Hello
This is an extract from the novel A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. The story is set in World War 2. They are flying a Halifax bomber.
Once they were in the air there were no idle moments, all that gloomy introspection that could take hold on the ground disappeared. The flight engineer was kept busy synchronizing the engines, calculating fuel stocks, changing petrol tanks. The IFF was switched on to identify them as friend rather than foe to the RAF’s own fighters. The spark wound out the trailing wireless aerial and the navigator put his head down, working on accurate fixes, comparing the actual winds to those forecast.
Would you like to explain the meaning of wound out the trailing wireless aerial to me? I understand the meaning of wireless aerial but what does wound out and trailing mean in this case?
Thank you.
This is an extract from the novel A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. The story is set in World War 2. They are flying a Halifax bomber.
Once they were in the air there were no idle moments, all that gloomy introspection that could take hold on the ground disappeared. The flight engineer was kept busy synchronizing the engines, calculating fuel stocks, changing petrol tanks. The IFF was switched on to identify them as friend rather than foe to the RAF’s own fighters. The spark wound out the trailing wireless aerial and the navigator put his head down, working on accurate fixes, comparing the actual winds to those forecast.
Would you like to explain the meaning of wound out the trailing wireless aerial to me? I understand the meaning of wireless aerial but what does wound out and trailing mean in this case?
Thank you.