Any fliers?

Interesting that a WW I slang term for the string-bags of the period
was "kite".

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

Official term on secret documents was Akorn, Me-609 (on a few rare transport
documents), or "Silber". Secret flying projects such as the 8-262, 8-163, and
8-335 all had precious metals nicknames. The pilots usually called them
"Turbos" - I saw in Galland's book that he called them 'kites' but none of the
pilots I've interviewed called them anything other than a "Me" or "Turbo". He
and Steinhof (the only other pilot I've seen call his 262 a kite) are both
members of the 'old guard' and may have used the term as an endearing pat on
the rump with a nod toward their earlier roots. Lots of pilots in the pre-war
era called their glorified stringbags by the affectionate appellation of
'kite'.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

An LZ is a place you want to land, not stay.

snip Tom Swift's impressive list

Sooo, would you mind sharing a Lysander story or two with us?

I'm betting you are one of VERY few on this newsgroup with experience in that
little gem.

C'mon - we'd all love to hear about it. Seriously!

v/r
Gordon

Subject: Any fliers?
From: nt (Krztalizer)
Date: 5/18/04 12:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:


Interesting that a WW I slang term for the string-bags of the period
was "kite".

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

Official term on secret documents was Akorn, Me-609 (on a few rare transport
documents), or "Silber". Secret flying projects such as the 8-262, 8-163,
and
8-335 all had precious metals nicknames. The pilots usually called them
"Turbos" - I saw in Galland's book that he called them 'kites' but none of
the
pilots I've interviewed called them anything other than a "Me" or "Turbo".
He
and Steinhof (the only other pilot I've seen call his 262 a kite) are both
members of the 'old guard' and may have used the term as an endearing pat on
the rump with a nod toward their earlier roots. Lots of pilots in the
pre-war
era called their glorified stringbags by the affectionate appellation of
'kite'.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

An LZ is a place you want to land, not stay.


Fying is all fun games and a million laughs until the shooting starts. That's
when you begin to earn your flight pay, your combat pay, your overseas pay and
hopefully your longevity pay. A lot of guys never got any of that last one.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

(Krztalizer) wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

Official term on secret documents was Akorn, Me-609 (on a few rare transport
documents), or "Silber". Secret flying projects such as the 8-262, 8-163, and
8-335 all had precious metals nicknames. The pilots usually called them
"Turbos" - I saw in Galland's book that he called them 'kites' but none of the
pilots I've interviewed called them anything other than a "Me" or "Turbo". He
and Steinhof (the only other pilot I've seen call his 262 a kite) are both
members of the 'old guard' and may have used the term as an endearing pat on
the rump with a nod toward their earlier roots.

Interesting stuff, indeed.

Lots of pilots in the pre-war era called their glorified stringbags by the
affectionate appellation of 'kite'.

Nowadays sleek, technomodern flexwing trikes are affectionately called
"kites" not because they resemble the old stringbag bipes of
yesteryear but because they literally share the same delta or batwing
shape of an *actual* kite.

On 16 May 2004 00:10:28 GMT, (Garamondextended)
wrote:

Any fliers on this NG? Any at all?

Cessna 152!

Beat that! :-)


--
Steve.

Mike Marron wrote:

Flying is flying. I'd strap my self to a kite right now if I could find a
kit
big enough to get me airborne.

A kite is more akin to "flying" than is flogging a BUFF at FL 250.


Damn, that was good! I'd take it anyway....


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Flying with the boids is great, but doing the job in the BUFF at FL
250, 12,000 miles from home plate, against a bunch of folks who really
don't like you all that much....there's the rub.

You mean there are actually people who don't like the BUFF?


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

ArtKramr wrote:

Fying is all fun games and a million laughs until the shooting starts.

I've experienced several "light" moments over "Injun country" and while I might
not have laughed at the time, I certainly did so once we landed.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

Gordon wrote:

I miss flying so bad it hurts.

Two...


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

In article ,
nt (Krztalizer) writes:

Interesting that a WW I slang term for the string-bags of the period
was "kite".

IIRC, the Luftwaffe also referred to their Me-262's as "kites."

Official term on secret documents was Akorn, Me-609 (on a few rare transport
documents), or "Silber". Secret flying projects such as the 8-262, 8-163, and
8-335 all had precious metals nicknames. The pilots usually called them
"Turbos" - I saw in Galland's book that he called them 'kites' but none of the
pilots I've interviewed called them anything other than a "Me" or "Turbo". He
and Steinhof (the only other pilot I've seen call his 262 a kite) are both
members of the 'old guard' and may have used the term as an endearing pat on
the rump with a nod toward their earlier roots. Lots of pilots in the pre-war
era called their glorified stringbags by the affectionate appellation of
'kite'.

My German's not up to the task, but is there any possibility that that
they may be referring to teh airplanes as the predatory Hawks
(Accipitridae), characterized by a long tail and long, pointed wings
(Sounds kinda Me 262-ish), and which hunts but dropping on it prey
(usually other birds) by a fast dive from a superior altitude (Also
very Me 262-isn).
It's a long shot, but I've seen people pull some really odd
translations, and comparing your fighter to a predator with similar
characteristics seems a universal human trait.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster