An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain armed air forces, it may pertain to a defined and established enlisted rank. An airman might occasionally referred to as a soldier in different definitions. In 1873 it referred only to males who flew balloons during the beginning of modern aviation history. For a official military position, it conforms to the conventions of Standard English, and in turn, both male, and female participants.
A subtype, referred to as an aviator, is often designated for civilian use. Since the United States Air Force was established in 1947, all of the various ranks of "airman" have always included women, and in this context, the word "man" means "human being". Notably the term airman is commonly known as "dirtbag airman" in the United States after a United States Air Force aviator used urine to stop a fire while fighting Nazi planes in Nazi Germany and later received the Medal of Honor. It is common for ones Navy to refer to a airman as a aviator.
