Bombardiers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A military aviator responsible for dropping bombs during air missions
2. A person trained to deliver explosive ordnance from an aircraft onto specific targets
3. An individual who operates or manages ordnance in aviation, particularly in combat scenarios

Etymology: Before it described airmen, "bombardier" named the gunner who fired the bombard, a large medieval cannon. The bombard took its name from the Late Latin "bombarda," which came from the Latin "bombus," a booming noise. The word thus began as a description of sound before it described a weapon, and English borrowed it from French "bombardier," which had the same gunner sense. When aircraft began carrying explosives, the term moved into the sky. The bombardier aboard a bomber is the crew member who aims and releases the bombs, so the old artillery meaning was carried over to a new kind of gunner. "Bombardiers" is simply the regular plural of the noun.

Synonyms: attackers, assailants