term like "Gabelschwanzteufel" into a regulars head?

Wikipedia:
Von den Piloten der deutschen Luftwaffe erhielt dieses Flugzeug wegen seines eigenartigen Äußeren und der enormen Feuerkraft den Spitznamen „Gabelschwanzteufel“.

Because of its unique/strange appearance and the enormous firepower it received the nickname "fork-tailed devil" by german Luftwaffe pilots.

Sounds plausible.... 

[Guppy35]

I have numerous Beaufighter pilot and Nav biographies, and almost to a man they mention the Beau being called "Whispering Death".  Interestingly enough the MTO/ETO guys claim the Germans came up with the phrase, and the PTO/CBI guys say it's the Japanese.

I don't doubt the aircrew believed this to be true.  At the same time it suggests the phrase was probably Allied propaganda that made it's way into the conversation in whichever theater of the war the Beau was flying.

[TeeArr]

I know for a fact that German pilots referred to B-17s (and perhaps all heavy bombers) as "Boeings".  Most of the best information still resides in first person accounts of the air war, and biographies taken from first person accounts.  I strongly suggest you read some of these.  Just because you would have called the "Bastards", or such, remember that it was over 70 years ago, American, Japanese, and German cultures had different ways of expressing things.  People didn't curse, or use "four letter words" for effect the way we do today.
Just my humble opinion.

[Changeup]

Bastards?  More like alt-tards, ho-tards, pick-tards, ram-tards and gang-tards.  

Dont forget...altfairies, HOmonger, and JUGgler's fav...the undeniable ALTRAMHOTARD pilot