ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft

During World War II, there were two major groups fighting against each other. The first group was called the "Allies," which included countries like the USA, Britain, and Canada. The second group was called the "Axis," which included countries like Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Japan was part of the Axis group and had lots of airplanes that they used in the war. The Allies needed to be able to tell the different types of planes apart so they could know which ones to shoot down. They gave each type of Japanese plane a special name so they could easily identify them.

Let's imagine you have a toy box with lots of toys in it. You want to know which toy is which so you can play with it in the right way. So you give each toy a special name. For example, you have a toy car, a toy ball, and a toy airplane. You can easily tell them apart because each one has a different name.

The same thing happened during the war with Japanese planes. The Allies gave each type of plane a special name based on its shape and size. For example, the Mitsubishi A6M plane was given the name "Zero" because it looked like the number 0. The Nakajima Ki-43 plane was given the name "Oscar" because it sounded like the letter "O," which was the first letter of its Japanese name.

By giving each Japanese plane a special name, the Allies could easily identify them and know which ones to shoot down. This helped them win the war and bring peace to the world.