gunnut

I have some questions.

Who comes up with the call signs for the fighter jocks? Do bomber and trasport pilots have call signs? Are there any rules on what's appropriate or acceptable?

What do you want for call sign if you were a fighter jock, for those who aren't one already?

I can't come up with one for myself...

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glyn

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Native

If you are talking about the the nick names for a pilot, well their comrades. If you are talking about the call signs used to communicate when in the bird.

I know are Ops guys pretty much just made them up when he would put together the flight plan, but usually some sort of combination with the squadron name or something.

Jimmy

USAF callsigns are assigned to a squadron. They could have a few different callsigns, and somebody chooses which flight takes each one. Or they could just use one callsign, and different missions use a different number. For example, if 1FS was flying 3 missions that day, the flight leads might be Fury 11, Fury 21, and Fury 31.

Personal callsigns are chosen by peers. The best ones are accompanied by stories...one of the more lewd stories I heard (I was at the callsign night where this was presented) was this guy was in his car with a female. Apparently the top of her head kept hitting the stereo and changing the station (think about it). His callsign was radio or stereo or something like that.

Some folks have a callsign that's a play on their name (like mine). For example, Lt Hoff will most likely end up with the callsign "Hassle." That's a good one because its actually a word (one with a negative connotation even ) in addition to the name game.

You wouldnt get it anyway. They'd go out of their way to find something more devious. In general heavy pilots dont go for the callsign thing, from what I've seen and heard. ABMs have them too...one theory behind that is since there's a lot of coordination between ABMs and fighters, it makes it easier to keep track of people in briefings. I know the pilots at Tyndall called us by our callsigns when we interacted.

Bluesman

At Misawa, we started using personal callsigns as a joke because the fighter wing guys were getting obnoxious with theirs. NEVER will anbody allow you to pick your own, and sometimes to be vested with a callsign is a Big Deal, almost like getting promoted.

Cheddar, Blade, G-man, Dogpile, Panzer, Rugby, Mouse, And Big Beer were some of the ones I can remember.

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Bluesman

The commander said we couldn't call one guy 'Cvmshot', though.

JCT

'Crash' is not one that you want either...

gunnut

Panzer sounds very cool, so is G-man. But they can't hold a candle to Big Beer.

Can't pick my own call sign, eh? Hmmm...

YellowFever

I'm not sure if I remember correctly but in the Navy, a nugget is usually assigned a name by the CAG on his first cruise (the one that actually sticks with him throughout his career).

Not sure if that's true or not but I remember hearing something about that one time....

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dave lukins

[QUOTE=glyn
Sadly, pilots are NOT permitted to choose their own

Only because "His Royal Highness the Emperor of Cornwall" would'nt fit on your Aircraft

Zem

"Maverick" (as in the movie Top Gun) wouldn't be allowed as callsign right? .... because theres a system with the same name. Same goes for "Viper" i think.

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ShawnG

As a finance guy in convoys in Iraq, I gave one of my soldiers the call sign, "Money Shot" to use when communicating between vehicles

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GAU-8

Of my six squadrons, you were given your call sign by doing something stupid or embarrassing. So once assigned to a squadron, you went through a period of not having a call sign. During this time, you tried to keep from screwing up while everyone in the squadron watched you like a hawk. In only one squadron did I arrive and already have a call sign assigned to me. In that squadron, the schedulers would make some kind of historical/hysterical mishmash of your name and, poof!--that was your call sign for the rest of that tour.

If you tried to suggest or influence a call sign you wanted, boy, you were opening yourself up for a real hatchet job.

"Panzer" would quickly become "Pansy."
"G-Man" would quickly become "G-String."

I just remembered some:

One of our young pilots confided to one of our older pilots one Friday night at the stag bar after several drinks. Evidently he had a problem with "things happening too quickly" when he was with his girlfriend. Well, Monday morning, when he arrived at the squadron, he saw his new call sign on the scheduling board. He had his new call sign that he would carry for the next two years: Quick Draw.

Another shoved a shucking knife straight through his hand while shucking oysters at a squadron party. Yes, alcohol was involved. He was thereafter known as "The Gay Blade."

During my last assignment to Korea, we hosted a visiting Navy F-18 squadron. They had a female flight surgeon. Her call sign was "Fingers."

You get the picture.

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Shamus

Hmmm.....probably shouldn't start this....can't help myself .

gunnut=Misfire
S-2=Powderfinger

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wabpilot

One of my squadrons had a flight surgeon who was a proctologist by training. He had the call sign "finger".

My own for a while was "Navajo" because I almost killed a Piper Navajo twin that flew through some restricted air space over Pamlico Sound.