The eagle has landed

Posted by Masakim on October 05, 2001

In Reply to: The eagle has landed posted by ESC on October 05, 2001

: : : : I am trying to find the meaning of "the eagle has
: : : : landed" in military parlance.

: : : Those were the words first spoken when the first men on the moon (July, 1969) landed their craft. The craft was named Eagle. When Neil Armstrong later got out and stepped on the lunar surface, he spoke the more famous "One small step..."

: : When I saw the title of this post the first thing I thought of was a really outstanding film from the mid-seventies with that phrase as the title starring Donald Sutherland, Michael Caine and a blow your mind Donald Pleasance playing Heinrich Himmler.

: (Back up one to see Bruce's link.)

: Somewhere I saw this or a similar term, "the eagle has landed," to mean payday. I'm away from my library so I'll post later if I can find this reference.

Jack Higgins, in _The Eagle Has Landed_ (1975; filmed in 1976), had Heinrich Himmler informed on 6 Nov 1943 that "The Eagle has landed," meaning that German paratroopers had safely landed in England in order to kidnap Sir Winston Charchill. Its serial, _The Eagle Has Flown_, was published in 1991.
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eagle day Payday. W.W.II Armed Forces use. In ref. to the eagle appearing on U.S. banknotes and coins; also the eagle is popularly said to scream or **** on payday. See *day the eagle ****s*.
From _Dictionary of American Slang with Supplement_ by H. Wentworth & S.B. Flexner