World War II Aviation... What's in a Nickname? Quiz

Answer: Fairey Swordfish

The rather delicate looks of this aircraft belied its ruggedness and the Swordfish remained in service with the Fleet Air Arm for the duration of WW2. Its performance was atrocious; it was so slow that enemy fighters found it impossible to fly slowly enough to be able to engage the Swordfish and anti-aircraft batteries fared no better as these weapons were calibrated to engage aircraft flying at far higher speeds than the Swordfish was capable of.

In short, this aircraft was so bad it was brilliant! In defence of the Swordfish, it was extremely reliable and could carry almost every weapon available to the Fleet Air Arm at the time, including rockets.

It could fly in almost any weather and could operate from, and be recovered by, all aircraft carriers and the smaller escort carriers.

The Swordfish alone was responsible for sinking more axis shipping than any other allied aircraft of the war.

Answer: Junkers Ju87

The Junkers Ju-87 'Stuka' took its nickname from the German word for dive bomber, the 'Sturzkampfflugzeug'. The first prototypes flew during 1935 and the aircraft entered service with the German 'Condor Legion' during the Spanish Civil War. It was a distinctive aircraft having a 'gull-wing' design, fixed undercarriage with prominent spats and, for psychological effect, a wind-driven siren on each wing that produced the screaming sound that this type was infamous for; in fact the bombs carried by this aircraft were also fitted with sirens for additional terror-inducing effect! Serious shortcomings became apparent when this aircraft engaged in air combat against determined fighter opposition such as that encountered during the Battle of Britain.

In spite of this, the 'Stuka' remained in service with the Luftwaffe for the entire war, being particularly effective as a tank-busting aircraft on the Russian front. Nazi Germany's most decorated serviceman, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, flew the 'Stuka' exclusively for the duration of the war, being credited with destroying two thousand targets, of varying types, whilst flying over two thousand five hundred missions.

Answer: Dornier Do17

The first Dornier Do17 prototypes appeared during 1934 and were originally constructed as a competitor to provide the German national airline, 'Lufthansa', with a new passenger aircraft. The type excelled as a light bomber as it was fast, manoeuvrable and agile; it entered Luftwaffe service in 1937 and was flown as part of the 'Condor Legion' during the civil war in Spain.

Unfortunately, like most Luftwaffe aircraft of the early war years, the Dornier Do17 proved itself a capable aircraft against air forces equipped with poor quality or obsolete aircraft, but was found lacking in defensive armament against modern, fast fighter aircraft, being especially vulnerable to attack from the rear and from below. Early versions of this Dornier airframe were retired in 1941 but later, more heavily armed versions, were used extensively in the heavy night fighter role; a role in which they proved themselves most capable.

In June 2013 a Do17 airframe was recovered from Goodwin Sands and is destined, after restoration, for display by the Royal Air Force Museum.

Answer: Junkers Ju52

The Junkers Ju52 was originally designed for use as a single engine bomber! This aircraft which first flew in 1932 was used in many roles including general transport, airborne forces delivery, as a medium bomber and some variants were fitted with large floats and an enormous metal ring that was used to detonate sea-mines by creating a magnetic field.

The Ju52 had a trimotor configuration and was incredibly rugged due to the corrugated nature of the type's outer skin. The Ju52 was a very popular aircraft with Adolf Hitler who used an example of the type named 'Immelmann' as his personal transport.

He also maintained a fleet for the use of his senior staff until the beginning of the war when he was advised to switch to the Focke-Wulf Fw200 'Condor' for his personal safety.

It is interesting to note that an entire years worth of Ju52 production was lost to enemy fire during the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940. Variants of the Ju52 were still in service with operators all over the world until as late as the 1970s.

There are three examples that are still in an airworthy condition with the Swiss Air Force and a further four variant models in service in Spain.

Answer: Martin B-26 'Marauder'

Designed to be very fast, the B-26 had two very powerful engines, a small wing surface area and high wing loading. Unfortunately this combination provided for an aircraft with poor handling at low speed and, after a number of incidents, the crews that flew the B-26 gave the aircraft the nicknames 'The Widowmaker' and the 'Martin Murderer'; amongst others of a less polite nature.

In 1941 improvement work was carried out to correct the faults with the aircraft. The wing area was increased and its tail fin was extended, two changes which improved its handling greatly.

These design changes were rendered virtually useless by the installation of a powered two gun turret in a dorsal position which resulted in further imbalance and instability at low speed and further aircraft crashed after stalling.

