Origin of term "Early Stack"
Joined: Sep 2000
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From: The Road to Nowhere
It is an old phrase indeed ... hasn't been heard at my Unit since about 1983!
At school we used to 'stack' the chairs at the end of the day so that the cleaner/caretaker could get at the floor more easily. Perhaps that's where it came from?
STH
At school we used to 'stack' the chairs at the end of the day so that the cleaner/caretaker could get at the floor more easily. Perhaps that's where it came from?
STH
Joined: Oct 1999
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From: South East.
Early Stack.
Very common in the sixties. Could apply to chairs, stools, books, magazines, coffee cups. Basically clear up crewroom and back to the Mess.
Another funny one (now) was "clear". We never seemed to "go" anywhere - we always "cleared".
Another funny one (now) was "clear". We never seemed to "go" anywhere - we always "cleared".
Joined: Jul 2000
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From: Abingdon, Oxfordshire, U.K.
I believe "gash" was originally a Naval term for rubbish or slops as in " heaving the gash over the side" (or words to that effect). In the RAF it came to mean anything with no owner, something available for use by anyone who wanted it, un-allocated time or space.
Mike W
Mike W
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: UK
Wasn't there an Air Marshall Stack, who, as a Sqn Cdr, used to tell his men to bu**er off and do their own thing on black flag days? None of this 'you must be fully occupied' lark that has crept in over recent years...
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Glorious Devon
FJJP
There was indeed an AVM Stack who was at HQ FTC in the '60s. A mate of mine was on the staff there and phoned the ADC's number one Friday afternoon. A voice merely said "Stack". My mate said "thank you, Sir" and hung up. The AVM had a sense of humour and my mate even got promoted!
So the expression "stack" certainly preceded the Air Marshal of that name.
There was indeed an AVM Stack who was at HQ FTC in the '60s. A mate of mine was on the staff there and phoned the ADC's number one Friday afternoon. A voice merely said "Stack". My mate said "thank you, Sir" and hung up. The AVM had a sense of humour and my mate even got promoted!
So the expression "stack" certainly preceded the Air Marshal of that name.
Joined: May 1999
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From: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Air Vice Marshal T N Stack was Commandant of RAFC Cranwell in 1968 in the days before it went comprehensive and merged with some secondary modern dump near Luton...
A very nice chap - my first ever Dining-In night in 1968 saw me sat directly across from him on the Junior Mess head table in that horrid interim mess-kit of hairy blues with gorgette patches, issue white shirt and single-ended bow tie. His tales of flying the Hawker Audax were fascinating........
A very nice chap - my first ever Dining-In night in 1968 saw me sat directly across from him on the Junior Mess head table in that horrid interim mess-kit of hairy blues with gorgette patches, issue white shirt and single-ended bow tie. His tales of flying the Hawker Audax were fascinating........
Joined: Aug 2001
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From: UK
Another possible derivation - from the end of a card game - "stack the cards" - abbreviated "Stack!". First heard it, in my early RAF days, said by Australian exchange Aircrew - who also frequently used the intermediate "Hang Slack!" 
What about "POETS DAY" - military or not?
What about "POETS DAY" - military or not?
