On Jan 15, 9:14*am, Bob Moore wrote:
Mortimer Schnerd, RN wrote

North American Aviation took the P-51 from doodles on a napkin to
lifting off the tarmac in 117 days.

Mortimer...Do you know what the "Tarmac" is?

From Wikipedia:

snip

While the specific Tarmac pavement is not common in some countries
today, many people use the word to refer to generic paved areas at
airports, especially the airport ramp or "apron", near the terminals
despite the fact that many of these areas are in fact made of concrete.
This term seems to have been popularized when it became part of the news
lexicon following live coverage of the Entebbe hijacking in 1976, where
"Tarmac" was frequently used by the on-scene BBC reporter in describing
the hijack scene. The Wick Airport at Wick in Caithness, Scotland is one
of the few airports that still has a real Tarmac runway.

It was in the lexicon long befor 76. I was taught it in the USAFSS
(intelligence service) back in 54 when I was studying Russian.

Harry K