The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-07-11
ARMY SKY PILOTS
POSSESS A LINGO,
OF Their MAKING
Airy Language May Sound
Foolish But Expressions
Mean Very Much

OF all the inventions of modern
warfare. the aeroplane and the sub
marine stand out prominent, and yet,
long before guns themselves were
dreamed of, the conquest of the air
and the problems of life beneath the
sea held men of all nations enthrafl-
ed.
Way back in NEUROLOGICAL times.
DoedaIus, who built in the Cretan
labyrinth and who invented the au-
ger, the saw, the plumb, and also
masts and sails for ships, claimed to
have solved the way to fly.
Indeed, it would seem that he must
have found some method of locomo-
ton for it was his son Icarius who,
flying out of Crete into Sicily with
his rather, veAtured too high and
melted his wings Of wax in-the sun.
and so fell into what was afterward
named the Icarian sea.
There were other men of those
times, too, who strove to invent a
method of breathing under water,
and marvellous tales of men who went
to join the mermaids have come
down through the ages.
Their inventions and their stories
were. however, hedged about with
tl1fySL6Iy. nSy WCIO IdIAC0 c<5 iAilfs'
acles and magic, rather than practice
lal inventions, and they gave to them
strange names to propitiate the gods
and confuse the mortals.
And to any one listening to the up
to- date aviator it would seem that
| the same practice is now followed.
/ for the AIRY language Of the man
who fights high above the earth is
entirely unintelligible to the average
lperson. even one who walks with his
Ehead in the clouds
| Thus when the airman prepares for
Ia flight he is apt to say to his COM
panion:
| ~Get your grummett, the bus is
buzzing, and I'm no pylon pilot You
move like a quirk," and his assistant
understands perfectly that the other
| is bidding him get his hat on because
| 1.-THE airplane is ready and he as a
soldier is not the kind of a man who
needs an audience to fly before, and
that unless the assistant hurries he
Twill be taken for man who has not
las yet received his certificate as a
flyer.
i In like fashion. an aviator will tell
another member of the flying corps
that he had rotten trip, that "only
4 a nose dive and a glide brought him
down all right. He may also add that
there were a lot of esausages'' float
ling around, and that he neeGs to do
sl"a little elevator inspecting before
j THE next stunt" but his companion
will show neither surprise nor mirth,
because the aviator is really describ-
4 ing close escape from death.
For in the language Of the flyer. a
spin usually ends in a tragedy, since
it occurs after overbanking. with the
result that the aeroplane spins like
Ia top and finally crashes to earth
1 Fear of this coming after the aviator
has struck a bump, which is a bit OF
Irarefied air, Is naturally nerve-wreck-
ling and will prompt him to a nose
dive, which is vertical descent to
Mother Earth, ending perhaps in 9
glide, which is descent with the en-
CINE shut off.
SO far as the seemingly edible pro
ducts Of pork are concerned they are
merely kite balloons, while elevator
inspection means looking over that
part of the mechanism which is used
for steering and balancing in the uI
land down directions.
To the aviator, too, a stunt means
mot just q trick or an exhibition OF
s some kind, but q bomb-raiding expe.
dition. and he is only too ready tt
get on his "grummett'' or cap an6
run for the bus to start on one.
i There are at least dozen express
sions used by the airmen of Americs
and England for the beginner, who i
he is very stupid may be a"Hun." Of
If he is progressing a "Quirk." whi'
on most occasions he Is ae"bonehead.
I In America the aviator who likes tt
fly with an audience, preferably fem
mime, is an "up-stage actor" whfl'
: in England he Is '"pylon pilot" bu
there is quite as much scorn in ont
term as In the other and the same Il
true of the way the Britisher and thu
American declare man will neve
make an aviator because he need
a hot-water bag for his feet
They have no objection to the maj
who feels cold. since even in the hot
test weather the upper air is chilled
and the wind icy; but it is when tn
cold clings persistently to the man
feet. and makes him nervous and of