The 1984 film "The Elf", produced by the big director Spielberg and directed by Joe Dant, showed us a cute and mischievous elf image.
Billy's father bought a pixie from an antique shop as a Christmas present for his son, and as a result, Billy accidentally violated the rule of "no contact with water and sunlight, no feeding at midnight", causing the elves to go around causing trouble and plunging the quiet town into chaos.
Elf stills
The film is based on a 1942 children's novel by writer Roald Dahl, who was a pilot in the RAF's 80th Squadron and later managed to turn elves into pop culture.
In fact, the elves were not only mischievous little monsters, but also the "real beings" that distressed many Allied pilots in World War II. They had to fight fiercely against the Germans, but they also had to face the destruction caused by these little guys, making the already difficult task even more dangerous.
In British Air Force legends, it is a dangerous creature lurking in the shadow of an airplane, likes to fiddle with various aircraft parts, creating all kinds of dangers with funny movements and a naughty sense of humor, people call it: gremlin (elf). The word is derived from the Old English word "gremian" and means "trouble".
Many British pilots claimed to have seen them: cartoonish-looking, usually no more than a foot tall, with green, blue, red, and gold skin, large eyes, pointed teeth, sharp claws, and a ridge on their back.
"Jockie" would sit cross-legged on the back of a bird and fly into the windshield, "optics" would hide in bomber sights to interfere with the line of sight, "bombii" would make the bomb change direction away from the target, and "water" would leak water into the fuel line to disable the carburetor, becoming the culprit that caused the plane to crash.
Roald Dahl
The date of the earliest appearance of the elves is still debated, but most believe it dates back to the Time of World War I.
A British newspaper at the time, The Spectator, wrote: "The Royal Naval Air Service in 1917 and the newly formed Royal Air Force in 1918 seem to have discovered a group of mysterious and nasty elves." They always create inexplicable unfortunate accidents in flight that plague the lives of every pilot. ”
By the early 1920s, there was a growing belief in the existence of these otherworldly entities. When a British plane crashed into the sea in 1923, the pilot claimed that the elves had messed up the flight control system.
Shortly after this incident, pilots began to report a large number of similar incidents. The elves seem to be well-versed in mechanics, and they can sabotage fuel tanks, cut wires, jam landing gear, jam radio frequencies, loosen screws and bolts, knock on fuselages and windows, and all sorts of other crazy behaviors. They also sat on the nose and wings of the aircraft, shouting, giggling and making noise to distract the crew.
In May 1927, the famous pilot Charles Lindbergh completed a historic one-man transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, and then recounted the amazing encounter with the elf.
He said that when he flew to the 9th hour, he suddenly found that the cockpit was surrounded by several strange-looking small creatures. They showed him extremely complex navigation and flight knowledge, and instead of playing pranks, they reminded him to stay vigilant and pay attention to safety.
Reports of elves during World War II continued to rise, especially during the Battle of Britain. Many pilots said they caused unexplained glitches at high altitudes, and the squadron of aerial photographic reconnaissance aircraft also created a Song of the Elves.
"When you're seven miles out of heaven... At minus fifty degrees, you're frozen blue like a Spitfire. You're thousands of miles away, and there's nothing underneath but air — then you'll see elves: green, white, and gold, male, female, and small children... White will wiggle your wingtips, green will devour your fuel, men will mess up your map, women will shake your flaps..."
Finally, even the British Air Department openly acknowledged these phenomena and organized a serious investigation. They even came up with a service manual that included the characteristics of these little creatures and how to calm and distract them from accidents caused by their troublemaking.
Wear safety goggles
They also produced various warning pamphlets and posters to remind people that the aircraft is well maintained.
The road is slippery, pay attention to the feet
The British at first thought that the elves were helping the Germans, but they soon discovered that the Germans faced a similar problem, and later encountered them after the Americans entered the war, the only common denominator being that they almost always appeared over Europe.
Some people in the U.S. military found that there was no mention of red in the song, so they thought they should be one of the few "good elves". So the first B-17 "Air Fortress" to fly to Africa named itself: Red Elf.
Red Pokemon
One of its pilots was Paul Tibbetts, who later flew the B-29 bomber Anola Guy over Hiroshima, Japan, to drop the Little Boy atomic bomb.
What the hell are these weird little guys?
They are of course the product of illusion, some say that the lack of sufficient supercharging of the aircraft when flying at high altitudes causes pilots to hallucinate, but this does not explain why so many people have the same hallucinations. Some say it's a good excuse for pilots to shirk their responsibilities and conveniently blame these scapegoats for human error.
No one has been able to explain these situations exactly to this day, but for the thousands of pilots from the 1920s to the end of World War II, the elves were real.
Some historians believe that the appearance of elves is not all bad, but also has played a positive role in boosting the morale of pilots to some extent.
Always be careful
If the pilots blamed each other, or complained to the ground crew, the morale of the entire force would be greatly affected. It's better to blame these problems on a bunch of funny little creatures than to hurt their teammates, which will go a long way towards defeating the Germans in the tough Battle of Britain. And the wind talks about originality, and plagiarism is prohibited.
In 1942, Roald Dahl wrote the children's novels "The Elves", which has since taken these stories out of the circle of pilots.
In the book he depicts elves as small creatures that thrive on British Air Force fighter jets, and he also draws up various divisions for them. The wives of the elves are called "fifinellas", the boys are called "widgets", and the girls are called "flibbertigibbets".
Dahl later sent the manuscript to animation mogul Walt Disney with the help of a colleague. Disney also liked them, publishing the novel in cartoon magazine and planning to make it into a movie, which was later changed to an animated short. These eccentric elves became more and more famous in the world, which influenced many later works.
Their story continues, naughty and mischievous like to spoof, so when the plane is a little bumpy or hears a strange sound, you may want to look out the window, it may be a small elf playing.
And wind man talk about the original text, welcome to pay attention. Images from the web, personal opinion, for reference only.