Help - What did pilots at an airfield call the "parking spot" for the planes?

Discussion in 'The War In The Air' started by BenjaminAces, Jun 23, 2022.

  1. BenjaminAces

    BenjaminAces New Member

    Hi guys,

    I'm researching some WW2 airfield terminology and I cannot, for the life of me, find the expression for the place (parking lot) the planes would be parked when not in use.
    I'm not talking about a hangar. It's the spot outside where they line up the planes so they can quickly get them into the air in a moment's notice.

    I'm referring specifically to a British airbase with British terminology. If anyone knows it pleaaase help this is killing me.

    Thank you so much

    Kind regards

    Benjamin
     
  2. P-Squared

    P-Squared Well-Known Member

    Well, nowadays we call it ‘the pan’. Don’t know how long that term’s been used though. There’s also ‘dispersal’ - really for fighters, I think, so aircraft parked, dispersal hut where the pilots waited to be scrambled.
     
  3. 8RB

    8RB Well-Known Member

    Certainly no expert in this field, but I don't think they would be "lined up"? Too easy as a target?
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I thought the bit outside the hangers was the apron.

    Not sure if that used in WW2.
     
  5. Little Friend

    Little Friend Senior Member

    Flight Line !
     
  6. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  7. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    4jonboy likes this.
  8. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Hard standing?
     
    TTH likes this.
  9. RAFCommands

    RAFCommands Senior Member

    oh - depends on era and type

    Flight Line pre/early war Fighter/Bomber. Trot, mooring or hard for Coastal flying boat.

    Fighter Early war - Pen

    Fighter and bomber Early war dispersal (grass)

    Fighter and bomber Mid/late war - Pan

    Fighter End war - Loop

    Ross
     
  10. Waddell

    Waddell Well-Known Member

    Revetments for the walled pens?
     
  11. P-Squared

    P-Squared Well-Known Member

    And of course, USAAF and RAF terminology will differ! It might help if you can give some context?
     
  12. PeteT

    PeteT Senior Member

    Again, depending on era, could be QRA (Update: Sorry, just re-read the original post and realised it related to WWII, so this would not apply)
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2022
  13. Blutto

    Blutto Banned

    I think he did: "I'm referring specifically to a British airbase with British terminology."

    As somebody suggested, early on 'dispersal' and later 'pan' (assuming a hard standing).
     
  14. P-Squared

    P-Squared Well-Known Member

    I kind of wondered when (ie, in the war) and what sort of base - Bomber, fighter, etc.
     
  15. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    The phrase "hardstand" sticks in my mind.
     
  16. JDCAVE

    JDCAVE Well-Known Member

    Yes. "Hardstanding". Dispersal Pans. Another favourite term by airmen was "Banjos" (As told by Denis Over, Rear Gunner 5-Group).

    The dispersals at Middleton St. George are still visible from Google Maps.

    Jim
     
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2022
  17. Alan Merryweather

    Alan Merryweather New Member

    Part of my service in the RAF, 1952-55 was at RAF Fayid in the Egyptian Canal Zone. I was an Air Wireless Mechanic responsible for the radio etc equipment. One day when I was in a Valetta listening to aircraft chat between planes and the tower, an enormous plane appeared in the sky. It was an American Globemaster, en route for Vietnam it was believed.
    Looking down on the runway of the biggest base in the Zone the pilot quipped, "I can see the panhandle but where's the runway!".
     
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