AI

(Airborne Interception) – British night fighter radars

A.I.S.

Air speed indicator

Airborne Cigar

(A.B.C.).– ARI TR3549 jamming transmitter

BABS

(Beam Approach Beacon System) ARI TR3567 - British blind-landing system

FIDO

RAF fog dispersal system installed at 15 RAF stations

Flammen

German plotting system for detecting Oboe-equipped Pathfinder Mosquitoes

Freya

British fighter warning radar add-on to H2S, fitted early 1944 to some bombers

GEE

German ground based air search radar

Granite

British radio navigation system forerunner of LORAN - from TRE.   a system of coloured flares and rockets deployed by the Royal Observer Corps to warn aircraft of high ground in fog and mist. In certain parts of the country the flares were used to steer fogbound aircraft to FIDO equipped airfields.

H.F.D.F.

(High Frequency Direction Finding) – provided a radio position fix for the RAF up to 100 miles from the transmitters in Britain. The system was based on voice communications, and was used for aircraft to find their home bases. The development of GEE its primary function ceased but it remained in use until the end of the war as a backup system and a communications system between aircraft and their base.

H2S

British ground mapping radar to see target at night and through cloud cover

Himmelbett

German controlled night fighter method

IFF

Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) - means of identifying possible enemy aircraft detected on Chain Home early warning system using transponder fitted in RAF aircraft - from TRE

Jay beams

were introduced partly as a deception to help to confuse the Germans over the use of GEE. It was nevertheless just as useful as a homing beacon. A number of transmitters, from Lossiemouth to Manston in Kent transmitted on slightly different frequencies transmitted a narrow beam across the North Sea using a S.B.A. (Standard Beam Approach) transmitter, receivers for-which were fitted to all British bombers and could be received over a range of 350 miles at 10,000    feet. Once a bomber found a beam it could fly down it back to Britain. In late 1943, all but two beams were closed down  with these final two shutting down towards the end of 1944 because GEE could do the job better and their use to deceive the Germans was by now redundant.

M.F.D.F.

(Medium Frequency Direction Finding) - provided a radio position fix for the RAF up to 230 miles from the transmitters in    Britain. The system was based on voice communications.

Oboe

British twin beam navigation system, similar to Knickebein but pulse-based

Bomber stream

British tactic to overcome the Kammhuber Line

Gardening

RAF operations dropping mines in strategic sea lanes, usually at the request of the CoS Naval Liaison Officer based at   High Wycombe. As a spinoff, Bletchley Park cryptanalysts used German reports of Gardening activities to obtain   decryption information on Enigma transmissions

Wilde Sau

(Tame Boar) – German tactic of guiding a night fighter 'parked' round a visual beacon, onto the incoming bomber stream   by radar assisted ground commentary

Zahme Sau

(Tame Boar) – German tactic of guiding a night fighter 'parked' round a visual beacon, onto the incoming bomber stream   by radar assisted ground commentary.

AAA

Anti Aircraft Artilley

AFAF

Allied Expeditionary Air Forces

ALA

Armée de l'Air

BF

Bordfunker

BG USAAF

Bomber Group United States Army Air Force

BO

Beobachter

BS USAAF

Bomber Squadron United States Army Air Force

BS

Bordschütze

EVD

Evaded FF Flugzeugführer

FFAF

Free France Air Force

F/O

Flight Officer

F/LT

Flight Lieutenant

F/SGT

Flight Sergeant

FW

Feldwebel

GEFR

Gefreiter

HPT

Hauptmann

JG

Jagdgeschwader

KG

Kampfgeschwader

KIA

Killed in Action

KTB

Kriegs Tage Buch

LG

Lehrgeschwader

LT (UK/USAAF)

Lieutenant

LT (German)

Leutnant

1/LT

First Lieutenant

2/LT

Second Lieutenant

MAA

Marine Artillerie Abteilung

MACR

Missing Air Crew Report

MAJ

Major

MC

Medium Capacity

MFA

Marine Flak Abteilung

MFLA

Marine Flak Abteilung

MIA

Missing In Action

NJG

Nachtjagdgeschwader

OFHR

Oberfähnrich

OFW

Oberfeldwebel

ORB

Operations Record Book

OGEFR

Obergefreiter

PAF

Polish Air Force

POW

Prisoner Of War

P/O

Pilot Officer

RCM

Radio Counter Measures

RAAF

Royal Australian Airforce

RAF

Royal Air Force

RCAF

Royal Canadian Air Force

RNZAF

Royal New Zealand Air Force

SGT

Sergeant

SOE

Special Operation Executive

S/SGT

Staff Sergeant

S/L

Squadron Leader

SQDN

Squadron

UFFZ

Unteroffizier USAAF United States Army Air Force

WIA

Wounded In Action

ZG

Zerstörergeschwader