Originally Posted by
Dan Gerous
At the risk of looking like an idiot, why are armourers called "plumbers"? I've never got that one.
I was told Armourers are called Plumbers because the defensive guns on Lancaster and Halifax were water cooled. The gun turrets were hydraulically powered. Could be wrong though?
Airframes were are Riggers because WW1 aircraft used wire bracing and control rods which needed adjusting. The name might have came from the Royal Navy, as in setting up a ships rigging?