Technical Air Intelligence Unit

Technical Air Intelligence Units (TAIU) were joint Allied military intelligence units formed during World War II to recover Japanese aircraft to obtain data regarding their technical and tactical capabilities.

The first such unit, known later as Technical Air Intelligence Unit–South West Pacific (TAIU–SWPA), was formed in November 1942 by the United States Navy (USN), United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at Eagle Farm Airbase, Brisbane, Australia, in November 1942.

Technical Air Intelligence Units in Days of Infamy
TAIU was formed as the Japanese rampaged throughout the Pacific in 1941-42.

TAIU was responsible for the western names given to many Japanese aircraft like the Zero, Val, Kate, Betty, Oscar, and Tony. They also helped discover the Zero's major weaknesses of little armour and no self-sealing fuel tanks, giving many US pilots the advantages they needed to tackle the fighter.