whole nine yards

[Bob Haas]

This sounds really plausible, and I like it.  But has anyone had a WWII
pilot confirm it?  Some of those guys must still be around.

> From: Gerald Cohen <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 14:06:34 -0600
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: whole nine yards
>
> Also, independently of this above-quoted item, I received a note from
> one of my neighbors:
> 'The machine guns of a North American P-51 Mustang were fed by
> ammunition belts that were 27 feet long.  After a pilot emptied his guns on
> a target, he would say that he "gave 'em the whole nine yards."'