English edit

Noun edit

Chinese ace (plural Chinese aces)

  1. (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 []