Word: signal
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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From TIME (July 3): "Sound waves signal ahead to air molecules to get out of the way of a moving object; at supersonic speeds the object runs smack into groups of unwary molecules...
...paratroops, under merciless enemy pressure, began to steal glum looks at their watches. At 12:14 a weary officer muttered: "They'll never make it now." At that moment, through the crash and rattle of gunfire and mortar shells, came a distant skirling of bagpipes, the Commandos' signal. A paratroop bugler answered with "Defaulters,"* indicating that the road immediately ahead had Germans on it, and that the first Commando-men should go around them...
Physicists have yet to answer the fascinating question of what effect, if any, sound itself has on a plane's speed. Why do shock waves hit a plane at the speed of sound? Why not sooner-or later? The physicists' best guess: sound waves signal ahead to air molecules to get out of the way of a moving object; at supersonic speeds the object outraces the warning, runs smack into groups of unwary molecules...
...finest shot of all was made by U.S. Signal Corps Sergeant Dick Taylor (who, though wounded later, kept at his job) from a landing barge, with his camera focused on the bow. The barge is under fire. The men in it, crouched low, show a physical, animal restlessness more revealing-and far more complex-than any manifestation of pure fear. Beyond the bow of the barge, wavering with the motion of the water, and terrifyingly close, loom the upper floors of bleak Norman seaside houses. The barge opens its mouth. Not in a neat, eager, clattering rush as people have...
...Stanley, give me our position. When we get into friendly territory look out for possible landing fields. Coury, give me the gas consumption every 15 minutes. Robinson [this to the radioman]-as soon as you hear we are in Free China, send out our position and emergency landing signal. All crew: get ready for an emergency landing...