Fighter bomber boys and jets

I am reading “P-47 pilots, the fighter bomber boys” by Tom Glenn.
It is a good book, very frank and honestly written.

And this description of the early jets was rather funny, so I will share it:


There was an urgent meeting called for all pilots. It was being held in the briefing room. After we were seated, the squadron commander opened by saying there was disturbing news about a new type of aircraft the Germans had perfected, and it could have an affect on the outcome of the war. With this he turned over to the intelligence officer. We had noticed something on the wall that was covered with a sheet. The intelligence officer, with all the drama of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, dropped the covering and displayed a silhoette drawing of a very strange looking aircraft. He announced it was a German “jet”.
We asked what a jet was, and he told us it was a new type of propulsion engine that drove the plane, but it didn’t use a propeller.
-How does it fly without a propeller? we aksed.
-It just farts its way through the air, he replied.