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Pilot Callsigns

Callsigns starting with " T"

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THOR
The men and women in the 120th FS are known as "Redeyes." There was a Pilot by the name of T. who slept with one of his female counterparts. They ended up getting married, but T's callsign ended up as "THOR" and it stood for "T. Had One Redeye."
Tread
LCdr. Saufley (Tread softly and carry a big stick)
Turd
F-4 pitter who had to take a dump and the front seater wouldn't speed up on RTB, so the GIB just put his foot up against the throttles and they passed all of the others heading to initial. Upon landing he leapt out of the backseat in the De-Arm area and dropped a small one.
T-bone
dropped a practice bomb through a cow
T-Bone
Dropped two 500# laser-guided bombs on cows in Kosovo during Allied Force.
T-Retz
Curses and verbalizes when upset. All caught on the HUD tape.
T-Rex
British Weapon Systems Operator who once failed to cock the .50cal on a Merlin helicopter because of his short arms
T-Rex
Ate two full racks of BBQ ribs faster than anyone else ate one. The comment was made that it was like watching a Tyrannosaurus!
TAC-N
Flight doc, Turn And Cough, Now! Enough said...
Taint
Last name Oldham. First platoon sergeant didn't like and decided to rename me, he called me tainted meat, but it was too long to yell and everyone figured out quickly what's funnier.... Taint.
Tall Paul
or TP. I'm six foot four, first assignment, the five foot two squadron commander looks at me and says, "Damn you're tall Paul!" It stuck...go figure.
Tally
First Female fighter pilot. Short for Tally-Ho (HO...get it??)
Tango Papa
It seems like every time something went wrong on an op I got in trouble - even if I had nothing to do with it. So, like toilet paper - it all stuck to me. So T.P. or Tango Papa
Tank
'A brand new F-16 pilot at Pope AFB looked down at his fuel gauge and 'Oh crap!' it was almost empty and he was a ways from base. 'Uh. . . Tower, this is Tiger 2 declaring an emergency!' Never a good thing for a fighter pilot's ego anyway. Ooops, my bad, I just forgot to switch from my wing tanks to my main tanks. 'Tower, Uh. . . forget that emergency.' From that day forward he was known as TANK.'
Tank
A much-feared Ops Group commander who would bully and steamroll over anyone who showed weakness, but that's not where the callsign came from... As a youngster, he went to drop a bomb on a practice range in or near England, but pickled his centerline tank instead. Oops!
Tarheel
Well, pretty simple actually--I'm from North Carolina and a diehard UNC fan. I bleed CAROLINA BLUE!!
Tarzan
This new kid's a sport climber, first name starts with T, he likes camping outdoors more than hanging out at the bar. Go figure.
Taser
Wingman was an MP before flight school and they found a contact stun gun in his locker one night on one of those surprise inspections...
Tassels
Female - I think you can figure it out
Taxman
Everybody pays the Taxman. Top in squad.
Tazman
WAY too hyper for my own good I guess.
TBAR
That Boy Ain't Right
TBJ
LT B. Gumser; T stands for "Toothless" and we all know that a Gumser is defined as a TBJ. Commonly found on Gate 2 street Okinawa or in Thailand.
TCAP
Named after the TV show Dateline NBC - To catch a predator. While in flight school, this stud dated a 17 year old townie... knowingly... because "she was going to be 18 soon". Found out her dad was a retired Hornet driver, which means he probably knew all the instructors, or at least enough to make flight school less enjoyable, so he "creeped her out into dumping him, you know so she wouldn't be so attached"
Teflon
Hawg driver at Spangdahlem. Named after his smooth moves while in the air and on the ground ;-) (Sorry David)
Teflon
Given the name by F-16 pilots of the 33rd TFS Shaw AFB SC. No matter how much "trouble" I got in there were never any repercussion. They said nothing sticks hence the name
Tele
Last name Vissen
Tennesssee Smith
My Tennessee heritage coupled with a thick Southern accent reminds my CO of a gunslinger... I dont see it, but it could be worse I guess.
Terrorist
Had to grow hair and beard for a infiltration op. With safety glasses on, someone remarked that I looked like one of the Iranians who had taken our embassy hostage.
Tess
First Class RAF Tornado GR4 Squadron Leader, whose surname is Tickle.
