Nick Names For Airplane Parts At War Time?

kimberlyanne546

kimberlyanne546

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Kimberly
OK so I have a few buddies at the airport now. They like to pull my leg and tell crazy stories.

Can any of you please let me know if the story they told me last night is true?

They kept talking about "jugs" and I didn't know that was slang for cylinders or pistons or something like that.

I asked why and they explained a long time ago, during war, men would be away from girls for a long time. They "nick named" aircraft parts after female body parts.

Is this AT ALL true?
 
And it's not just airplanes either. Cylinders on air cooled engines are AFAIK always referred to as jugs. Ask any Harley mechanic. I don't know of any other airplane parts named after female body parts, other than the obvious one.

I suspect they're messing with you.
 
DavidWhite said:
Well, cylinders are called Jugs. Mostly because they looks like jugs though, I imagine.
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I have never seen a jug that looked like this:

images
 
DaleB said:
And it's not just airplanes either. Cylinders on air cooled engines are AFAIK always referred to as jugs. Ask any Harley mechanic. I don't know of any other airplane parts named after female body parts, other than the obvious one.

I suspect they're messing with you.
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Mufflers?
 
But seriously, if women ruled the world would missiles be shaped differently?
 
Sounds a lot like when we used to send new 'cruits to the supply room to look for canopy lights.

(For those that don't know, "canopy lights" are rips in the parachute for which one checks immediately after chute deployment.)

No Kimberly, the jugs reference is not related to female anatomy. The only anatomy reference to parts of any kind I can think of, are the "d**k end" (male connector, electrical or mechanical) and "c**t end" (female end of the connector). But that isn't specific to aviation. Neither is the term "tits up" for a broken piece of equipment.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
OMG I almost spit out my coffee. Hilarious. I was helping an owner-assisted annual and this actually came up (issue with fuel tank / leak). They do indeed have these.
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As does any vehicle or machine with a zerk fitting.
 
Balls to the wall?

Supposedly refers to the balls on the tops of throttle/mixture/prop levers at high power setting. :dunno:
 
ebacon said:
Balls to the wall?

Supposedly refers to the balls on the tops of throttle/mixture/prop levers at high power setting. :dunno:
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On old steam engines, the governor was that spinning arrangement of levers with balls on them for weight. The faster they spin, the farther out the balls move; that opens or closes a valve to regulate speed. Similar principle to a prop governor, from what I understand. Anyway, at high speeds the balls were all the way out -- "balls out" -- or "balls to the walls".

That's the way I heard it, anyway.
 
DaleB said:
On old steam engines, the governor was that spinning arrangement of levers with balls on them for weight. The faster they spin, the farther out the balls move; that opens or closes a valve to regulate speed. Similar principle to a prop governor, from what I understand. Anyway, at high speeds the balls were all the way out -- "balls out" -- or "balls to the walls".

That's the way I heard it, anyway.
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Same as I heard, apparently according to the steam engine engineers I know the phrase pre dates aviation in railroading lore.
 
Doesn't the color of the Jug indicate what material it is lined with?
 
Henning said:
With the advent of female crews we have also added 'box office' to terms for the flight deck.
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There is a Casa crew that I work with overseas, and the specific aircraft has always had the callsign "Boxcar" over the SATCOM. Well, since last year, it now has two female pilots, which makes the whole "box office" thing a lot funnier. Also, it always gives us a chuckle to hear them say it over the radio.
 
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