airman
(ˈɛəmən)
[f. air- III. + man n.1, after seaman.]
One who is engaged in the flying or operation of aircraft, esp. as a pilot or a member of an air crew; spec. an enlisted person in the Royal Air Force.
| 1873 Cassell's Mag. VIII. 135/2 The airmen were running..and the balloon was pitching so much as almost to make Bob feel a little air-sick. 1910 Daily Mail 4 June 4/2 A flight of over forty miles above the sea, during which the airman is in continual danger. 1918 Times 26 Aug. 3/4 A light blue uniform has been approved for Warrant Officers, N.C.O.'s, and Airmen of the Royal Air Force. 1920 Act 10 & 11 Geo. V c. 30 §41 (5) The expression ‘airman’ means a man of the regular air force. 1924 King's Regs. R.A.F. p. vii, Airman, or Airmen. These words, wherever they occur, will be held to include a warrant officer, a N.C.O., an aircraftman, and a boy. 1927 T. E. Lawrence Let. 2 Dec. (1938) 553 Airmen mustn't fly machines:—that is a privilege of officers; and R.A.F. officers are very unlike R.A.F. airmen. 1934 Lancet 30 June 1377/1 The term ‘airman’ in the R.A.F. is used to designate ‘other ranks’ as distinguished from officers. It does not, per se, imply flying capacity. |
So ˈairwoman.
| 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. 6 May 364/1 Crowds were collecting..to see the first English airwoman make her widely advertised attempt on the height-record. 1941 Hutchinson's Pict. Hist. War 22 Jan.–18 Mar. 229 Airwomen had made an unqualified success of every trade in which they had taken the place of airmen. |