CODE NAMES & RAF VOCABULARY
 

Some of these are still in use today!

Interesting?

RAFRA - Code Names and RAF vocabulary

Bloggs
Fg Off for the use of!:cool:

but no SWO, or air-loadmattress, or lumpy-front or God-botherer or ..........

Ball gazers?

cloudy, weather-guesser ............

harry-clampers, and its opposite, Group-captain's weather, and the old favourite, the suckers' gap.

Jankers not merely being put on a charge, but the consequences of a minor charge. Confined to barracks and "fatgiues", usually cleaning and polishing sundry statioin effects.

3rd entry - "Abbeville Kids" dates this.

Try Rafanasaurus for a more modern take.

Thy seem to have missed out "BLATS" :hmm:

No
'Whistling tit' or 'Whistling wheelbarrow' :p

The RAFANASAURUS says 'growbag' is a sleeping bag. I've always understood it to be flying overalls, esp of the green variety.

"Growbag" - flying suit.
"Maggotbag" - sleeping bag.

That's what I remember!! (Doesn't mean much, I know!)

"Bunch of monkeys on the ceiling, sir! Grab your egg-and-fours and let's get the bacon delivered!"

Nah - this is the one Banned Phrases: The Aircrew Dictionary (of unacceptable cliche and overused phrases)

never a baby's head in sight though.

[For some time I thought they were "baby zeds"]

I have been editing an interview that was carried out some years ago with a Royal Flying Corps pilot, who said that on the Front, when he had an engine failure (of which there were many), he would "VOLPLANE" down in the glide. When asked what Volplane meant, he explained that they would spiral down looking for somewhere to land, as they were usually flying over bomb craters.
Several times, he was forced to land behind enemy lines & get his tool kit out to try & fix the problem!!
I have never come across the term "volplane" before. I wonder if anyone else has?

War slang.

'Volplane' was an early term for 'glide'.

Aviate = showing off while flying a plane.

That puts different connotation on the advice to: Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

I recall at a cocktail party in the Wirral, not military by any means, one lady to another, "this is boring, let's do a 180 and get the hell put of here."

The ladies were very old, say 35.

As a brand new PO I was gobsmacked and failed to take advantage of the situation.

PS, not to be confused with siutuation at a fighter control party

"Let's do a 360 and . . . ". FC, don't you love 'em?

I found the definition of 'two-six (2-6)' to be a little misleading, it seems to define the present meaning of the term whereas it actually pre-dates the RAF and has its origin in the RFC/RNAS. Aircraft of the day were very simple machines, no brakes, no steering and only a hardwood tailskid to provide stopping friction. Therefore the procedure for ground-handling these aircraft was to position one man at each lower wingtip (the 'two' of two-six) and three men along each side of the fuselage between the wing and tailplane (the 'six' of two-six). When ready, the person-in-charge of this ground handling party would call "two-six, up" and the fuselage would be lifted by the 'six' and the aircraft would be physically moved from one location to another with the 'two' ensuring the aircraft didn't rock too much and also that there was sufficient clearance for the wingtips - a practice still being followed today.


In my RAF time, the call 'two-six' usually meant everyone to help open/close the hangar doors or move something particularly heavy or awkward.

2, 6 heave is a navy gun term. No 2 and No 6 of the gunnery team were responsible for pulling the cannon into firing position and the post firing pulling it back to the loading position.

VOLPLANE
 

Cheers BEagle. What an amazing Gentleman & what an amazing story. His Father was in MilInt & four of them were sent to Germany in 1913 to see what was happening. The only one to get into the Krupp factory was Lord Baden Powell (then Col. Baden Powell). In 1914 his Father was sent to the East Coast & three of them were chasing a Swedish spy, who had joined the British Army. He was seen in the caves at Flanborough Head, so they acquired a boat & entered the caves. The spy shot his Father dead.
The Gentleman in the interview managed to get 20 hours flying a French Farmen biplane & joined the RFC at the age of 15. He was 5ft 11in tall & weighed 14Stone, so got away saying he was 18 years old. Before going to France Lord Trenchard (then Col. Trenchard) mentored him & took him flying to show him the tricks of the trade in Battle - Now back to the thread!!