French aviation terms

baldeagle · 18 October 2005, 03:22 PM

Is there a French/English glossary of WW1 aviation terms available on the internet? Or can someone post one, or even some favorite terms and their meanings? How about some good British WW1 aviation terms? The movie guys are shooting some background dialogue and have asked about this.

Cheval du bois....??

1Mark66 · 18 October 2005, 05:33 PM

Check out James Norman Hall's memoirs ("High Adventure")- its full of the French terms that US pilots used at the time. Might be just the level of chat you need.

Mark66

Barrett · 18 October 2005, 07:28 PM

About 90 years later we're still using French aero terms, to wit:
fuselage
empennage
aileron
nacelle

Some terms less common today include:
pique (climb)
vrille (spin)
renversement (still used in music)

baldeagle · 18 October 2005, 07:31 PM

I thought pique was to dive on somebody?

Billy9 · 19 October 2005, 01:31 PM

There are several sources of English/French aviation terms.

(1) Glossary of Aviation Terms (Termes d'Aviation).
Compiled by Lt Victor W. Pagé, A.S.S.C., U.S.R. and Lt Paul Montaroil, French Flying Corps
Published in 1917, by The Norman W. Henley Publishing Co.

(2) A French-English Military Technical Dictionary, by Cornélis De Witt
Willcox
Published by Harper & Brothers Publishers.

Bill

TomVrille · 19 October 2005, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baldeagle

The movie guys are shooting some background dialogue and have asked about this.

Cheval du bois....??

Cheval du bois , literally "wooden horse", so-called because of the similarity to a merry-go-round horse. The jargon referred to a ground loop,with one wingtip dragging. Many novice pilots returned red-faced to the mess after one of these!

TomVrille · 19 October 2005, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baldeagle

I thought pique was to dive on somebody?

Right! The USAS pilots were particularly fond of using this term in their logs, combat reports, and diaries. Unfortunately, they often used the homophonic "peek" and "peak" in their writing. Some of the results are pretty funny!

gilles · 19 October 2005, 05:16 PM

If the cheval de bois went wrong it was a pylone or worse a capotage
If the moulin (windmill=engine) do not gaze anymore, you may aller aux vaches ("go to the cows"= in case of aerodrome shortage, a meadow is not the worst idea). You may casser du bois (to break some wood) or even bouziller (destroy) le zinc (plane, pronounc. "zeung")
Of course, if everything is OK you can make virages (turns), renversements (immelmann turns) and tournants (barrel rolls)(these last 2 terms are the only obsolete, afaik)
Finally, after landing you have to expliquer le coup/ discuter le coup (a pilot telling his flight with large movements of hands and arms : universal)

gilles

baldeagle · 20 October 2005, 07:54 AM

Good stuff, and helpful. Love the paintings Gilles. Thanks all.