New answers tagged traffic-pattern
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This is a partial answer (allowed) that I'm making a community wiki.
Source: Google Ngram Viewer
The usage above shows that the term base leg came after traffic pattern, which was confirmed in a Flying Magazine issue (Jun 1948, p. 64):
That linked issue shows that the base leg was also known as the crosswind leg (which today is the leg after the first turn ...
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It comes from the French base, referring to the bottom of a triangle or rectangle.
If you view the circuit as a rectangle, the étape de base (the base leg) is the bottom step.
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