Tess
Last name Icles
Test Gun
Not a fighter, but civilian 767 Pilot... At age 14 I started flying gliders in Germany at a local glider club and as a present for my 16th b-day I received an original M-1 Leather flight jacket I liked to wear during the winter. That got me the call sign "Top Gun". The following summer my club received a used glider and after several members flew it reports surfaced that it was having some wiered flight characteristics along the longitudinal axis. As I was a snubby-sixteen-year-old know-it-all-still-student-pilot I HAD to find out what was wrong with the bird... so I got an IP to let me fly it but limited me to 160 km/h max speed (beginning of the yellow line in that particular glider). So after launching out of the winch I was able to gain some altitude in some thermals and started checking the bird out... and went over my given speed limit to find out that the ailerons were due to their weight caused the ailerons to flutter at higher speeds. In my case they were violently fluttering almost tearing the plane appart... Back on the ground I confessed my finding and the plane was pulled out of service for inspections just to find out that a stiffening substance injected into the aileron-cavities was increasing their weights and causing the flutter behaviour... From that moment on I was called "Test Gun" and grounded for 6 Weeks...
The Great Bunndini
After a night of 'light' drinking at the infamous Snake Pit Lounge and the screening of the movie 'The Great Santini' all present rose and pointed at me and stating in unison "He is YOU!, all hail the Great Bunndini!"
The Rock
My Last name is Stone
Thief
Stole various items from the squadron members
Thor
Was trying to do some minor renovations, when the hammer missed its mark and smashed my thumb. Unfortunately, it was spotted by a crew chief and I have never been able to live it down.
Thump
The sound a body makes when it hits the ground...hard. I fell off a second story balcony at the Tyndal Q's during our post WSEP Ops/Mx party.
Thumper
When first learning to fly, my right leg would always shake on the rudder pedal. My flight instructor gave me the name.
Thumper
Was going through basic with a temporary callsign of "Fluffy" and had a soda next to my console when I shouldn't have. Well having a size 15 foot the soda ended up getting kicked over. So my instructor thought, "what's fluffy and has a big foot?" And there you have it.
Thunder
No matter how hard the guys tried during basic at P'Cola and during deployments afterward nobody could ever get my Dad pissed off enough to lose his cool. Finally one night during one hell of a storm onboard the Enterprise while reviewing landing tapes a new nugget slammed the ramp hard and bent a landing gear on a brand new Scooter. Dad went out and proceeded to chew the guy out for 45 minutes straight in a thunderstorm on the flight deck. Since my father was one of the quietest guys around until finally provoked the name stuck.
Tic
In Korea in 1998, a crusty captain deftly integrated the Foncho clause (combination of the Fish and Poncho clauses - a poor story told well is better than a good story told poorly, and don't take all $#%ing night to tell it) and the 10% rule. He told a poor story extremely well, 90% of which was bullshit, in order to name me Tic...which stands for "Talk is Cheap." Since it was a bullshit story...I'll leave it at that. Of course, there are cover stories such as "Thrust is Cheap" and "Troops in Contact."
Tickler
Last name French - enough said....
Tickles
Attractive female viper pilot I met at Nellis once. First name was Tess. Thought it was pretty clever ;)
Tidbit
I said the word tidbit... once.
Timezone
First day of primary, instructor asks the class what time would it be in San Diego if it's 6am in Pensacola, and a few more like that. I was always an hour off. I didn't know there was a Mountain Standard Timezone, and a callsign was born.
tin man
named after a soup company, tin can
Tiny
Last name - Cox
Tiny Tanks
Went to the 'bathroom' a few too many times during a mission
Titan
Massive B****rd
Title IX
This soon-to-be pilot was out at the mall doing one of those Flight Sim places with a couple buddies. This particular place has made deals with the "Women Fly" movement, of which she's a big proponent (she's the only girl flier around). As we were waiting, a buddy walked past the Women Fly merchandise and called out "Hey Rachael, here's the Title IX rack". It stuck.
Tits
Pilot with last name of "Mammarella" at K-Bay in the late 80's.
TMS
True story... I had to cut a combat sortie due to what I like to refer to as a 'DFAC (Dining Facility) initiated early return'. There was no way I was of any tactical use, let alone flying the sortie itself. I made it back to Base X, made it down the ladder, and thankfully the Crew Chief was waiting there with a garbage bag because I didn't make it to the port-a-john. I was named "The Mad Shxxxxx"!
TOBI
During my first operational depployment on baltic QRA, we got scrambled, I jumped into the jet trying to get the engine started. when this didn't work I quickly took the spare only to realise then that I had forgotten to turn on the battery in the primary aircraft. Turn On the Battery, Idiot was given to me at the next naming ceremony...
