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
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.
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
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)
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).
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
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!".