The 'chop' meant brakes off, the 'nod' meant burners a few seconds later.....
A Jag Mate
once described how he'd got some complicated 4-ship mission plan worked out in RAFG; leading his formation he also needed to start a stopwatch just before brakes-off for some obscure reason. So, wind-up signal, hack...and he knocked his stopwatch flying, so bent forward to pick it up....
When he looked back up, all he could see was 3 pairs of afterburners roaring....well, pottering....off ahead of him down Bruggen's runway.....
