Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Rather "ACE" US Air Corps "slang" list...

PADDY

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
7,425
Location
METROPOLIS OF EUROPA
Slanguage
From "I've Got Wings" Published by the U.S. Army Air Forces, Office of Flying Safety


Ace - a combat pilot with five or more victories.
Blanket Drill - sleeping.
Blind Flying - a date with a girl you've never seen.
Bumps - the effect of updrafts and downdrafts encountered in flight.
Bunk Flying - talking aviation in quarters.
Buzzing - flying dangerously low over people or property on the ground; (taboo).
Caterpillar Club - a jump for life in a parachute qualifies for membership.
Chinese landing - one wing low.
Clinker - a poorly executed maneuver.
Conservatory - a power-operated; glass-enclosed machine gun turret.
Contact - a Warning called out by the pilot to inform the mechanic the ignition switch is on.
Cracking Good Show - highest possible praise of a performance.
Dead Stick - gliding plane, after the engine has conked.
Dogfight - combat between two planes.
Drive It in The Hangar - stop talking aviation.
Dummer - a bonehead act.
Dust Bin - underside rear gun turret in an enemy aircraft.
Eggs - bombs.
Fat Friends - balloons.
Flak - anti-aircraft fire.
Flying The Iron Beam or Iron Compass - pilot flying along railroad.
Flying Pig - aerial torpedo.
Flying the Gauges - instrument flying.
Gain Some Altitude - come to a more erect standing or sitting position. Used to correct the "civilian slouch" in new cadets.
Geese - enemy bomber formation.
Get Eager - do your best; strive to the utmost.
Give It The Gun - advance the throttle to accelerate engine speed.
Glasshouse - power operated turret.
Go Into A Tailspin - get mad.
Going Upstairs - gaining altitude; climbing.
Good Show - a commendable action.
Grab A Brace - come to a position of super attention; usually directed at new cadets.
Hangar Pilot - mechanic who talks a great flight.
Hedge Hopping - low flying.
He's in a Flat Spin - a bit touched.
Hit The Deck - when an aviator lands.
Hitting The Silk - to make a parachute jump.
Hot Crate - a speedy plane.
H. P. - a hot pilot.
Jinking - dodging anti-aircraft fire.
Lame Duck - damaged plane.
Laying The Eggs - dropping bombs.
Life Saver - a parachute.
Mustard - smart pilot.
Office - the pilot's cockpit, usually in a large airplane.
Onions - flaring anti-aircraft shells.
Overshoot - to glide beyond the landing field before landing.
Pea Shooters - the high-powered planes of the Air Forces.
Pulpit - the cockpit.
Ready Room - the room where pilots on duty assemble, ready for instant call to action.
Reef Back - pull back the stick in flying a plane.
Roll Up Your Flaps - stop talking.
Shoot landings - to acquire practice in landing a plane.
Short Snorter - a member of an unofficial flyers' club, each member of which carries a one dollar bill autographed by fellow short snorters. Any members being unable to show the bill upon request of a fellow member, must forfeit a comparable bill or note to each short snorter present.
Shot Down In Flames - jilted by a girl friend.
Show - action in the air.
Slap On The Coal - open the throttle to give a plane more gas.
Solo - flying alone; hence doing anything else without company.
Spin Off - take a nap; or go to bed.
Spit Curl - a side slip in a plane.
Sugar Report - a letter to or from a girl friend.
Tear Off A Strip - to give someone a bawling out.
Tin Fish - an aerial torpedo.
Woofing - the telling of tall tales.
 

PADDY

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
7,425
Location
METROPOLIS OF EUROPA
SNAFU to you too, Belly me ol' mate. Missed you at Duxford this year :cry: BTW, Those aren't tears, its the English rain that left me sodden through last w/end, not the most glorious of Duxfords.

SNAFU = Situation Normal, Another Foul Up (well that's the polite version!) For anyone that didn't pick that little saying up :cheers1:
 

Patrick

New in Town
Messages
27
Location
South Texas
PADDY said:
SNAFU to you too, Belly me ol' mate. Missed you at Duxford this year :cry: BTW, Those aren't tears, its the English rain that left me sodden through last w/end, not the most glorious of Duxfords.

SNAFU = Situation Normal, Another Foul Up (well that's the polite version!) For anyone that didn't pick that little saying up :cheers1:
That's interesting Paddy. That's the first time I've heard it translated like that. I've always heard it translated like: "Situation normal, all fouled up." Polite version of course. (That's the one you use, when your kids ask.) I'm sure both were used. Either one conveys the message just fine.

P.
 

captain spectre

New in Town
Messages
6
Location
great plains
It doesn't have....."Whole Nine Yards"
I had heard that term referred to 'giving it your all' and was based on the fact that .50 cal ammo belts used in aviation were nine yards long....? true?
 

BellyTank

I'll Lock Up
...nine yards...

I've heard the ammo belt thing before too...
..."I gave the flight of Zeros the whole nine yards..."

Others say it's from Tailoring- I had assumed it was older than WW2 but it seems quite fitting, especially if a belt of .50 is 27 feet long...

I just found this:

"the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South
Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine
gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage.
If the pilots fired all their ammo a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

B
T
 

grant

Familiar Face
Messages
51
Here's a bit of slang from the Korean War airmen's vocabulary. When a soldier was recieved his papers to return to the states he called it his FIGMO (F_ _ k you I Got My Orders), just in case his CO came to him saying he had to fly another night combat mission north of the 38th parallel.

Grant
 

captain spectre

New in Town
Messages
6
Location
great plains
Conked out...........engine quit, or fell asleep.......


in checking found this on the subject:

conk out
1. Stop functioning, fail, as in The engine finally conked out. [Colloquial; early 1900s]
2. Fall asleep, as in Every evening he conked out in front of the television set. [1940s]
3. Faint or collapse, as in I don't know if it was the heat, but she suddenly conked out. [1920s]
4. Die, as in He's paranoid about conking out and he's only twenty! [Late 1920s]
 

PADDY

I'll Lock Up
Bartender
Messages
7,425
Location
METROPOLIS OF EUROPA
Eh...has BT's baby arrived?

Sorry, I must have missed something here (maybe I conked out!), but BT, has the wee one arrived, in swaddling clothes? If so, when? weight? name (I remember you were deliberating very much over this one).? Great news if that's the case, I was aware you had been quiet for some time and wondered if that was the reason. OH, get some pics!! bet you have at least 20,000 already by now, knowing what proud mums and dads are like :)
 

Forum statistics

Threads
107,312
Messages
3,033,701
Members
52,748
Latest member
R_P_Meldner
Top