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Joined: Oct 2001
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stranger
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stranger
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Does anyone know the origin of the phrase, "Nap of the earth?" It is used to describe flight that skims the landscape in order to approach a target undetected and to avoid enemy fire. It was used in US Army aviation as early as 1967. I'm looking for a possible literary origin.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, welcome, my dear zjemi, but I can't help you with your question. Is this flight by birds? Insects? Or does it matter? I've never heard of this, and in fact just looking at your subject title, I thought you'd made a typo.
It sounds like it might possibly be related to nap, as in fabric. I am going to have to have somebody give me a personal demonstration of what that is, I think; despite of troy's and others' good explanations, I still don't "get it", though I know it's to do with the way the threads run.
(All I can ever see is that some go up and down, and others go back and forth.) Perhaps Helen can "see" how this type of flight might show or be related to, the "nap" of the earth.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm fairly sure that NOE flying is of military issue, flying as low as you can to avoid radar detection, skimming so low that you can actually® see the nap (surface texture?) of the earth. (I picture Slim Pickens en route to drop the Big One in "Dr. Strangelove...")
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Carpal Tunnel
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"This is your pilot... we're nap flying now <yawn>, we've got 'er on autopilot...."
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zactly so!  Never want my pilots to be nap flying. Feed 'em coffee till they pee out their ears but keep them flyboys awake.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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now that i've revisited this thread, i feel like i must be in a parallel universe... surely that's not the original post that i replied to?
-joe (hang on, it was monday) bfstplk
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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now that i've revisited this thread, i feel like i must be in a parallel universe... surely that's not the original post that i replied to?
Excuse me, sir, but your preposition is dangling
Of *course it's not the post to which you replied, silly. Allow me break it down for you:
(1) Post query
(2) Read responses
(3) EDIT original query so as to retroactively obviate said responses.
As an added bonus, fastidious and pandemic adherance to this policy will dramatically reduce the heretofore rapidly rising number of new posts each morning, particularly the useless ones (such as this).
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Joined: Oct 2001
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stranger
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stranger
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I posted my original query hoping to learn where the phrase came from. When responses arrived that were not what I was looking for, I elaborated the query to prevent others from wasting their time. This is clearly what the "edit original post" is designed for. As an expert in helicopter aeronautics, I know quite a lot about NOE flight. What I don't know and wished to learn is the origin of the phrase. I was hoping participants in this forum would help. I'd still appreciate any useful responses.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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In reply to:
This is clearly what the "edit original post" is designed for
zjemi, the lack of a tongue-in-cheek emoticon has been the subject of much discussion, and i regret that in rereading my previous post i can clearly see how you would interpret it as a slight to you, rather than a not-very-well executed show of levity.
FWIW, i *still don't think the intent of the "edit" capabilities is to substantially change the content of your post after it has been responded to, for the simple reason that many of us don't read the threads in real-time, and it can get confusing. perhaps an additional clarifying post in response to tsuwm's reply would've been helpful. also, most of us don't review the original post once several responses have been added, so additional information provided therein will most likely go unnoticed.
as to your initial query, it isn't hard to imagine that contour flying, because it is by definition conforming (and in close proximity) to the contours of the earth (caused by vegetation, obstacles, and even ambient light) could be called "nap of the earth" flying because the pilot is conforming to the "grain" or "nap" of the topography.
Has anyone checked the OED for a literary reference? You may be onto something, zjemi, only because i can't imagine a bunch o' big ol' macho army-types admitting to even *knowing* the word 'nap' (which i tend to think of as a sewing term), let alone applying it in this case.
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