What does "angel" mean, concerning aircraft?

Question

Quote from Pink Floyd's "The Hero's Return":
"and even now part of me flies over
dresden at angels one five".

Answer 1

altitude in feet. a call of 'angels 1-5' is saying a plane is at 1,500 feet. angels 5 is at 5,000'

Answer 2

Angel Aircraft

Answer 3

Angels is a military term used to designate altitude level over open radio. Each day it means something different.

For example, say, today, angels means five thousand feet. So if someone wants to report he's at ten thousand feet, he'd say "Homebase, this is Foxtrot flight, I am at coordinates , angels plus five." (5000 + 5000 =10000)

I think this practice became widespread during Vietnam War though it MAY have been in use earlier, as encrypted radio isn't much in use those days, too bulky, and most messages are transmitted using code words instead.

North Vietnam has a LOT of radio eavesdroppers. Knowing the altitude of our planes would give them an advantage in setting the fuses of the anti-aircraft shells more precisely and get more hits. They may also vector in a few of their precious MiGs if they deem the target important enough.

Answer 4

Actually "Angels 1-5" is 15,000 feet not 1500. These days its not used, either in military or civil aviation. The term is now "Flight Level" e.g. FL230 is 23,000 feet based on the international standard atmosphere and a notional pressure of 1013.2 hpa or 29.92 inches of mercury.

Answer 5

IN thge contrext of Roger Waters' lyric it would also have been a reference to the film "Angels One Five" about a doomed spitfire pilot called Septic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_One_Five

Answer 6

angels 15 means 15000 ft, angels 20,000 is 20,000 ft.

I don't know if this designmation is used any more.

Answer 7

they use the term in the TV show Black Sheep Squadron alot so they must have used it during WW2

Answer 8

it means 15000 feet