Climbs like a homesick angel

Anyone know the origin of the phrase "Climbs like a homesick angel"? Ran into some pilots that hadn't heard it, so I was curious how old the phrase was an who coined it. I see references in newspapers back to the 1940's, so it's hardly a spring chicken. But couldn't find anyone who'd already nailed down the source. Wonder who said it first!

 

It comes from the same person who said “climbing out like a bat out of hell.”

 

Or the person who said it "Glides like a set of car keys"

 

Heavens to Betsy, for the love of Mike, for Pete's sake...

Who are these people..???

 

Thumb. He makes all the rules.

 

I thought it was the guy that sold me my first airplane; a C172 with a 180 upgrade.

 

dunno but with the cold temps on Monday I was climbing like a homesick bat out of hell, holy shiznit.

 

It's uncertain, and we'll never know for sure, but we do know that either Orville said it to Wilbur or else Wilbur said it to Orville.

 

Runs like a Raped Ape..

 

Not sure, but it's been colder than a witch's tit in a cast iron bra around here.

 

This thread is going to go Tits Up

 

As you wish:

 

Gustave Whitehead claimed to have said it before the Wright Brothers

 

He can't prove a thing!

 

We used to say a brass bra. It looks nicer as a visual, rolls off the tongue better, and brass I think has a better heat conductance than iron so it would actually result in a colder witch boob.

 

Yeah, that's how I always heard it.

 

when they saw a turbo V-tail climbing up into the teens for the first time.....

 

I dunno, it’s just old pilot jargon that’s been around since the dawn of the ages. For some odd reason, I thought it was rooted from the ‘blue skies and tailwinds’ phrase in the sense that our loved ones may climb like a homesick angel.

 

Gas, grass, or brass- no broom with a witch on it does anything like a free angel. Pretty sure that's the saying.

 

And here I thought it was "Glides like a sewer lid."

 

Colder than a well digger’s ass in the Yukon is another of the same genre.

 

I still don't know what's colder:
A witches tit in a brass bra
or A well diggers ass.

Also which is the bigger downpour:
Raining pitch forks and hammer handles
or Raining like a cow ****ing on a flat rock

 

Cow pizzing on a flat rock by far

 

I don't know, and have no desire to find out what a well diggers ass feels like.

 

Hammer handles? That's not the version I heard.

 

Never heard that. In the Pitts world we say "GLIDES LIKE A BRICK"

 

Climbs like a homesick anvil...

 

...As I was motivatin' like a bat out of hell
I saw Maybellene, that homesick angel
Her Mooney a-rollin' just outta reach
Nothin' will outrun my turbo Beech
The Mooney doin' 'bout one ninety-five,
She's wingtip to wingtip rollin' side by side.

Maybellene, why can't you be true?
Oh Maybellene, why can't you be true?
You've started back doing the things you used to do...
(with apologies to the late Chuck Berry)

 

Hey. You stole that from us Piper drivers.

 

No guanno there! Even my old 140 was climing out at 1100 fpm at about 90mph! Almost thought i had hit the nitrus button!lol

thats one of my favorites as i cant help but picture the visual! Lol

 

Same but also with “safe full of bowling balls”...

 

I don't know who said it first, but if you've ever seen a T-38 go full afterburner on takeoff from a perch of about 4500' and see how steeply it climbs and how fast it's not only crossing the horizon at your altitude but then going up up and up, you'd feel like you had a clue what that might look like!

 

Damn...now you have me wondering where "spring chicken" came from and how old it is.


I'd never heard the "climbs like a homesick angel" before, but the second I saw the thread name I smiled, and gave a nod of appreciation. Nothing nicer than a great turn of phrase.

And I'm no spring chicken.

 

Agreed .

At any rate, cold day today. Hit +9999fpm on the MFD this morning at MIL power after they kept me at 3k for way too long for arrivals into SAT. Got a good view of the house at least, felt like forever droning at 300KCAS (sloooooooow). They finally squeeze me in front of a -73 opposite direction and departure says: "Cobra XX cleared East 1, climb maintain 2-2-oh, expedite through 5 thous-- never mind. ....You're clear direct Ran X, switch Houston Ctr channel (X)".

Hitting the expedite crossing before the controller gets done pronouncing it never gets old.

We're homesick angels indeed...

 

Tighter than a gnats ass stretched over a rain barrel.

 

slicker than snot on a doorknob

 

Fine as frog hair split three ways.

 

Happier than a hawg sittin' in the sun shine...

 

Wow, this thread exploded. Didn't expect that. Didn't get my answer, either, but hey.

 

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.