Generic Names For Fighter

[Pips]

The British called them 'Scouts'.
The American's named them 'Pursuit'
The French labelled them 'Chasseur'

Did the Germans call them 'Jager'?

And what did the Italians call them??

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Pips

The British called them 'Scouts'.
The American's named them 'Pursuit'
The French labelled them 'Chasseur'

Did the Germans call them 'Jager'?

And what did the Italians call them??

German - Jäger

Italian - Caccia

Russian - Istrebitel' [Истребитель]

Cheers

Kees

[Pips]

Interesting that the European's all chose the more emotive word 'hunter'.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Pips

Interesting that the European's all chose the more emotive word 'hunter'.

"Pursuit" not far off the same concept. "Scout" is the odd man out.

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Vin

"Pursuit" not far off the same concept. "Scout" is the odd man out.

Recently I read the following about scout

When the war broke out a considerable body of opinion still believed there would be a need for fast aircraft whose duty would be to reconnoitre enemy positions and report back speedily. Such aircraft were known as scouts. It was for this purpose that the Sopwith Tabloid was ordered in modest quantities before the war began and the Martinsyde S.1 and the Bristol Scout were subsequently ordered.

Source: J.M.Bruce. War planes of the first world war Fighters Volume 3.

Around 1913 / 1914 the term scout did not mean fighter but fast reconnaissance in Great Britain (UK). Gradually as machines were armed (defensively later offensively) this changed to the fighter role. A more precise study of the gradual transition of scout to fighter (linguistically) would be an interesting.

In the early times (1913 / 1914) these scouts were sometimes nicknamed as Bullet, to signify the speed.

In Germany the same development took place as (sometimes) the speedy reconnaisance was done by Renn Eindecker / Doppeldecker (Racing monoplanes / biplanes).

Cheers

Kees

[Varese2002]

The Germans used the word Kavallerieflugzeug for fast little aeroplanes also just before and during the beginning of the war. The idea was the same as the 'scout' in Great Britain.

An example of such a fast machine (Kavallerieflugzeug) was the Gotha LD-5.

Cheers

Kees