Kates, Hanks, Zekes, whats the deal?

According to Rene J. Francillon's Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, In early 1942, the Allied Directorate of Intelligence decided to give unusual yet easy to remember names to Japanese aircraft, to avoid confusion and the use of hard-to-pronounce Japanese names.

Starting with simple "hillbilly" names (one of the staff members was from Tennesee) like Zeke, Nate, Rufe, Jake, and Pete, a system of naming evolved:

Male first names: Fighters
Female first names: Bombers, attack bombers, dive bombers, reconnaissance planes, and flying boats.
Tree names: Trainers
Bird names: Gliders

As with all things in life, there are exceptions to the above. The Nakajima Ki-44 Tojo, for example.

For more in-depth info on Japanese aircraft, I highly recommend Francillon's book. Check it out!

Thanks, thats what I thought, something had to be up, I was sure the Japanese admirals would not do that.

I am currently finishing a Hasegawa dive bomber, I guess it is a Kate. I am adding a red tail, at least that is what is on the box art. Looks great so far.

By the way, I have been picking up Tamiya paints. I really like the bottles with the wide mouth. Do they opnly make acrylics? Do dirrent companies specialize, for instance, Model master does enamel, Tamiya appears to do acryic. Does that make sense?

Glad to be of service!

Tamiya makes both enamel and acrylic paints, and both are equally popular. When I lived in the States, I used mainly Testors enamel. I never ran across their acrylic paints, but that was over ten years ago.
I also use Gunze paints frequently, mostly acrylic, but their lacquer paint is excellent. I don't think they have an enamel line.

Try posting over at the paint forum. Someone is bound to have a better answer than this over there!

Is there any truth in the story that the intelligence officer assigned? to give names was using his uncles and aunties names?

QUOTE: Originally posted by nsclcctl [br. I am currently finishing a Hasegawa dive bomber, I guess it is a Kate.

...............could be a Judy! (or a 'Val' -'Kate' was a torpedo bomber)

QUOTE: Originally posted by thyamis Is there any truth in the story that the intelligence officer assigned? to give names was using his uncles and aunties names?

My favorite is the story about the Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty'. An itelligence officer in an interview on a History Channel program said it got it's name from a collegue of his who said the bulbuous side windows reminded him of a certain 'feature' to a nurse he knew in Pennsylvania - her name was 'Betty'

Another interesting story concerns the A6M3 type 32. At first, it was nicknamed "Hap," in honor of Gen. H.H. "Hap" Arnold. Apparently, he failed to see any honor or humor in the designation. It was promptly changed to "Hamp."

Some types had more than one name, the Ki-27 being a good example. It was known as 'Abdul' in the CBI and 'Nate' in the SWPA, although 'Nate' was used pretty much universally from 1943.

The Ki-43 was known, for the most part, as 'Oscar' but was also known in the CBI, for a time, as 'Jim'.

Names were also given to many foreign (non-Japanese, mostly German-built) types which were tested by the Japs or those which were erroneously believed to be operated by the JAAF or IJN. Here's some examples:

Bess - He 111
Doc - Bf 110
Fred - Fw 190A-5
Irene - Ju 87A
Janice - Ju 88A-5
Mike - Bf 109E
Millie - Vultee V-11GB
Trixie - Ju 52/3m
Trudy - Fw 200

Names were also given to types which did not actually exist, the fictional Mitsubishi TK-4 being known as both 'Frank' and 'Harry'.

It's an interesting subject, with whole books having been written about it...


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