"balls to the wall"

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Possibly relevant:
 
On Celestial Wings / Edgar D. Whitcomb.  Air University Press, Maxwell AFB Alabama, 1995 (a biographical narrative, set during WWII)
p. 93
"Down, down, down it went through 2,000 feet, 1,000 feet, and leveled off to roar over the White House with throttles to the wall at 500 feet. "

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