Chinese ace
English
[edit]Noun
[edit]Chinese ace (plural Chinese aces)
- (military, slang, dated) An inept airplane pilot.
- 1933, Robert Earle Galbraith, These Our Moderns:
- Flat-spin pilots are stupid or careless flyers, while Huns or Chinese aces are reckless fellows who have crashed […]
- 1983, John Thorn, David Reuther, The Armchair Aviator, page 101:
- When I reported this to Burwell by telephone, he called me a Chinese ace — in those days Chinese aces were pilots who cracked up their own airplanes […]