| Ack-ack |
An antiaircraft gun; also, and especially,
antiaircraft fire |
| Big Time Operator |
(BTO) |
| Bandit |
Enemy aircraft |
| Big-A-Bird |
A term sometimes applied by the Port Moresby natives
to the B-24s when they first made their appearance in that area. |
| Bogie |
see 'bandit' |
| Cat |
Catalina Flying Boat |
| Dear John (Letter) |
A letter from a sweetheart at home saying she is no
longer interested. |
| Doug’s Dug Out |
An uncomplimentary term for the residences of General
Douglass McArthur and his family. First in Australia,
then later at a well-appointed plantation owner’s house in Port Moresby |
| Dug-Out Doug |
The uncomplimentary term for General Douglass
McArthur |
| Fair Dinkum |
An Aussie term meaning (generally) a fair deal |
| Fat Cat |
1) A person in, or associated with the military
living in safe and sometimes luxurious conditions. (A term often
applied to personnel assigned to posts in Australia, including Red
Cross personnel.) 2) An aircraft assigned to fly to and from fat cat
areas. |
| Feather, to |
To place a propeller in an edge-on position to the
direction of flight to cut down on the wind resistance (with engine
stopped.) |
| Flying Prostitute |
Term applied to the twin-engine Martin B-26. This
aircraft had a small wing area, and was said to have “No Visible Means
Of Support.” A high performance aircraft for its day, and requiring
great skill to fly. |
| George |
A term sometimes used by green pilots for the
Automatic Pilot. ( “Let George Do it”). |
| Gibson Girl |
Emergency hand cranked radio, so called because it
was shaped to be held between the knees while cranking. The shape
reminded the guys of the turn of the century, pinched
waist, corseted pin-up girls of the same name |
| Gone West |
A term first use in WW1 aviation circles meaning a
person had died. |
| Had It |
That is, "I’ve had it", "he's had it", and so on. In
some cases it inferred a disastrous ending |
| Hangar Queen |
An aircraft with an unenviably bad maintenance
record. An aircraft spending a great deal of time being repaired or
maintained. |
| Head Up and Locked |
A term applied to a person reacting stupidly to an
emergency. (“He had his head locked up his a--”) |
| Head Up his a-- |
same as above |
| Hot Pilot |
Self explanatory |
| JANFU |
Joint Army Navy F--- Up |
| Jungle Juice |
Alcoholic liquor made with what ever is handy around
camp. Some good, some not so good. Fresh or dehydrated potatoes,
raisins, dried or fresh fruit, or most anything when mixed with sugar
and allowed to ferment would become and alcoholic drink of questionable
quality, but alcoholic, nonetheless. Those persons with material to
make stills could turn this into a very strong hard liquor. |
| Knocked Up |
Tired or exhausted in Australia; pregnant in the U.S |
| Mae West |
Life jacket |
| Ninety-Day Wonder |
A 2nd Lt. who has received his commission by
(usually) going through the Officer Candidate School (OCS) |
| On the Beam |
Flying the old radio beam. A sometimes life-saving
procedure while flying entirely on instruments and listening to the
sound of radio beam signals. A pilot had to depend entirely on what he
heard while believing religiously in his previous “Under-the-hood”
instrument training. Room does not exist here for a description this
pilot skill deserves. Perhaps another place and another time. |
| On The Step |
An in-flight condition for a B-24 where the aircraft
is accelerated to slightly above its normal cruising speed, then
trimmed so that it is flying in a slightly nose-down condition, When
the aircraft center of gravity (CG) was properly adjusted fore and aft,
and aerodynamically trimmed, the ship would generally maintain a
slightly higher cruising speed until disturbed. (AUTHOR’S NOTE: In
writing this description of “on the step” the author realizes it will
open up a Pandora’s Box of rebuttals. Some pilots say this is just B.S.
Others will swear that you could get a ship up on the step. So have fun
with this one.)(WEBMASTER'S NOTE: yeah, take it to the message
board!) |
| Pucker Factor |
A term applied to describe the tenseness or danger
level of a situation. A high pucker factor could make your old rear end
cut donuts out of your seat pack parachute |
| Putt-Putt |
The single-cylinder auxiliary pour plant that
provided emergency or additional electrical power |
| Run-Away Prop |
A propeller out of control and stuck in the high
speed setting. A truly dangerous condition any time, but especially so
on take off |
| Sharp |
Term applied to a pilot or other crew member who has
quick and accurate responses to all requirements for his position |
| Sheila |
'Girlfriend' or 'girl' |
| She’ll Be Right in a Fortnight or 18 Days |
A delightful Aussie saying which meant, not to
worry, things will be better in about a couple of weeks or so |
| Short Snorter |
One or more bills of currency (usually starting with
an American dollar bill) signed by two or more persons and dated. The
Short Snorter usually inferred that the owner had crossed the Equator,
but not necessarily so. It was loosely understood that if an air crew
member offered to exchange signatures, and the other could not produce
a Short Snorter, then he had to buy the drinks at the nearest bar.
Short Snorters were a great way to get acquainted. As different kinds
of currency were acquired in one's travels, it was not unusual for two
members of the great flying fraternity to swap examples, whereupon the
new bills would be glued to the end of an ever-growing Short Snorter |
| Stand down, to |
To not fly a particular day, mission, etc... |
| Sweat |
Used in combination with other words, such as: “No
Sweat!”, or “Lot’sa Sweat!” This was a very descriptive term meaning
exactly what it said. It originated in 1939 or the early 1940’s in the
many flight training school s that grew up at that time. The flight
training was notoriously tough, and the students were worked by their
training instructors almost to the breaking point. In West Texas,
California, and other places where the flight training schools were
clustered, the airplane cockpit, coupled with the hard-driving
instructor, kept the student in a real state of sweat. The students
flight clothes, socks and shoes, together with his seat pack parachute
could very well become soaking wet with sweat at the end of a brisk
period of instruction. When the student would finally get to the
showers in the barracks, and a buddy would ask how it went, the student
would just as likely say, “S---, that was a no-sweat flight!” Then, his
buddy would look at the dried-up salt residue on this guy’s flight
suit, and he would know he was hearing that it had really been a tough
day, but his friend believed he had survived to fly another day! |
| Tail-End Charlie |
The last airplane in a bombing formation |
| Washed Out |
Failure to make the grade in a flying school |
| Washing Machine |
The mysterious and fearsome flying school
administration as it descended on a hapless student to inform him he
was being dropped from flight training |
| Washing Machine Charlie |
A term applied, along with copious cuss words to a
lone Japanese aircraft buzzing endlessly back and forth across an area,
while only occasionally dropping a small bomb, The purpose being to
keep the camp awake and in a nervous state. One Japanese airplane this
author remembers sounded just like an old Maytag washing machine
powered by a small gasoline engine- thus, the name |
| White Knuckle |
A white-knuckle flight was a tense, attention
–absorbing flight. It could result from flying in rough weather on
instruments, or on a bombing run |