TOFU
A-10 pilot on BFM ride with Patch Wearer. Throughout the flight, Patch Wearer provided tactical hints in the form of "hey, this technique only but you might want to try this" or "this my technique only, but it works better if you do this." After several minutes of this, and particularly from being on the losing end of most of the engagements, the next "technique only" chatter was met with "F@#K You!" The rest of the flight was in silence. As the wingman was putting up boards and cueing the tape for the debrief, the Patch walked in, through is tape on the table and said, "Technique Only, never tell say "F-U" to your instructor." And then he walked out. No debrief that day. So next naming..."Technique Only, FU!"
Toga
Mid 70's Phantom Squadron Toga Party... "the Greeks didn't wear no stinking U-trou"! You can fill in blanks.
Toma
Maj. Dennis "Toma" Hawks
TONIC
Religious Dutch fighter pilot, who on his first flight at his new home base, was cleared to enter a crossing runway to subsequently enter and backtrack the active runway for take off. Instead, he entered the active runway at the intersection and took off without backtracking from about midway on this already ‘short’ 7800ft runway. TONIC - Take Off Numbers are Irrelevant to Christ
Tons Of Fun
Nickname I received in Basic from a Drill Sergeant. Got it because when I got there I was overweight.
Too Tall
Lack of vertical prominence.
Tool
"Tool" Stanley
TOOT
Instructor pilot who always started by saying "The Objective Of Today" is...
TOOT
Instructor pilot who always started by saying “The Objective Of Today” is…
Top-Rope
Had a friend who was flying F/A-18s for the Navy. Newly in the fleet, he kept bragging about how easy the Case 1 recovery (a landing in nearly picture-perfect conditions) he was in pattern for was going to be, and how he was going to show everyone why he graduated at the top of his class. Lined up, came in too high, and had to do a bolter. Came around again, caught cable 1 (for reference, the prime target was cable 3 of 4). He said that particular crow didn't taste so good until the name grew on him.
Torch
LTC Don Campbell at Luke AFB, 1988. Taking off for Hawaii with three bags of gas, lights the blower, engine blows up, airplane catches on fire. He aborts takeoff, ground egresses, and runs to the edge of the runway, pulls out his pack of cigarettes, and very rapidly puffs through the entire pack as he watches his airplane burn up. Hence "Torch".
Torch
Leading a 4 ship on a low level to the bombing range in Spain, Hit a 29 lb vulture at 510 kts groundspeed. Aircraft blew up and the stab went full deflection down (which gave me a 12 G pitchup) #2 called for me to eject, call was blocked by #4 calling a "knock it off". When someone asked why he made that call he stated "I thought someone lit a blowtorch in front of my canopy". Blowtorch was shortened to "Torch" at a crud game at the Nellis O'Club during Green Flag.
Torch
Navy pilot in training, came in too fast - when he applied the breaks the main wheels and brakes burst in to flames
Torch
Marine F-4 RIO. While partying at the Cubi Point, Philippines Officers Club during the 79-80 Coral Sea Cruise I set my Face on Fire while performing Afterburner Lights at the Bar where you atomize high proof Rum and ignite it with a lighter. Unbeknownst to me the Rum dripped down the sides of my mouth. My roommate standing next to met put me out with a wet bar rag but the damage was done. On a side note due to the embarrassment of bandages and salves on my face I volunteered for In Port Flight Deck Watch Officer and got to meet the brand new Captain/CO of the Coral Sea who never forgot my “incident” including 10 years later when he was a 3 Star Admiral.
Torpedo
(Note: Am female.) WeI went out one night and we all got pretty drunk. We were sat around a table, I spotted a cute guy and went and snogged him. They ended up calling me 'Torpedo' because I was so quick they didn't see me move.
TOTO
Accidentally shutting the engine down while in the air. Throttle Off, Throttle On
Touchdown
He was a reasonably bright guy who every now and then would say or do something to make you completely question his intelligence. His buddies in the squadron decided he must've had a touch of down syndrome...just a touch. You could get his attention from a distance by extending your arms up in the air
Trackless
Aussie Vietnam War -era Caribou, Hercules, Huey, and later civvy 214ST and Bell 412 offshore pilot, spent the last years of a long, storied career serving in EMS. A man of huge personality but modest stature, rumoured to be so short his butt cheeks erased his footprints as he walked, meaning that he left no tracks.
Trash
Last name is of course White.
Trax
Passed out on the railroad tracks in his Choker Whites after a tough night at an airwing party.
