World War II Database

Contributor: David Stubblebine

Even if a pilot knows the full designation of an aircraft such as Aichi D3A1 Navy Type 99 Carrier Bomber Model 11, he might wish to have a short, simple and unmistakable name, especially when he is in combat with it!

In the second half of 1942, a colorful set of code names was developed in the Southwest Pacific Theater by the Air Technical Intelligence Unit (ATIU) of the Allied Air Forces in Australia. The head of the unit, Captain Frank T. McCoy Jr. was from Nashville, Tennessee, and the first few code names were hillbilly names such as ZEKE, NATE, PETE, JAKE and RUFE, as they were simple, short and distinctive. The basic system spread rapidly, and by late 1942, was adopted for use by both the USAAF and USN. In general, the code names were assigned using the following system, although several exceptions exist:

Basis of the Allied Code Names Scheme

Thus, the example Aichi given above became simply VAL in the Pacific code name system. As we learned more about the various models of each type, the Japanese model number was often attached to the code name, as in ZEKE 32 for the A6M3 Type 0 Carrier Fighter Model 32 "Zero".

Obviously, these code names were much easier to remember and say for Allied airmen and thus, even today, discussions of the Pacific war are filled with names such as BETTY, PETE, OSCAR, KATE and TONY.

List of Japanese Army and Navy Aircraft and their Code Names

Aircraft marked with a single asterisk (*) were fictional, and did not exist. Those with a double asterisk (**) were identified as more than one type, i.e. they are duplicated in the list. This list is extracted and edited from Mikesh's Japanese Aircraft Code Names & Designations.

Visitor Submitted Comments

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1.  BILL says:
10 Jun 2009 05:17:12 PM

Today Japanese Plastic Model Airplane Manufactures such as Hesegawa, Fujimi, Tamiya and LS describe the aircraft, by its Allied Code Name, along with the Japanese on the box top.
During the Cold War, a system was used to describe Russian Aircraft, but those Boy and Girl names for WWII Japanese aircraft sound very different, they were unique, and belonged to a different time. The Allies never had a code system for German or Italian Aircraft.