| 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 week, 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 |