Trey
Landed 3 wires on first sea trial
Tricky
I wish that there was some cool story about me being the craftiest or sneakiest guy in the squadron but I went through UPT back in the 60s when Richard Nixon had just gotten his butt kicked by John Kenedy. My last name is Dick so "Tricky", in reference to Nixon, just sort of stuck.
TRIX
Came from "Tri-X" - someone else already got XXX
TRIX
Tri-X , XXX
Trophy-head
The man had large ears. What can I say.
Truffle Pig
Only one who remembered the coordinates during orienteering.
TUA
TUA means "Typical Uncivilized American" Callsign for Capt. Alan Talbert 22 FS Spang. (now 35 FS Kunsan). Got his name for some typical not so smart (American) moves/actions while in Germany.
Tub
Had an Lt in my AWACs squadron that was told to go get his tub ride from the F-15 squadron down the flight line. His unfortunate answer was "What's a tub?"
Tubby
Striking resemblance to one of the Teletubbies
TUCAF
The Ugliest Carrier Aviator Forever
Tuff
Last name was Loveman s it's 'Tough love man'
TULSA
Total Utter Lack of Situational Awareness
Tumble Weed
6 Foot 6 Vegitarian helicopter pilot formally with "Weed" as his callsign. He fainted at a Change of Command Ceremony..... thus "Tumble Weed".
Tumble Weed
A 6 Foot 6 (2m) helicopter pilot with “Weed” as his formal callsign. He fainted at a Change of Command Ceremony… thus he bacame “Tumble Weed”.
Tummy and Stix
The next 2 midshipmen that arrive at our squadron will be named Tummy and Stix. They will be made to always walk in order, stand in order, and introduce themselves in order. We will open every meeting appropriately addressing all VIPs: "Skipper, XO, Tummy, Stix". Tummystix.
Tuna
I tried to cook a can of Tuna over a chemical (hexi) stove during a ground survival training thing, the can blew sky high because of the heat, we were not allowed back on the base ever again and I got a bolloking from my shell-shocked C.O. Somebody called me that on the way back to base and it stuck.
Tupac
After 9/11, new pilot needed a ride to civilian airport, but wanted his vehicle left at base for his return. Life Support tech drives pilot to airport in pilot's truck and returns to base, only to be stopped at main gate for random vehicle inspection. Cops find loaded pistol in pilot's truck. Life Support tech gets detained.
Turd
Had to use the bathroom one night and was too far from the AMU, so I went next to the F-16 farthest from prying eyes....but got caught!
Turgon
The story goes that during one of his first bombing runs in the A-7, he pickled off the entire bomb rack (TER or Triple Ejector Rack) instead of just the bombs hung on it.
Turtle
My buddy 1st Lt. M. "Turtle" Hidalgo got his name by always wearing this ugly green backpack and one day he was in a wrestling match at the base and got his nose broken. After it healed up he looked like a turtle.
TWATT
"Twitches While Attempting To Talk" This poor guy had one of the worst ticks I've ever seen. I'm not sure what his condition was, but that's the name he received, and yes, it is pronounced exactly how one would think it would be pronounced.
Twitty
No cool story, surname is Conway. I'm an Australian pilot and when I was deployed in the middle east in an F-16 the US navy pilots I was flying with came up with it. Being Australian I had no idea who Conway Twitty was until then. Now I've moved into an F-22 and I got Conway Twitty nose art on my her as a bit of a memoir, still go by Twitty when flying with Americans.
Two Bags
Barfed twice during an incentive ride
Two Bit
Last name was HO.
Two Dads
The pilot concerned, acquired this callsign due to his appropriation of a hyphenated surname.
Two Shots
I'm Half Chinese & Half Italian, 5'6, 128 lbs. My family on the Italian side has "mob" ties (but only in the old country, Sicily). I also am a HUGE fan of the Godfather. Anyway, I'm also not much of drinker. This became common knowledge after partying one night with my squad mates. Literally, TWO SHOTS had me slurring, and falling all over the place. So, the name TWO SHOTS stuck.
Two Times
A Marine aviator named Vince. Italian descent. Reference to the character in Goodfellas, Vinnie Two Times, who finished every sentence by repeating himself, repeating himself.

Other callsigns

Tag , Tamil , Tapper , Tatoo , Taz , Tex , The Hammer , Thoro , Tinton , Tits , Toad , Topper , Toro , Toto , Toucan , TouTou , Tri-Pod , Trigger , Tron , Turbo , Turf , Turk , Twie , Twin , Two Dogs , ...
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