'Formation and huffing much better' Meaning of?

[Errol Martyn]

'Formation and huffing much better' is an entry in a Camel pilot's log book for 9 May 18 at Dover.

A few days later another entry states: 'Was going to huff, but had to come down owing to thick fog.'

Anyone able to explain the term 'huffing', please?

 

TIA,

Errol

[DavidOwen]

Huffing can mean inhaling fumes, so perhaps related to that?

 

You could ask here http://www.theaerodrome.com/search/ a quick search there suggests the above may be an option.

[helpjpl]

High-frequency direction finding (huff-duff) ??? :

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/High-frequency_direction_finding

 

JP

[charlie962]

1897 ballooning exploit:

 

The engineer in Andrée sought to remedy this shortcoming, and he used his personal hydrogen balloon to experiment with solutions. He flew as high as five miles over Sweden, field-testing steering systems while huffing supplementary oxygen from a rubber tube.

 

Interesting old thread on use of oxygen here although I did not see 'huffing' mentioned.

 

Edited 26 October , 2020 by charlie962

[Errol Martyn]

This chap was ex-RNAS, by now of course RAF. At Dover, of the dozen or so local flights he made there 8 were 'formation and huffing' at 5000 to 6000 ft altitude. There is no mention of huffing in any of his training prior to this, nor during his short time with 213 Sqn in France in June 1918 (he was shot down by flak and PoW 21 Jun 18).

 

Errol

[MikeW]

Hello again Errol,

 

Huffing was the act of making a dummy attack on a friendly aircraft to encourage the pilot to keep his wits about him - usually carried out during training flights.

 

I have seen it referred to in Naval 6 records.

 

Regards,

 

Mike

[charlie962]

1 minute ago, MikeW said:

Huffing was the act of making a dummy attack on a friendly aircraft t

ah!

[Errol Martyn]

Many thanks once again Mike.

 

The term might come from the game of draugfts?

From the Shorter Oxford Dictionary:

Huff . . . 8. Draughts. To remove (an opponent's man) from the board as a forfeit for failing to take a piece that is en prise. The removal was marked by blowing on the piece. 1688.

 

Cheers,

Errol

[davidbohl]

 

10 hours ago, Errol Martyn said:

might come from the game of draugfts

The term huffing seems to be used in the newspapers a lot more in the 1800's, here it is being used in the context of draughts.

So in the context of flying it may mean performing certain actions that force your opponent into making mistakes.

Dave

 

From the BNA

 

 

[Errol Martyn]

Many thanks David.

 

Cheers,

Errol

[charlie962]

But I did see this on a thread on the forum  The Aerodrome :

 

CR actually details that F/C Fall when on Solo OP came upon 2 Albatros scouts 3,000ft below him (16,000ft) East of Ypres and he followed them north to Houlthoulst, trying to get his cold guns to fire. Finally got them working and dived and fired 250rds at one of the pair, ‘…Then they put up a scrap and we had a huffing match, exchanging shots whenever possible. I went for the same machine as much as I could; when all of a sudden his left wing folded up and he spun down very fast. The other EA which had pale blue wing tips and a blue and white fuselage chased me part of the way back to the lines..

 

 

That fits with Dave's comment that could be applied to friendly and enemy aircraft "So in the context of flying it may mean performing certain actions that force your opponent into making mistakes".

 

Edited 27 October , 2020 by charlie962

[davidbohl]

Could your aircraft be possibly huffing your opponents on the ground as well ?

Dave

[Errol Martyn]

3 hours ago, davidbohl said:

Could your aircraft be possibly huffing your opponents on the ground as well ?

Dave

Don't think so, given that the altitudes in the log book are given as 5000 or 6000 feet.

 

Cheers,

Errol

[Errol Martyn]

Thanks Charlie962.

 

Cheers,

Errol

[Airshipped]

 

Taffy Jones writes of Mick Mannock 'always huffing' Cairnes, during their time at London Colney. Tiger Squadron on p.72.

[Errol Martyn]

Huffing - meaning of updated: I'll huff and puff and, figuratively, blow you out of the sky!

 

Errol