August 25th 20, 03:16 PM
Charlie Spratt would mention "elephant walks" in his race reports and I have had the fun of participating in such an event during the "Ordeal at Cordele". But now, the Sept 2020 issue of "Air & Space" provides some background on the term. Quoting the article:
"Elephant walk" is a term that traces its origins to World War II, when the Army Air Forces would regularly launch attacks in excess of 1,000 aircraft from its numbered Air Forces. Personnel watching the single-file taxi movements of heavily laden bombers compared the sight to a trail of lumbering elephants on their way to a watering hole The name stuck, and in later years it was also used to refer to taxi exercises without actual departures.
"Elephant walk" is a term that traces its origins to World War II, when the Army Air Forces would regularly launch attacks in excess of 1,000 aircraft from its numbered Air Forces. Personnel watching the single-file taxi movements of heavily laden bombers compared the sight to a trail of lumbering elephants on their way to a watering hole The name stuck, and in later years it was also used to refer to taxi exercises without actual departures.