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GLOSSARY OF R.A.F. SLANG & TERMINOLOGY A/c: aircraft. Acc or Trolley Acc: Accum

GLOSSARY OF R.A.F. SLANG & TERMINOLOGY A/c: aircraft. Acc or Trolley Acc: Accumulator (battery) used to start aircraft engines on the ground. Ack: under the old phonetic alphabet, "Ack" stood for the letter "A", thus "ack-ack" was "A-A" or anti-aircraft artillery. Adj.: short form for Adjutant - the administrative assistant to the CO of a squadron. Air Commode: Air Commodore. Airscrew: the complete assembly of three or four propellers, hub and spinner. Aircrew: the men who actually flew the bomber into battle. A.M.O.: Air Ministry Orders. See "bumph". Anchor: one who waits too long to drop by parachute. Angels: a term used in airborne radio communications. One angel was 1000 feet, thus "angels 13" was 13,000 feet of altitude. AOC: Air Officer Commanding. Armourer: ground crew responsible for bombs, defensive ammunition, flares etc. Arse end charlie: rear gunner (R/AG). Arsy-tarsy: Aircrew Reception Centre. Bale or bail out: to leave an aircraft by jumping - hoping that some "clot" had packed your 'chute correctly. Bag: collect/secure, possibly illegally. Bags of: a great amount, as in "bags of flak over the target". Balbo: large formation of aircraft. Balloonatic: member of Balloon Command. Banana-boat: aircraft carrier. Bang on: to be right on target. By extension, to be right on the mark about any observation (also "spot on"). Basher: man, chap, fellow in a particular trade e.g. "stores basher". Battle dress blues: woolen working uniform. Bandit: enemy aircraft. Beatup: to fly very low over a populated airfield. Beehive: very close formation of bombers (hive) with fighter escort (bees). Beer-lever: joystick. Belt: to travel at a high speed or to hit target heavily. Belt up: be quiet. Best blues: parade uniform. Binding: whining about conditions. Black, a: something reprehensible, e.g. "he's put up a black with the CO about the mess he made of the march-past". Blighty: the U.K. Blitz time: the time briefed for all aircraft to pass over target. Blood-wagon: ambulance. Bloody: at the time this was fairly heavy duty profanity, often made more mild by transliteration to "ruddy". Blue: used by the Australians in reference to anything that was red. Blue, the: the desert. Bods: squadron personnel. Body-snatcher: stretcher bearer. Boffins: scientific or technical types who worked on new aircraft developments. Bog: a latrine - also "biffy". Bolshie: a crewman who took a "dim view" of service "bull". Boomerang: an operation that required one to return to base with a "u/s kite". Boost: the amount of supercharging given to an engine to increase power. Bowser: tanker truck or "lorry" used to refuel aircraft "down the flights". B.P.D.: Base Personnel Disposal - where you went when you were "O.T.E.". Brass, the or Brasshats: commanding officers at the Wing or Group level, so called because of the amount of gold braid found on hats of Group Captains, Wing Commanders and Air Vice Marshalls. Brassed off: extremely unhappy. Also "browned off". Brew up: to prepare a pot of tea. Briefing: a meeting of all crew before an operation to receive instructions for the op. Brown Jobs: the army - also "pongos" and "squaddies". Brown, to get one's knees: to have spent time in the "MTO" - because of the heat the wearing of uniform "KD" shorts was necessary. Buggers, to play silly: to fool around - not take job seriously. Bull: the formalities of the service - parade ground bashing, saluting the King's commission, etc. Bully Beef: a "gourmet canned meat product" consisting largely of fat, so called because of the Bull on the front of a tin of Hereford Brand corned beef. A staple food on Italian airfields. Bumph: useless paperwork. Bundoo, the: the boondocks - see "blue". Burton: "Gone for a Burton" - killed in action - from an old beer commercial for Burton Ale. Bus: an aircraft. Buy it: see "Burton". As in "Fred almost bought it over Verona last op". Also to "buy the farm". Caterpillar Club: a club for those who had survived by jumping out of their aircraft and using their parachutes. The club pin was a small caterpillar (representing the insect that made silk for the parachutes) and was given by the maker of parachutes. Chain Gang: aircrafthands, General Duties. Chairborne division: RAF personnel working in offices. Chance light: powerful light at end of runway which could be requested by a pilot in difficulty. Chiefy: Flight Sergeant. Chop, to get the: see "Burton". Chuffed: extremely unhappy. Chum: equivalent to the American "buddy" as in "wad'ya want chum?" Circuits and bumps: a pilot training exercise in landing an aircraft and immediately taking off again. Equivalent to the American term "touch and go". Civvy street: what you did before or after you were in the R.A.F. Clapped out: an aircraft or person nearing the end of its useful life - worn out, tired. Clobber: the clothing and equipment it was necessary to wear in a wartime bomber. Clot: a person whose intelligence should be questioned. CO: Commanding Officer. Cockup: a situation that has become extremely disorganized (from the term "cocked hat"). Cookie: a 4000 H.C. bomb consisting of two light cased cylinders welded together and filled with amitol high explosive. It had the aerodynamic shape of a brick and was used to demolish large structures - also called a blockbuster. Coned: when one searchlight, often radar controlled, picked up an aircraft all of the others in the target area would swing onto that aircraft, thus "coning" it - then the flak would be "poured into the cone". Conservatory: cabin of a plane (from the perspex on three sides). Corkscrew: evasive maneuver performed when attacked by night fighter - sharp diving turn to port followed by sharp climbing turn to starboard. Cricket: German night fighter plane. Dalton Computer: early mechanical hand held computer used in air navigation. Darky: a system of radio signals whereby an aircraft that was lost could get assistance to return to base. Debriefing: where all crews met with the Intel Officer to share what had happened on the raid. Deck: the ground. Desert lily: urinal made from tin can. D.F.C.: Distinguished Flying Cross - medal awarded to ranks of warrant officer and above for conspicuous bravery or long term excellence while on active service in operation against the enemy. D.F.M.: Distinguished Flying Medal - same as a D.F.C., but for ranks of Flight Sergeant and lower. Dicey-do: a particularly hair-raising operation. Dim view, to take a: to view with skepticism or disapproval. Ditch: to perform a landing in the "drink" - usually when one's a/c was unable to fly any more. Dicky or 2nd Dicky: an inexperienced co-pilot flying with a veteran Wellington crew. Dicky flight: a training flight where an inexperienced operational pilot would go with an experienced pilot on a real op. Dicky seat: the seat originally designed for a second pilot in the Wellington - often used by the bomb aimer in the Middle East and Italy until near the target. Dobhi: one's laundry. Dope: nitocelluloid liquid, similar to nail polish, used to tighten and harden the fabric covering of a "wimpy". Down the flights: the area on an airfield where the aircraft were serviced between ops. D.R.: dead reckoning navigation. Based on intended track, airspeed and time modified by wind speed and direction. Drink: an ocean, river or lake. Drome: aerodrome - an airfield. Driver, airframe: a pilot. This term was a play on the way that the RAF quartermaster labeled everything, such as "Gloves, Airman, For the use of". Duff: bad or not accurate, as in "duff gen". Elsan: chemical toilet carried on board Wellington aircraft. ENSA: entertainment troupe. E.P.I.P.: type of marquee tent (Egyptian Pattern, Indian Production). Erk: ground crew - from the Cockney pronunciation of aircraftsman. ETA: estimated time of arrival. Faithful Annie: An Avro Anson - a twin engined aircraft usually used for training or transport. Finger, to remove one's: to hurry up and/or to pay attention. Fishheads: the navy. Fitter: ground crew responsible for engines and related controls. Flak: antiaircraft fire. From the German, "FLugAbwehrKanonen'. In reports "heavy flak" did not refer to the concentration or degree of flak but to the caliber observed. "Heavy flak" referred to anything of 88 mm and up while "light flak" consisted of quick firing 20, 30 or 40 mm. guns. By extension flak came to mean any grief given to you by anyone else. Flame float: small incendiary device that would float after being thrown out down the flare chute. The rear gunner would center the "pip" on his reflector sight on the point of light and then read off the degree of deviation from a scale on his turret ring - this would provide the navigator with the degree of wind drift blowing the aircraft off track. Flamer: aircraft shot down in flames. Flaming: mild, all purpose expletive. Flaming onions: anti aircraft tracer. Flannel: to avoid the truth, to try and bluff one's way or to deceive. Flap: as in "theres a flap on" - excitement or some especially chaotic event. Flare path: a row of lights (either kerosene gooseneck uploads/Geographie/ raf-glossary.pdf