RAF Cartoon from WWII

[JimAttrill]

It rather reminds me of the Monty Python sketch ...

[Hauksbee]

Nope. sorry. Didn't get a word of that.

[Olham]

I wonder if the German pilots also had a banter like that, but I think I would have heard of it.

Guess they were talking rather straight.

[JimAttrill]

I do know that German pilots had nicknames for their aircraft.   But nothing like the general 'RAF slang'.  I spent 7 years in the RAF and we all used lots of slang terms to each other (and a lot of swearing not to be repeated at home in front of Mother).   Much RAF slang was actually Navy slang eg. 'hit the deck' - my father tended to call the floor the deck.  But the RAF didn't use deckhead = ceiling or bulkhead = wall as they do in the Navy.   But armourers were always called plumbers (a derogatory term but they loved it) and airframe fitters were called riggers although they didn't do much rigging any more.  Engine fitters (what I was) were normally called by the old word 'fitter' and later 'greasers' or 'oilers' because the job was a bit dirty to say the least.   Later on they became 'sootys'  but that was after my time in 1973.  And the word 'liney' had a special meaning to the squadron people.  I was a liney for a few years and loved it. 

[Hauksbee]

I wonder if the German pilots also had a banter like that....

The Germans really should have won The Battle of Britain, but it was the banter that brought them up short. In the time it took to puzzle out a "how's y'r father?", a Spit could climb into the saddle and 'dickeybird' the blighter. Besides, a 109 only had 30 min over the target; 27 of which was spent with a German-English Dictionary.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Hauksbee

[Olham]

[Capitaine Vengeur]

Some weird French slang on early WW2 fighters was "Manette dans la poche" (i.e. "control lever down the pocket") to mean "full throttle" - as on French-designed aircraft, the control lever had to be pulled rather than pushed to reach full throttle. It seems that some aces kept on using this slang later, even while flying British- or American-designed fighters.