Pop quiz answers

Alright, it has been two weeks. Here are the answers as well as whether my second regular reader had gotten each correct (in brackets):

i) wilco: will comply (correct)

ii) pancake: to land, e.g. permission to pancake = permission to land (wrong)

iii) serviceable: capable of service in war (wrong)

iv) scratch: destroyed, e.g. scratch one flat-top = one aircraft carrier destroyed (wrong)

v) ack ack: anti-aircraft gunfire (correct)

vi) meatball: any Japanese warplane, due to the Japanese warplanes' red ball insignia's likeness to the meatballs served in the US canteens (very very wrong)

vii) buster: maximum normal power, i.e. without using emergency power sources (I'll be kind and give you 1/2 correct, key word is "normal", and no, I don't want to know)

viii) Zeke: another name for the Japanese Zero, a famous Japanese fighter of WWII (correct)

ix) wizard: very good or excellent, often used in the Royal Air Force (correct and you're most welcome)

x) scuttlebutt: rumours (correct. During WWII, there wasn't a US Air Force yet. The US Army, Navy and Marine Corp all had their own aviation sections. So naturally, US Navy and Marine aviators used naval terms in their daily talk as well.)

So my dear second reader, you've scored 5.5 out of 10. A commendable effort.

And to the other reader who had tried 5 questions, you've got 4 out of 5 correct!

Akan Datang: Welsh wizard

53 days to go.