How were Have Blue and Tacit Blue codenames chosen?

During WWII, some airplanes were first bought by the Brits, and
the Brits gave them their name. This included the Mustang and
the Lightning.

Or more remarkably, the P-40. The RAF called the small-jawed B & C
model the Tomahawk, the large-jawed D etc the Kittyhawk.

This was a double tribute: to the long line of Curtiss Hawk warplanes,
and to two American icons.

The USAAF and Curtiss then tried to play catchup by retroactively
naming all P-40 models as the Warhawk, which to seem has always seemed
to lack something.

Perhaps what we ought to do is hire out the naming of our aircraft to
the RAF (Air Ministry?), which seems to have a knack for it.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Or more remarkably, the P-40. The RAF called the small-jawed B & C
model the Tomahawk, the large-jawed D etc the Kittyhawk......

The USAAF and Curtiss then tried to play catchup by retroactively
naming all P-40 models as the Warhawk, which to seem has always seemed
to lack something.

I was a high school kid, aviation nut and prolific model-builder
during WW II.

My recollection is that *at that time*, the U.S. aviation and model
airplane mags called the small-jawed P-40s Tomahawks, the D (and
perhaps E) Kittyhawk, and the F and subsequent models Warhawk. How
long that continued, I don't know; I got out of school, enlisted, and
no longer saw the mags.

vince norris