Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
I wonder why the War Dept gave the Japanese planes such funny names. It's not like the names are hard to pronounce or write in English letters. This was followed up with all the funny
NATO names for Soviet airplanes. Frogfoot? Really?
WW2: Fighters were given men's names. Bombers were given women's names. Much easier to remember than Mitsubishi A6M5 Reisen. Consider also that at the time intelligence on Japanese A/C was meager.
Cold War: Fighters given names beginning with "F". Bombers, "B". Again much easier to remember.