Has there ever in all history been an appeal such as this?
ADDENDUM
A PAGE IN THE DICTIONARY FOR AVIATORS
What is to become of all the new words, some of them with new
meanings, the old words with new meanings, and the new words with old
meanings, coined by the aviators of the American and British flying
services in the war? Are they to die an early death from lack of
nourishment and lack of use, or will they go forward, full-throated
into the dictionary, where they may belong? Here are just a few of
them, making a blushing debut, so that it may be seen at once just how
bad they are:
AEROBATICS--A newly coined word to describe aerial "stunting,"
which includes all forms of the sport of looping, spinning, and
rolling. The term originated in the training schedule for
pilots, and all pilots must take a course in aerobatics before
being fully qualified.
AEROFOIL--Any plane surface of an airplane designed to obtain
reaction on its surfaces from the air through which it moves.
This includes all wing surface and most of the tail-plane
surface.
AILERON--This is a movable plane, attached to the outer
extremities of an airplane wing. The wing may be either raised
or lowered by moving the ailerons. Raising the right wing, by
depressing the right aileron, correspondingly lowers the left
wing by raising the left aileron. They exercise lateral control
of a machine.
BLIMP--A non-rigid dirigible balloon. The dirigible holds its
shape due to the fact that its gas is pumped into the envelop to
a pressure greater than the atmosphere. It can move through the
air at forty miles an hour, but high speed will cause it to
buckle in the nose.
BUMP--A rising or falling column of air which may be met while
flying. A machine will be bumped up or bumped down on a bumpy
day. A hot day over flat country, at noon, will generally be
exceedingly bumpy.
CRASH--Any airplane accident. It may be a complete wreck or the
plane may only be slightly injured by a careless landing.
Crashes are often classified by the extent of damage. A class A
crash, for instance, is a complete washout. A class D crash is
an undercarriage and propeller broken.
DOPE--A varnish-like liquid applied to the linen or cotton wing
fabrics. It is made chiefly of acetone, and shrinks the fabric
around the wooden wing structure until it becomes as tight as a
drum. The highly polished surface lessens friction of the plane
through the air.
DRIFT--Head resistance encountered by the machine moving through
the air. This must be overcome by the power of the engine. The
term is also used in aerial navigation in its ordinary sense,
and a machine flying a long stretch over water may drift off the
course, due to winds of which the pilot has no knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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