Thought this might spread a little light on things for some folks...
http://natureonline.com/37/56-ap4-glossary.htmlA/c: aircraft.
Acc or Trolley Acc: Accumulator (battery) used to start aircraft engines on the ground.
Ack: under the old phonetic alphabet, "Ack" stood for the letter "A", thus "ack-ack" was "A-A" or anti-aircraft artillery.
Adj.: short form for Adjutant - the administrative assistant to the CO of a squadron.
Air Commode: Air Commodore.
Airscrew: the complete assembly of three or four propellers, hub and spinner.
Aircrew: the men who actually flew the bomber into battle.
A.M.O.: Air Ministry Orders. See "bumph".
Anchor: one who waits too long to drop by parachute.
Angels: a term used in airborne radio communications. One angel was 1000 feet, thus "angels 13" was 13,000 feet of altitude.
AOC: Air Officer Commanding.
Armourer: ground crew responsible for bombs, defensive ammunition, flares etc.
Arse end charlie: rear gunner (R/AG).
Arsy-tarsy: Aircrew Reception Centre.
Bale or bail out: to leave an aircraft by jumping - hoping that some "clot" had packed your 'chute correctly.
Bag: collect/secure, possibly illegally.
Bags of: a great amount, as in "bags of flak over the target".
Balbo: large formation of aircraft.
Balloonatic: member of Balloon Command.
Banana-boat: aircraft carrier.
Bang on: to be right on target. By extension, to be right on the mark about any observation (also "spot on").
Basher: man, chap, fellow in a particular trade e.g. "stores basher".
Battle dress blues: woolen working uniform.
Bandit: enemy aircraft.
Beatup: to fly very low over a populated airfield.
Beehive: very close formation of bombers (hive) with fighter escort (bees).
Beer-lever: joystick.
Belt: to travel at a high speed or to hit target heavily.
Belt up: be quiet.
Best blues: parade uniform.
Binding: whining about conditions.
Black, a: something reprehensible, e.g. "he's put up a black with the CO about the mess he made of the march-past".
Blighty: the U.K.
Blitz time: the time briefed for all aircraft to pass over target.
Blood-wagon: ambulance.
Bloody: at the time this was fairly heavy duty profanity, often made more mild by transliteration to "ruddy".
Blue: used by the Australians in reference to anything that was red.
Blue, the: the desert.
Bods: squadron personnel.
Body-snatcher: stretcher bearer.
Boffins: scientific or technical types who worked on new aircraft developments.
Bog: a latrine - also "biffy".
Bolshie: a crewman who took a "dim view" of service "bull".
Boomerang: an operation that required one to return to base with a "u/s kite".
Boost: the amount of supercharging given to an engine to increase power.
Bowser: tanker truck or "lorry" used to refuel aircraft "down the flights".
B.P.D.: Base Personnel Disposal - where you went when you were "O.T.E.".
Brass, the or Brasshats: commanding officers at the Wing or Group level, so called because of the amount of gold braid found on hats of Group Captains, Wing Commanders and Air Vice Marshalls.
Brassed off: extremely unhappy. Also "browned off".
Brew up: to prepare a pot of tea.
Briefing: a meeting of all crew before an operation to receive instructions for the op.
Brown Jobs: the army - also "pongos" and "squaddies".
Brown, to get one's knees: to have spent time in the "MTO" - because of the heat the wearing of uniform "KD" shorts was necessary.
Buggers, to play silly: to fool around - not take job seriously.
Bull: the formalities of the service - parade ground bashing, saluting the King's commission, etc.
Bully Beef: a "gourmet canned meat product" consisting largely of fat, so called because of the Bull on the front of a tin of Hereford Brand corned beef. A staple food on Italian airfields.
Bumph: useless paperwork.
Bundoo, the: the boondocks - see "blue".
Burton: "Gone for a Burton" - killed in action - from an old beer commercial for Burton Ale.
Bus: an aircraft.
Buy it: see "Burton". As in "Fred almost bought it over Verona last op". Also to "buy the farm".
Caterpillar Club: a club for those who had survived by jumping out of their aircraft and using their parachutes. The club pin was a small caterpillar (representing the insect that made silk for the parachutes) and was given by the maker of parachutes.
Chain Gang: aircrafthands, General Duties.
Chairborne division: RAF personnel working in offices.
Chance light: powerful light at end of runway which could be requested by a pilot in difficulty.
Chiefy: Flight Sergeant.
Chop, to get the: see "Burton".
Chuffed: extremely unhappy.
Chum: equivalent to the American "buddy" as in "wad'ya want chum?"
Circuits and bumps: a pilot training exercise in landing an aircraft and immediately taking off again. Equivalent to the American term "touch and go".
