Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1919 — Airman’s Coveted Title. [ARTICLE]

Airman’s Coveted Title.

Henry Farre in his “Sky Fighters of France” gives a full explanation of the way in which the airman’s most coveted title, “Ace,” came into general use. He says, “When a pilot has brought down his fifth plane, the chief of the squadron telegraphs his fifth victory to headquarters, and that gives him the right to be. carried in thejiext general orders to the whole army with a citation of service rendered, for the ’ press to publist* tlie following day in the Official Gazette. Whenever pilots merited this distinction, their machinists called them aces, which has the same significance among the pilots as the ace card has in a game of cards: that is to say, the strongest card, and this Is the etymology of the word ‘ace,’ of which many persons are ignorant. This title ha? nothing official, and it sprung from the slang of the machinists. but that does not prevent it from being quoted in all languages and in every country in the world.”