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WWII AVIATION SLANGUAGE
from the booklet I've Got Wings!
  • 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 of 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 girlfriend.
  • Show - action in the air.
  • Slop 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 girlfriend.
  • Tear Off A Strip - to give someone a bawling out.
  • Tin Fish - an aerial torpedo.
  • Woofing - the telling of tall tales.