Civvy street: what you did before or after you were in the R.A.F.
Clapped out: an aircraft or person nearing the end of its useful life - worn out, tired.
Clobber: the clothing and equipment it was necessary to wear in a wartime bomber.
Clot: a person whose intelligence should be questioned.
CO: Commanding Officer.
Cockup: a situation that has become extremely disorganized (from the term "cocked hat").
Cookie: a 4000 H.C. bomb consisting of two light cased cylinders welded together and filled with amitol high explosive. It had the aerodynamic shape of a brick and was used to demolish large structures - also called a blockbuster.
Coned: when one searchlight, often radar controlled, picked up an aircraft all of the others in the target area would swing onto that aircraft, thus "coning" it - then the flak would be "poured into the cone".
Conservatory: cabin of a plane (from the perspex on three sides).
Corkscrew: evasive maneuver performed when attacked by night fighter - sharp diving turn to port followed by sharp climbing turn to starboard.
Cricket: German night fighter plane.
Dalton Computer: early mechanical hand held computer used in air navigation.
Darky: a system of radio signals whereby an aircraft that was lost could get assistance to return to base.
Debriefing: where all crews met with the Intel Officer to share what had happened on the raid.
Deck: the ground.
Desert lily: urinal made from tin can.
D.F.C.: Distinguished Flying Cross - medal awarded to ranks of warrant officer and above for conspicuous bravery or long term excellence while on active service in operation against the enemy.
D.F.M.: Distinguished Flying Medal - same as a D.F.C., but for ranks of Flight Sergeant and lower.
Dicey-do: a particularly hair-raising operation.
Dim view, to take a: to view with skepticism or disapproval.
Ditch: to perform a landing in the "drink" - usually when one's a/c was unable to fly any more.
Dicky or 2nd Dicky: an inexperienced co-pilot flying with a veteran Wellington crew.
Dicky flight: a training flight where an inexperienced operational pilot would go with an experienced pilot on a real op.
Dicky seat: the seat originally designed for a second pilot in the Wellington - often used by the bomb aimer in the Middle East and Italy until near the target.
Dobhi: one's laundry.
Dope: nitocelluloid liquid, similar to nail polish, used to tighten and harden the fabric covering of a "wimpy".
Down the flights: the area on an airfield where the aircraft were serviced between ops.
D.R.: dead reckoning navigation. Based on intended track, airspeed and time modified by wind speed and direction.
Drink: an ocean, river or lake.
Drome: aerodrome - an airfield.
Driver, airframe: a pilot. This term was a play on the way that the RAF quartermaster labeled everything, such as "Gloves, Airman, For the use of".
Duff: bad or not accurate, as in "duff gen".
Elsan: chemical toilet carried on board Wellington aircraft.
ENSA: entertainment troupe.
E.P.I.P.: type of marquee tent (Egyptian Pattern, Indian Production).
Erk: ground crew - from the Cockney pronunciation of aircraftsman.
ETA: estimated time of arrival.
Faithful Annie: An Avro Anson - a twin engined aircraft usually used for training or transport.
Finger, to remove one's: to hurry up and/or to pay attention.
Fishheads: the navy.
Fitter: ground crew responsible for engines and related controls.
Flak: antiaircraft fire. From the German, "FLugAbwehrKanonen'. In reports "heavy flak" did not refer to the concentration or degree of flak but to the caliber observed. "Heavy flak" referred to anything of 88 mm and up while "light flak" consisted of quick firing 20, 30 or 40 mm. guns. By extension flak came to mean any grief given to you by anyone else.
Flame float: small incendiary device that would float after being thrown out down the flare chute. The rear gunner would center the "pip" on his reflector sight on the point of light and then read off the degree of deviation from a scale on his turret ring - this would provide the navigator with the degree of wind drift blowing the aircraft off track.
Flamer: aircraft shot down in flames.
Flaming: mild, all purpose expletive.
Flaming onions: anti aircraft tracer.
Flannel: to avoid the truth, to try and bluff one's way or to deceive.
Flap: as in "theres a flap on" - excitement or some especially chaotic event.
Flare path: a row of lights (either kerosene gooseneck flares, or, on a more permanent base, electric lights) that marked the boundary of the runway for taking off and landing.
Flight: a bomber squadron was often divided into two Flights - "A" and "B" consisting of 6-8 aircraft and crews and commanded by a Squadron Leader who was the Flight Commander or Leader - "A" Flight aircraft were lettered from A-N and "B" Flight from M-Z.
Flying brevet: cloth insignia worn on all uniforms including battle dress to indicate your aircrew trade. Pilots' brevets were always two winged. All other crew wore a single wing with their trade marked inside a circular area at the base of the wing.
