Where did the German nickname "Gabelschwanz-Teufel" (fork-tailed devil) for the P-38 come from?

In North Africa, the Lightning went into action in large numbers with the 12th Air Force from November 1942. Its main role was escorting bombers, though it also attacked transport aircraft and, later, ground targets. On 5 April 1943, 26 P-38Fs of the 82nd Group claimed 31 enemy aircraft destroyed, helping to establish air superiority in the area. According to Life magazine in August 1943, that performance supposedly earned it the German nickname der Gabelschwanz Teufel, the "fork-tailed devil," attributed to a German airman who had just been shot down. Popular Science also carried the name in September 1943.

Luftwaffe airmen nicknamed it Doppelschwanz, Gabelschwanz or Gabelschwanzteufel for its distinctive look and enormous firepower. All its armament, a 20 mm Hispano cannon and four 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns, was concentrated in the nose of the central nacelle that housed the cockpit.

Franz Stigler, an ace with 28 kills who flew Bf 109s against the P-38 in North Africa, said the Lightning could turn tighter than them with ease and go from level flight to a climb almost instantly; his rule was never to face a P-38 head-on. Herbert Kaiser, who would reach 68 kills, considered it a formidable adversary, faster and more maneuverable than the Bf 109G-6 he flew.

Kurt Bühligen, the third highest-scoring German pilot on the western front with 112 victories, recalled instead that the P-38 caught fire easily. Even so, from 1943 the Lightning played an important role as an escort fighter for American bomber formations.