Origin of "dogfight"

[k5083]

Most of us know that the term "dogfight" originated during World War I to describe a type of aerial combat engagement in which two or more opposing aircraft flew around each other in a circle, each trying to get behind the other by turning tighter or faster. However, in some books I have read that "dogfight" was not the original term coined by pilots for such an engagement. After all, dogs don't fight by running around each other; they attack head-on. When you see dogs going around each other in circles, it ain't fighting that they're doing. Reportedly, pilots originally coined a term for this type of engagement that reflected what the dogs actually would be doing, but the press thought the term too bawdy and changed it to "dogfight". Pilots in turn adopted the press's term. But the authors of the sources I have read either did not know or were too demure to spell out what the pilots originally called "dogfights".

So: does anyone know? Please reply only with documented answers, not R-rated guesswork; I can do that for myself. If the answer is too racy to post here, you can PM me. If I get an answer by PM that seems corrected and documented but too racy to post, I'll post a note to this effect in this thread, and the curious can then PM me to find out what it is.

TIA,

August

[Steve Nelson]

I've heard the same story, but can't comment if it's true. Sounds plausible though..like how the B-52s nickname was changed to "Big, Ugly, Fat "Fellow" by the press.

SN