Post by Dave Homewood on Mar 16, 2017 12:30:35 GMT 12
For example, with regard to the 1930 NZ newspaper article, because the piece was a review of an American film, we cannot know if the kiwi writer's use of the term "kill" derived from common usage within the Commonwealth in that particular context, or if it was a repitition of the word as presented in the film itself.
Indeed the blurb in the NZ newspaper may have been copied straight from the film's media package, and may not have been something the Kiwi newspaper reporter would have used himself.
The difficultly for me is understanding exactly with whom, where, and when the word "kill" became to be widely used in relation to air combat - we have just not seen enough data on the subject. I would suspect, without substantiation, that it was the English officer class in the RFC/RNAS sometime during WW I.
The 1918 newspaper report I just linked to may help with the timeline here, the word was on use during WWI, but whether it was just in the media, or in RFC/RNAS/RAF slanguage, or if it came from more official sources too, remains to be proven.
The other point is determining if the term "kill" was ever used officially or if it was only slang. If it was the latter, then did the word remain in fashion, so to speak, i.e. if, for example, it was used unofficially by the RFC/RNAS in WWI, did widespread unofficial usage continue into WWII and for the entirety of WWII. This, I certainly don't know the answer to. I have simply seen the word used more in relation to American air combat than British and Commonwealth air combat.
The term was in widespread usage during WWII in New Zealand media reports about New Zealand airmen, there is no doubting that at all.