Q 01/05

Which vegetable did British propaganda credit for RAF night interceptions, to keep airborne radar secret?

A) Spinach

B) Carrots

C) Beetroot

D) Parsnips

Answer · why

B) Carrots

Carrots were said to sharpen night vision, a myth spread to explain kills that really came from radar carried in the aircraft. The press dubbed ace Jo...

Q 02/05

Which term did American night fighter crews coin for the unidentified flying objects they reported over wartime Europe?

A) Foo fighters

B) Ghost rockets

C) Green fireballs

D) Flying saucers

Answer · why

A) Foo fighters

Foo fighters took their name from a nonsense word in the Smokey Stover comic strip, borrowed by a radar operator of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron. ...

Q 03/05

After which Hollywood actress did Allied airmen nickname the inflatable life jacket issued with their flight gear?

A) Jean Harlow

B) Betty Grable

C) Mae West

D) Rita Hayworth

Answer · why

C) Mae West

Mae West was famous for her curves, and an inflated life preserver gave its wearer a similar outline. The jacket was invented in 1928 and issued to Am...

Q 04/05

Which aviation tycoon built the huge wooden Spruce Goose flying boat as a wartime transport that flew only once?

A) Donald Douglas

B) Larry Bell

C) Jack Northrop

D) Howard Hughes

Answer · why

D) Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes disliked the Spruce Goose nickname, and the aircraft was in fact made almost entirely of birch. Wood was used because strategic metals w...

Q 05/05

Which French author and airmail pilot vanished in 1944 while flying an unarmed reconnaissance plane from Corsica?

A) Louis-Ferdinand Céline

B) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

C) Jean-Paul Sartre

D) Pierre Drieu La Rochelle

Answer · why

B) Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had published The Little Prince only the year before he disappeared. Debris from his aircraft was found on the seabed off Mar...