Naming Question.

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

I have recently rediscovered WWII Luftwaffe aircraft after a hiatus of several decades. My question concerns the naming practices of the Germans. I know that the D model of a plane was called the Dora, the E is the Emil and the F is the Fritz, but what are the others?? I have heard that the B model is called the Bruno but I can’t find anything to back that up. This was brought up by the fact that I found a box in storage that contained Hobbycraps BF 109C and it got me to wondering about this.

A=
B=Bruno?
C=
E=Emil
F=Fritz
G=Gustav
H=
J=
K=
Anything else??

2

wasnt Z zwelling, or something of that nature?

3

I think Zwillig was a nickname for the plane and not for the letter??

4

Hey there Roadkill.
A = Anton
B = Bertha
C = Caesar
D = Dora
E = Emil
R = Richard or Reichweite for range
F = Fritz
G = Gustav

Zwilling means twin and was not a designation.

That is the best I can make of it from what I have read.
Cheers,
Eric

5

Thanks, Thats what I’ve been looking for.

6

K=Karl

7

K = Kurfurst… like the Bf-109K series… I’ve heard that B = Bruno

8

They also used T for carrier aircraft. T stands voor Trager, which means carrier.,

9

The actual designation of the carrier variant was TL. The Z also exsisted for the Zwilling configuration, but the test ariframe was damaged by bombing, and deemed irrepairable. The project was then abandoned, and consequently never made series production. I have a resin 190Z in 1/48th on it’s way to me shortly. [:D]

10

Here’s a listing of the phonetic alphabet which was in use by the Germans during WWII. I’m sure there could have been other variations than what’s listed here…

Anton
Berta/Bruno
Caeser
Dora
Emil
Friedrich/Fritz
Gustav
Heinrich
Ida
Josef
Karl/Konrad/Kurfust
Ludwig
Martha
Nordpol
Otto
Paula
Quelle
Richard
Siegfried
Toni
Ulrich
Viktor
Wilhelm
Xantippe
Ypern
Zeppelin

Fade to Black…

11

Thanks Steve. I’ve printed this out and putting it into my references.

12

Zwilling like Tors Twillinger (Thor’s Twins) from “Hunt for Red October.” Hey, I can speak Russian? Da svidania !!!(I’m sure I spelled that incorrectly)

13

Hey guys-this is slightly off topic but japanese airplanes were given “male” names if they were fighters and “female” names if they were bombers. In the “Cold War” Russian fighters had names that started with an “F” (farmer, fishbed, etc.) and bombers with a “B” (badger, backfire, etc.) Just my little 2 cents worth,

Dan