Flying log: every crew member was required to keep a flying logbook of every flight he took including air tests, transport, training and operational flying. This book was signed by the Flight Leader each month and by the C/O of the squadron or the various Trade Leaders at the end of the tour (eg: a Bomb Aimer's log would be signed by the Bombing Leader, The Gunner's by the Gunnery Leader etc.).
Form 78: RAF form also called Aircraft Movement Card which followed the aircraft from the manufacturer to its final resting place.
Form 540: pages of this form make up the Operations Record Books (ORB), which included columns for date, aircraft type and number, crew, duty, time up, time down, details of sortie or flight, plus references and summaries.
Form 700: R.A.F. Form signed by the captain of the aircraft taking responsibility for the aircraft from the ground crew.
Fort or Fortress: Boeing B-17 bomber. Flown by USAAF out of Amendola and Tortorella as part of 15th Airforce, it was not used as a bomber in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations by RAF.
Frozen on the stick: paralyzed with fear.
Fruit salad: crew would wear only the ribbons from their "gongs" in most situations, wrapped around a thin bar and sewn together, worn under the flying brevet. The various Colors of the "gong" ribbons would look like fruit salad in a tin. The term was usually used for someone who had a large collection of ribbons.
F.T.U.: Ferry Training Unit - preparation for flying an aircraft out to an active theatre of war.
Gardening: sowing mines in rivers, ports and oceans from low heights.
Gee: the earliest form of Ground Control Radar installed in Italy.
George: the automatic pilot.
Gen: information. Either good (see "pukka") or bad (see "duff").
Gen: a person on squadron who knew what he was doing, as in "a gen bod".
Gerry or Jerry: German.
Get some in: advice given to "sprog crews" who felt like advising "old lags" on their opinion of operational flying. Often paired with "chum" as in, "get some in chum, before you tell your grandmother how to suck eggs".
Gharry: originally a horse drawn cart, it came to mean any form of wheeled transport.
Gippy-tummy: "the screaming hab-dabs", "the trots in the extremis" - dysentery.
Gone for six: dead.
Gong: a service medal.
Goolie chit: a scrap of paper or piece of cloth that when shown to the natives of a country over which you might be shot down offered a reward if they would return you to the nearest Allied unit unharmed.
Goolies: part of body that if shot off would provide a very nice soprano voice for the remainder of the owner's life - as in "I almost got my goolies shot off, last op".
GP: General Purpose Bomb as in "6 x 250 GP".
Gremlin: a mythical creature that lived on certain aircraft and caused it to go "u/s" at the most inconvenient times and then could not be located as the source of the problem.
Green, in the: all engine control gauges operating correctly. A needle which swung into the "red" indicated a malfunction.
Green, to get the: to receive permission to take off, generally expanded to refer to getting permission for anything. To give an aircraft permission to take off the airfield control officer would signal in Morse code using an Aldis Lamp with a green lens. Usually the Morse code signal was the letter of the aircraft.
Greens, three: both main "undercart" legs and the tail-wheel down and locked. This was indicated by three lights on the flying panel. Up and locked would be indicated by "three reds".
Grief, to come to: to be destroyed or to get into trouble.
Ground wallah: an officer who did not fly (also see "penguin" and "mahogany Spitfire").
Groupie: Group Captain - usual rank of officer who commanded a Wing.
Group: a formation of "Wings".
Gubbins: equipment or needed material (eg: "has that kite got the gubbins for dropping a cookie?").
Guinea Pig Club: after an incident where aircrew were extremely badly burned they would be sent to East Grinstead Hospital in the U.K. where some of the foremost plastic surgeons of the day performed "cutting edge" surgery. The term was made up by the patients themselves. Many today proudly wear the maroon tie of the club.
H2S: early airborne centimetric radar used by Halifaxes. From "How To See" or "hydrogen sulphide" (implying the system "stinks") according to the two most popular legends.
Hack: aircraft on squadron used for general communications duties or as the CO's private aircraft.
Half-pint hero: a boaster.
Halibag: Handley Page Halifax - bomber used by 614 Squadron in the Pathfinder role.
H.C.: High Capacity - see "cookie".
Hedge-hopping: flying so low that the aircraft appears to hop over the hedges.
Herc: A Bristol Hercules sleeve valve air cooled radial engine of the type used on the Wellington Mk.X.
Hop the twig: Canadian term meaning to crash fatally.
Illuminator: a crew tasked with dropping flares on a night target so that the following aircraft could aim accurately - usual load was 54 parachute flares.
Intel: intelligence officer or intelligence report.
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