The B-26 was also nicknamed by the 'Flying Torpedo' by the US press corps due to its tubular and rounded fuselage assembly. By the time the last variants were introduced, the B-26F, design improvements had meant that the B-26 had become one of the finest US warplanes of the conflict.

Answer: Miles Magister

The Miles Magister, like a number of successful aircraft, was a rushed design; the first prototypes took to the air in May 1937 and the aircraft entered military service in the October of that year. Early versions suffered badly in spin recovery exercises but the fitting of a larger rudder assembly and anti-spin strakes to its fuselage corrected this and the 'Maggie' went on to become the initial training aircraft for many hundreds of RAF fighter pilots during the early war years.

The Miles Magister ceased in production in 1941 after a total of 1,229 examples had been completed.

After the war, a number of Magisters were converted from military to civilian use and it is thought that only three original military specification examples remain airworthy today.

Answer: Wimpy or Wimpey

The Wellington bomber was designed by Sir Barnes Neville Wallis of 'Grand Slam', 'Bouncing Bomb' and 'R101' airship fame. The geodetic design and construction of the 'Wimpey' of the aircraft was an evolution of his work on airships, and specifically the 'R100'. Fourteen bombers of the type carried out the first raids over Germany on the 4th of September 1939.

The prototype, which first flew in 1936, was a far better aircraft than the biplane bomber, the Handley-Page 'Heyford', which it was designed to replace and the Wellington entered service during 1938.

It was an outstanding aircraft; renowned for staying aloft after suffering such damage that would have brought any lesser aircraft crashing to earth. However, the 'Wimpey' quickly became obsolete, its last bombing raids taking place over Hannover on the night of the 8th/9th of October 1943 and the type was fully retired on the 13th of March 1945 after its final raid on Treviso, Italy.

The 'Wimpey' also gave sterling service as a Coastal Command aircraft and as a trainer aircraft with RAF Bomber Command.

Answer: False

The 'Jug' was the nickname given to the US Republic P-47 'Thunderbolt', a massive and extremely powerful fighter that was also known as the 'Fatty from Farmingdale'. The Messerschmitt Bf/Me 109 was the mainstay of the Luftwaffe fighter wing for the duration of the entire war and, when production ceased, some thirty-five thousand examples had been constructed.

The original aircraft design which was submitted in 1935 came from the studios of the 'Bayerische Flugzeugwerke' from which the designation 'Bf' is drawn.

After 1938 when the company had been renamed Messerschmitt AG the designation was changed to 'Me' and all subsequent aircraft were know as the 'Me 109'. Different versions took their official nicknames from the model or Mark letter; for example the '109/A' was known as 'Anton', the '109/B' was the 'Berta', 'C' was 'Caesar', 'D' was 'Dora' and onward through the German phonetic alphabet of the time.

The 'G' model, known as 'Gustav' was unofficially known as 'Die Beule' which means 'The Bump' after the bulbous housings that covered its nose mounted armament.

Answer: Lockheed P-38 'Lightning'

Considered for inclusion in their armoury by the RAF who gave the Lockheed designed P-38 its official 'Lightning' nickname, this aircraft was to become one of the most distinctive and effective heavy fighter aircraft of the entire war. Dubbed the 'Gabelschwanz Teufel' or 'Fork-Tailed Devil' by the Germans, the P-38 was fast and well armed with nose mounted cannon and machine guns. Two of the US top aces, Major Richard Bong, credited with 40 air victories and Major Thomas B. McGuire, credited with 38 air victories and both Medal of Honour recipients flew the P-38 to great effect. Used in a wide range of roles, the P-38 was the only US aircraft that was in production when the attack on Pearl Harbour took place and was still being produced on Victory over Japan Day in 1945.

Answer: Flying Porcupine

The Short Sunderland flying boat was developed in response to a request from the British Air Ministry to build a general purpose aircraft that was capable of operating in remote locations where hard landing strips were not available or possible. Unlike many aircraft of the type during the 1930s, the Short Sunderland was very heavily armed with some versions carrying up to ten defensive machine guns.

The habit of Sunderland pilots was to fly so low to the surface of the sea that it proved impossible for fighter aircraft to attack from below and, presented with the amount of guns carried, German pilots named the Sunderland the 'Flying Porcupine'. Used primarily by RAF Coastal Command the Sunderland proved itself most effective, becoming something of a 'jack-of-all-trades' but it gained its fearsome reputation in the anti-submarine role carrying either bombs or depth charges and was feared by the sailors of the German U-Boat service.