Who did the voice of Betty?

Bushmaster78FS · by **Bushmaster78FS** » 30 May 2006, 05:22

mirv wrote:Hehe, yep, different women.

I believe what cutlassracer means here that the voices in the same message set sounds different. What you talk about, they are clearly two different sets. DATA, LOW, CHAFF sounds nothing like the person who said LOCK.

mirv wrote:I have not actually hear the real VMS test, so I had no idea if the timing/spacing of the sounds are correct either. The sound bites were just ordered in how the -1 states they are. It was for Falcon 4 of course.

Mirv, I remember you from Frug's. When F4 came out and Frug's place was pretty popular on F4, I remember posting the sequence and time intervals from the -1 for information. Well, it was from a Blk30 -1.

My question is, Falcon 4 sim, the original one has the VMS messages from a Blk30 I believe. Then for the other messages such as chaff, data, low what not, comes with Blk 40, is that correct? And the ones I could find from HAF dogfight/training VTR tapes, again I assume higher block than 30, has a different woman's voice. For a sim, you can say, it is just voice messages from different block F-16 are collected to serve the simmer. How about the actual bird, Is the actual Block40/50 aircraft have these voices mixed, LOCK for example sounds like the 30, and DATA or LOW, sounds with he new voice? Or the whole VMS message set is the same?

betty · by **betty** » 10 Jun 2006, 14:06

Hey there,

Perhaps I can help. I was the first Bitchin' Betty and mine is the lower register voice you hear in the clips you mention. Developed and recorded all messaging from inception, the last snippets recorded for vocabulary updates for maneuvers (sp?) after the Falklands mission in the 80s. Subcontractor went with the current/next Betty as she was a local and pobably more cost-effective for them. Hope this helps :-)

If you post a reply, I will be happy to send you my email and website. I have not disclosed this publically before due to the non-disclosure security agreement, but now I figure it's a good time to set the record straight - and I'm sure with the VRS systems now in place, am not jeopardizing anyone's security.

I am very proud to have served our pilots and still occasionally get pictures and 'thank yous' from them, which I treasure.

betty · by **betty** » 10 Jun 2006, 14:44

Oh, and just for the halibut, you might enjoy: When we were first developing the voice response system, the subcontracting engineer had me do different takes for each branch of the Armed Forces. He told me, "The Navy and Air Force likes it 'sexy', the Army likes it 'butch'." Our out takes were hysterical.

Scorpion1alpha · by **Scorpion1alpha** » 10 Jun 2006, 17:45

Well, hello there original Betty! Enjoy reading your recollections.

betty wrote:"The Navy and Air Force likes it 'sexy', the Army likes it 'butch'." Our out takes were hysterical.

Army likes it "butch"?!? Man, glad I wasn't in the Army! :lol:

betty · by **betty** » 10 Jun 2006, 18:44

Many thanks, Scorpion! "Fly pretty and don't buy the farm." Warm regards

maddog2840 · by **maddog2840** » 13 Jun 2006, 13:37

OMG!!! What an honor you give us. I think I can say that many of us took Betty in as a member of the squadron. Like the rest of us, she saved our a$$ on more than one occasion and kicked our butt trying to fix her on many a cold night.

The 313TFS had a jet (don't remember which one) where the tape overlapped and you got a snippet of the last message before the current one would play. The effect was that Betty sighed before she said anything. The pilots forbade us to fix it.

betty · by **betty** » 13 Jun 2006, 17:34

Hey there Mad Dog!

Thanks for posting - it made my day. I can truly say there is not a day that goes by that you all are not in my thoughts and prayers still. I have a great pic of F-18 Project Pilot Randy H. cruising the blue in my voiceover studio, right above my mic, that was given to me eons ago. Place of honor. Truly feel like I'm right there with you all, doing my best to help you out.

This may sound weird as all get out, the pilot's take on the New Advancedbut you'll probably get my meaning. Am living in Florida now (did the recordings in Huntsville - my dad was a 'rocket' engineer there - love engineers!) about an hour south of Tampa and MacDill. I seem to be able to 'feel' i.e., when a large number of 'Betty's Boys' (and now Girls :-)

go up -- it took me a while to get used to this and figure out what was going on during various ops like Desert Storm, 9-11, et.al. Then it dawned on me how much attention you pay to the voice when you are flying. The gift of attention multiplied over and over, plane by plane. One of the greatest gifts perhaps that you can give another. No wonder I sigh

How Betty got her name: (Was told to me in vo session during the early days by an SCI project chap.) MacDac or someone was doing a test flight and there was a VIS malfunction - the voice kept repeating the same message over and over and over. (Probably something like,"Bingo! Fuel! Kiss Your A** Goodbye!" Just kidding - that was one of my outtakes which I'm sure has ended up somewhere 'cause it was just too wonderful, like "Take Me to Miami!") Out on the tarmac, pocket protectors bouncing, the project engineers raced to meet their fly boy and get the first hand reaction to the new technology. "Whatchu think? Whatchu think?" "Oh, man," said the pilot. "It's great, just great! But that Bitchin' Betty..."

I think the term 'Bitchin' Betty' may have originally came out of a WW2 radio gal, but not sure.

i love that the *sigh* stayed. Makes my day :-)

Many thanks. Warm regards

Purplehaze · by **Purplehaze** » 13 Jun 2006, 19:49

Hey Betty,

Is that really your picture?

betty · by **betty** » 13 Jun 2006, 20:25

Hey there,

Don't think my 'quick reply'post went through. Anyhoo, the big pic you see previously posted is a subsequent Betty - Erica - she may be doing the voice now, don'tknow.

I was the 'smoky alto' voice - the original voice. Here's what I looked like back then.

Meathook · by **Meathook** » 13 Jun 2006, 20:39

Your a cute gal Betty, all of us in the F-16 world have enjoyed your voice and your cautions over the decades using this little sweetheart of an aircraft (ops or maintenance side of the Viper world).

Thanks for having such an effect on us collectively...and your cute too, well that just about makes our day (to steal Clint Eastwood's words).

Thanks for making and being part of Viper history.....Salute - You did good!

betty · by **betty** » 13 Jun 2006, 21:19

Parrothead, Meathead Elite, you rock!

Lieven · by **Lieven** » 13 Jun 2006, 21:58

Hi Betty, Parrothead,

I re-uploaded the picture after adding some whitespace to the left and right so it would not rescale.

betty · by **betty** » 13 Jun 2006, 22:05

Just one thing, that's a pic of me in me youth! - Don't forget Bitchin Betty started 26 years ago. Now I'm old enough to be your Mom! (Dear God, how did THAT happen??!)

But if all that doesn't scare or disillusion you too much, here's me now: http://www.best-voice-actress.com
Proud of you all - Many thanks.

ps. Lieven. thank you for doing that - I truly appreciate.

Meathook · by **Meathook** » 14 Jun 2006, 12:30

Betty...your still "Bitchen" in my book (and that's a good thing), life has treated you very well and your STILL an inspiration to us all..........nothing wrong with being someones "mom" either :-)

We all change, some good, some not so good...your still a "honey" (no offense please, this is a good thing) in my book :-)

Meathook · by **Meathook** » 14 Jun 2006, 12:45

Before and after photo for you (not that it matters but for fun)

Taken in Vietnam April 1971 (19 years old) then taken last month May 2006 (54 years old)...damn, time flies!

Scary I think, from no family ties to grandpa of nine grandchildren in 35 years, twenty five (25) of it on the F-16 :-)

All the best to you Betty......I thought this posting might be fun, we all change....your still the inspiration you always were to many of us