Forum: Air Force Life

An IP friend of mine in Klamath Falls back in '89 had the callsign "WeeBee". When I asked him the story behind it, he said it was more for fun on his part. When he's ready for taxi or takeoff, the radio call was "Tower, WeeBee ready for takeoff". Or "Approach, WeeBee at the outer marker, gear down and locked". Laughing

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"Squirt " Seaman
"Tally" Flynn (as in Jeannie Flynn, first fighter driver with an "innie" versus an "outie"). Tally, as in Tally HO.

So if Jeannie Flynn got the "Tally" part of the callsign, then I guess former BUFF pilot Kelly Flynn could've gotten the "HO" part, right? OOPS! Did I say that out loud?! Razz

Outstanding!

Funny Funny Laughing

What was the most MOST interesting (good or bad) callsign anyone has come across? And are callsigns usually restricted to 1-3 syllables or has anyone ever have a name like buganator or snuffelafugus although I'm sure they'd be creatively shortened. Also, anyone know of a callsign that had to be changed for reasons like vulgarity, "politically incorrect" or what not. And for us wannabes, could-bes, should-bes, someday-bes and soon-to-be pilots...if you were in another pilot's shoes, what callsign would you choose for yourself and why? Very Happy

I've seen Merkin, couldn't get the story though. If unfamiliar with that word be careful if you do a search Wink

When my dad was stationed at Shaw AFB his was Mad Max (last name Gibson) He could of got a bad one though his first name is Rex Doh

I read in 'Eye of the Viper' that one of the F-16 students was given the c/s 'Rex' and it was a bad thing. Please enlighten me. Why is it such a bad c/s? I think it sounds cool, as in T-Rex. Is there some sort of an 'inside' joke?

Maybe "Wrecks"? I dunno.... I thought they explained in that book but I dont remember........

On Callsigns, is there any rules against not having callsigns that could tacitally ruin a mission... Someone mentioned Tally above which is pretty close... But call signs like "Air Speed" or "Bearing" etc.... that would reflect speak into other parts of the mission and may confuse other people on the radio? I'm sure someone out there understands what I just asked, so an answer would be awesome!

-Aaron

TenguNoHi wrote:

Maybe "Wrecks"? I dunno.... I thought they explained in that book but I dont remember........

That's my best guess. The only indication that the book gave of it being bad was that the student was not doing too well and in danger of washing out of the course (I'd dig out the book and check, but someone's borrowing it attm)

TengNoHi wrote:

On Callsigns, is there any rules against not having callsigns that could tacitally ruin a mission... Someone mentioned Tally above which is pretty close......... But call signs like "Air Speed" or "Bearing" etc.... that would reflect speak into other parts of the mission and may confuse other people on the radio? Im sure someone out there understands what I just asked, so an answer would be awsome!!!

Interesting...being a Weapons Director, I received a callsign at the end of my training course (we have callsign parties, too). The instructors wanted to 'peg' me with the c/s 'Notch' (I have a bad habit of being defensive and stubborn at times). My 'beef' with that name was that Notch is a 3-1 brevity word that means manuever to defeat an enemy missile. It might be potentially confusing. So, I drank a horrid concoction of alcohol and went with the Instructors' second choice...Shaba Confused

(that one stuck).

I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me, but did somebody seriously offer a quote from O'Grady's "Return With Honor"?

I'm not going to point the fickle finger of fate just yet...you all discuss this amongst yourselves and see if you can find the same post that I did.

By the same token, I don't want to sound critical of S.O. He was flying long before me, and..."I wasn't there".

Dunno. Couldn't spot the quote. I guess it would have helped if I had read the book. Scott O'Grady is not my favorite person, but I've said the reasons why a few times already on this site. If you'd like to know more, then feel free to ask, beg, grovel, whine, and pout. I'll probably end up telling you again. Wink

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

ram816 wrote:

heck even Hollywood's gotten the gist of the idea

In "We were Soldiers" the Senior Huey Driver's Callsign was
Snake Sh!t (played by Greg Kinnear)

Kinda strange, lol...

Hollywood didn't make that one up; check out the book "Chickenhawk" by Bob Mason (great book!)- "Snake" got that callsign cause he "flew lower than snake $hit", according to the book.

"Vader" What a cool callsign. Now if he flew an F-117. . .

Quote:

On Callsigns, is there any rules against not having callsigns that could tacitally ruin a mission... Someone mentioned Tally above which is pretty close.... But call signs like "Air Speed" or "Bearing" etc.... that would reflect speak into other parts of the mission and may confuse other people on the radio? I'm sure someone out there understands what I just asked, so an answer would be awesome!!!

TenguNoHi,

There seems to be a little confusion on this thread as to types of callsigns. Actually, there are really two different types of callsigns for pilots. There's your actual 'name' callsign, which you receive from your squadron at a naming party. That's the 'name' everyone in the squadron knows you by instead of your first name.

The other type of callsign is your 'flying' callsign, which is only used when you fly (for example 'WeeBee', as mentioned earlier, or Jaeger, Miller, Slammer, Heat, etc). Each squadron in the Air Force has a list of 'authorized' flight callsigns (yes, it is actually someone's job in the Air Force to assign flight callsigns to squadrons), and when you fly, the callsigns are also numbered. If you're the flight lead, you would be, for example, Miller 1. His wingman would be Miller 2. Some squadrons assign these callsigns to flight leads differently, but as far as our squadron goes, once you become a flight lead, you can buy it at a callsign auction. These are usually a lot of fun, and can end up raising a lot of money for the squadron fund. Once you buy a flight callsign, you fly with that until you leave the squadron, at which point it goes back into the list of callsigns up for grabs at the next auction. Of course, you also have the option of giving up your callsign and bidding on another at the next callsign auction if you like another one better. Sometimes that works out well, and sometimes it doesn't.

At any rate, naming someone something that would be confusing if it was said on the radio is not an issue, since you would never refer to someone by name on the radio (it's just poor radio dicipline). As a matter of fact, I've seen plenty of people named for 3-1 terms, especially if there's a good story about something they've done. However, a flight callsign like that would be a problem, which is why you won't find many of those out there.

Hope this helped!

Rexxxx

Forum: Air Force Life

Pilot Callsigns