"Airshow" rather than "aeroshow"

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17 years 11 months

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Post number 1 refers ;)

I must not speed read
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I must not speed read
I must not speed read
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17 years 5 months

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I also was under the impression that 'Hangar' was merely french for 'Shed'- our early a/c hangars tended to be called 'Shed' as well

The Aeronautical Society's Technical Words Committee in 1911 preferred the word Shed to Hangar - but clearly failed to win that battle. See the Flight Archive here for an enlightening list of their terminologies.

There is another fun letter from Flight on Aerial Nomenclature here also. It contains one person's views on what to call aeroplanes which take off from water - the delightful hydro-aeroplane being in vogue at that time but later superceded by Seaplane in 1913 on orders of the War Office of all people. I can't imagine the name "mono-teraquavion" ever standing a chance of acceptance for a simple amphibian.

The names were hard fought - in an article in Aeroplane in 1913 E W Wakefield said Aerohydroplanes or hydroaeroplanes were both too cumbersome. He liked Water-Birds but his enemy, National Trust founder Canon Rawnsley, threatened to call them Water-Foul. The name "Clouds" was suggested, but not taken up, so Wakefield gave his support to Water-planes, which is more logical than seaplanes. But the War Office had more of them than he did.

I seem to recollect that, before the last war, the various terms had more specific meanings. An airport was a licensed flying field that received scheduled air services. An aerodrome was a licensed flying field predominantly used by club flyers.

I've seen that distinction as well in 1930s documents and articles. It is the changing use of words and the changing meaning which makes reading these old documents so interesting. It is remarkable how quickly language changes. I'd argue there is no such thing as correct use of words - just the currently accepted use.

AllanK

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In 1921, Hendon held a "Royal Air Force Aerial Pageant," with a "Royal Air Force Display," in 1934 & 1937 (6d for a 76-page programme, back then,) and, during the 1950s, I always attended the "Battle of Britain Air Display" at Benson, so, to me, they've always been "air displays."
Incidentally, 60-odd years ago I had a book which was adamant that "aircraft" is (or was) a plural noun, so you could talk of "an aeroplane," or "an airship," but it needed two, or more, to use "aircraft."
Edgar

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16 years 7 months

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The Aeronautical Society's Technical Words Committee in 1911 preferred the word Shed to Hangar

I'd argue there is no such thing as correct use of words - just the currently accepted use.

AllanK

I agree, hangar is an interesting one, because even the Air Ministry preferred Aircraft Shed as a word for each specific building (ie a Type C aircraft shed), but hangar as a more general collective word. Both terms appear in the AMs original Works AP3236.

This is how I read airfield terms,
Landing Ground, prepared land for occasional light types to visit
Aerodrome, light or private aviation site
Airport, passenger, commercial & cargo site with handling and customs facilities.
Airfield, british military landing ground.
However airfield also seems to be a looser term that covers all landing areas and is now officially adopted in CAP and JSP.