# Germans designed their WWII planes to scream?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 12, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786 "2009-04-12T00:20:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786/21 "2009-04-12T12:57:05Z")

</div>

Cicero - I’m not sure which one it was. I only know a handful were produced at the end of the war…

Sorry!

Q

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786/22 "2009-04-12T20:19:47Z")

</div>

> [@Cosmic Relief](#):
>
> Side question, related… do bombs released from bombers really whistle as they’re often depicted, and if so, were they designed that way? What would have been the purpose?

I wasn’t sure about this, so I Googled it…and got wildly differing opinions. WW2 bombs either

1. Didn’t whistle at all
2. Whistled, but not per design - the whistling being a side-effect of being launched from high altitude. When the bomb reaches terminal velocity, the rush of high speed air against the tail fins creates the whistle
3. The bombs were fitted with cardboard whistles on the nose for psych warfare

I’m inclined to think 2) is the correct answer, but having never launched a bomb in anger in my life (more’s the pity), I wouldn’t know for sure.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786/23 "2009-04-13T14:01:09Z")

</div>

Germans weren’t the only ones with screaming planes. The Japanese called our F4U Corsair “Whistling Death” because of the noise it made in a dive.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786/24 "2009-04-13T17:27:46Z")

</div>

Thanks for all the info. This is a great site.  
As far as the movies go, they make up/ exaggerate/ outright lie about so much.  
How did they get an artistic license for that and how to I get one?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786/25 "2009-04-13T19:35:02Z")

</div>

> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> Still, it was an experimental airplane, right?

It’s not experimental anymore when you’re outfitting front line interceptor squadrons with it.

The Me-262 was not something they whipped up in a few months. It was the product of years of development - the project was started when Germany was winning the war - and by 1944 was as ready as it was ever going to be.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/germans-designed-their-wwii-planes-to-scream/492786.md?page=1)