WW II fighters and guitars

[Haole Jim]

A while ago, 'was chatting jive with a chum who is also a serious guitar lover and WW II historian...

...we kind of came up with a few WW II fighter / electric guitar analogies.

Reproduced here for your amusement.

Stratocaster---P-51 Mustang; famous beyond all others, the ultimate thoroughbred, can do it all, plenty of variants and colour schemes

Les Paul---P-47 Thunderbolt; heavy but powerful, fast and agile, recognizable, respected

Telecaster---P-40 Tomahawk / Kittyhawk / Warhawk; not as modern or sexy as some, simple, utilitarian, but was "there first" and soldiers on faithfully, a number of variants but basically all the same-ish, brilliant in the hands of a competent "pilot"

ES-335---F4U Corsair, big, elegant, fast, a hands-full, capable in every way

6120 "Country Gentleman"---F6F Hellcat; big, heavy, not as glam or sexy as some, but been there a lot and has a sterling record of accomplishment, mighty in the right hands

Fender VI---Mosquito VI; not as well known as the smaller ones, big, versatile, powerful, but still curvy and sexy

Gibson EDS-1275 Double 6-12---Beaufighter; big, powerful, instantly recognizable, fearsome in the hands of an expert

Mosrite Mk I---Spitfire XIV; the ultimate fighter plane hotrod, huge "engine" in small, sexy airframe

[Veenture]

Nice... (and to think the Gibson "Flying Wing" isn't even among them... ...wonder how Gibson is doing after their 'Strat debacle' with cohort Authentic Hendrix)

[JimPage]

I guess, using these airplane analogies, that my beginner's 1965 Teisco-made Silvertone electric was the Piper Cub of guitars!!!

--Jim

[connie_mack]

i was a huge wwII fighter plane nut meself...

i see the little guitar thing of ours a bit different...

mosrite=p38 lightning. unlike anything else.....

[Dnepr]

Nah, the Piper Cub would have to be a Telecaster. Totally unsexy, but everyone wants one and tons of fun.
And the Mosrite would be the P-51 Mustang. Hard to handle and way too fast for the un-initiated, but deadly in the right hands.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Nah, the Piper Cub would have to be a Telecaster. Totally unsexy, but everyone wants one and tons of fun.
And the Mosrite would be the P-51 Mustang. Hard to handle and way too fast for the un-initiated, but deadly in the right hands.

I too thought of the Mosrite being the P-51 Mustang. However, I thought of the Fender Mustang being the Piper Cub .

[Haole Jim]

Thank you for your thoughts, 'was looking for journal entry on above. We tried to keep the analogies at "fighters."

Oops, the Flying V was our "P-38," shaped unlike anything else and in good hands, a monster, in an amatuer's...just funny-looking and clumsy.

And the SG, the P-39 Airacobra / P-63 Kingcobra. Under-rated and not as famous, but in an expert's hands, incredibly agile and dangerous.

'Am sticking with the Spitfire XIVe for the Mosrite Mk I analogy. The Spit XIV was considered the ultimate dogfighting hotrod of WW II piston engined types, with an unholy power-to-weight ratio from the huge Rolls-Royce Griffon with 5-blade prop and manuverability like an Olympic gymnast. Scared even excellent veteran pilots. Could outdance a P-51D Mustang big time in everthing but range / endurance.

Check six.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Haole Jim posted:

Oops, the Flying V was our "P-38," shaped unlike anything else and in good hands, a monster, in an amatuer's...just funny-looking and clumsy.

Well, , I might be wrong, but this monster best represents the "Flying V.";)

[Olav]

There's this Dutch based guitar company called LondonCity that call a couple of their guitars by (fighter)plane names.

London City Spitfire

London City Comet

London City Dakota

So really only one that's got their name from a WW2 fighter plane, still worth a mention I figured.

[Haole Jim]

Thank you.

Three interesting names, Spitfire, Comet, Dakota.

Spitfire was of course Britain's immortal WW II fighter.

Comet was either a slick racing plane which was designed for a very long-distance race, or the early 50s first jet airliner, both by DeHavilland.

And the Les Paul copy is called "Dakota," which the Brits during WW II called the military version of the 200 mph (not quite) cruise airliner / cargo plane. Hmmm.