Glossary

Albatros		name of German aircraft manufacturer; used to designate its products.
altitude		height above ground.
attitude		angular position held by aircraft with respect to viewer.
azimuth		left-right orientation.
bank		angular tilt of airplane; extent one wingtip is higher than the other.
Bébé		alternate, popular name for the Nieuport 11 fighter.
BE2		British observation aircraft; good at reconnaissance but ineffective in combat; Royal Aircraft Factory product.
BE12		British fighter; totally unsuccessful; Royal Aircraft Factory product.
Bristol fighter		Bristol F.2; high powered, highly successful; circa 1917; British & Colonial Aeroplane Co. product.
Camel		late war British fighter; arguably their best; Sopwith product.
C.G.		center of gravity; weight balance point.
cockpit		aircraft “office” enclosing aircrew member.
cyclic rate		maximum rate of machine gun bullets fired per minute without concern for safety, accuracy or endurance.
deflection		offset of aim to correct for speed and trajectory of target.
DH2		De Havilland-designed British pusher fighter; good at tight circling, bad at diving; Airco product.
DH4		heavy bomber, observation; Airco product.
Dicta		rules for successful air combat formulated by German ace Oswald Boelcke.
Dr. I		official designation for Fokker Triplane; much used and liked by Richthofen; Fokker Flugzeug-werke product.
D.VII		official designation for late war German biplane fighter; likely their best; Fokker Flugzeug-werke product.
E-III		the war’s first effective fighter; Fokker Flugzeug-werke product.
FE2		British pusher; used for both observation and fighting; better than BE2; Royal Aircraft Factory product.
Fliegerleutnant		German Air Service Lieutenant.
gyroscopic		that force developed at right angles to direction of motion.
handy		maneuverable.
h.p.		horsepower.
incidence		up or down angle between wing and oncoming air.
interrupter		mechanism to prevent gun from firing when propeller blade passes in front of gun.
Jagdstaffel		Pursuit squadron, often abbreviated to Jasta.
Jasta		Abbreviated designation for a German pursuit (i.e. fighter) squadron unit.
lead		synonym for deflection.
Lewis gun		light machine gun, drum fed; used by British, French, U.S.A.
Lieutenant, Leutnant		rank of Lieutenant, respectively British, U.S.A. and German.
LVG		German aircraft manufacturer; mostly bomber and observation machine types; Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft.
Morane-Saulnier		French aircraft manufacturer of fighter and observation machines.
Nieuport 11, 17		successful French fighters featuring high performance and a remote Lewis gun; Société Anonyme des Establissements product.
Oberleutnant		German rank of First Lieutenant.
Oberursel		manufacturer of German air engines; poorly regarded.
pitch		nose up or down change of attitude.
Pup		highly effective British fighter airplane; Sopwith product.
pusher		aircraft with engine and propeller in back, serving to “push” aircraft.
RAF		Royal Air Force; British air service; also Royal Aircraft Factory; manufacturer.
Red Baron		ace Manfred von Richthofen, whose fighter plane was painted red as a form of “come and get me” challenge.
RFC		Royal Flying Corps; renamed Royal Air Force in 1918.
Rittm.		German rank of Rittmeister, or Captain of cavalry.
roll		speedy banking; with aircraft rotating about its center line.
SE5/SE5a		late war British fighter featuring two guns, high power and much stability; well-liked; Royal Aircraft Factory design.
single-seater		cockpit suited for pilot only; no passengers.
Sopwith		Sopwith Aviation Co.; British manufacturer of warplanes.
SPAD		French aircraft manufacturer; known for fighters; Société Pour l’Aviation et ses Derives.
scatter		the spread or divergence of fired bullets while in flight caused by manufacturing imperfections and barrel whip.
Staffel		German air unit designation; short for Jagdstaffel.
stagger		a fore and aft displacement of wings performed to shift center of lift relative to C.G., or to improve vision.
stall		separation of air flow relative to wing, resulting in low lift, high drag; may lead to spin.
swarm		a loose formation of roughly 6 aircraft; word of German origin.
tractor		aircraft with engine and propeller located at front of fuselage.
two-seater		individual cockpits for pilot and observer/gunner.
V formation		group of three aircraft, its leader flanked by two trailing machines.
Vickers gun		belt-fed machine gun, generally used as a fixed gun in British aircraft, or as a flexible gun by ground-based anti-aircraft gunners.
Vickers aircraft		the FB5 gunbus; a poorly regarded two-seater fighter; Vickers Ltd. product.
warp		a means of changing lift along the wingspan by twisting the wing; an early alternate to ailerons.
wedge		a steel shield, attached to propellers to prevent bullet damage from impinging rounds.
yaw		left-right angle between direction of flight and aircraft center line.