The REAL Truth About Aviator Callsigns

Ward reviews the hierarchy of aviator callsigns and how they're "awarded" to new pilots and RIOs on arrival to the fighter squadron. He also goes over a number of real world examples, including details on how he got "Mooch" as his callsign.

[jonathan]

I heard of one pilot who insisted he be called Duke. The whole squadron refused because a) you can’t choose the call sign and b) he was no John Wayne. The Squadron Commander settled the argument by naming him Duchess.

[ppipowerclass]

My favorite military call sign I have ever seen was a female Air Force pilot. One of her parents were Japanese, the other was German, so her call sign was AXIS.

[tstodgell]

I once heard a story about a pilot who got his callsign during air to ground gunnery training. He flew to the wrong range, lined up on a trailer or building out in the desert (empty, fortunately) and shot it. Aside from it being a monumental fuck up, he somehow managed to shoot the poor building with impeccable accuracy. Something like 99% of the rounds fired struck the building. His callsign: SNIPER.

[donjaeger]

Funnest callsign I ever saw was "DASH" which stood for Dumb Ass Shot Himself after he accidentally discharged his pistol in his foot while showing it off...

[magicalmealsathome]

Our sister squadron's CO had a call sign of "Fatal" until he gained some weight on a westpac. His wife, in the hangar with some other wives, upon his return yelled out "hey Fat Al" changing his call sign forever.

[drewm]

I knew a pilot in my first squadron named "SHILOH". It stood for "Shit Himself In Lieu Of Hick, because when he was in the centrifuge, he went to do the "Hick Maneuver" and straight shit himself.

[Rocketsong]

We had a "Sparky" who at one point had somehow dragged the tail of an F-15 on landing. We also had a "Hamster" who as one would expect was a huge dude who was assigned to the A-10 because he really couldn't fit in an F-16.

[dweldredge]

All of us without callsigns face a terrible dilemma: We're desperate to be given one because of the cool factor, but are afraid to ask for one because the act of asking ensures that we will be given an embarrassing one.

[spleefdowny]

I know a former Marine whose callsign was “Hippo” — biggest mouth in the animal kingdom. He was…outspoken.

[stevenfraser]

A pilot friend of mine had his first in flight emergency and called the tower who asked what emergency services he wanted, after giving his requirements the tower asked "do you want anything else?", another pilot on the same channel responded "he wants his mommy" - resulting call sign "mommy" :)

[BigStrap]

My all time favorite was ZEUS: Zero Effort Unless Supervised

[aherosstory]

As a Marine Light Attack helicopter pilot, callsign Torch, I can tell you we absolutely have a tactical use for callsigns. We get shot at too. Usually from a lower, more intimate altitude.

[mgreen]

One of the best I ever heard was a female aviator who married a guy that flew F16s.

It read BALD-D, was spoken Baldy, but meant Bangs A Lawn Dart Driver...

[Jacktrades]

A RIO in my Miramar RAG class passed out on a flight and didn't wake up until they were on deck when the medical rescue crew was cutting him out of his harness. Fortunately the flight surgeon was merciful and gave him another chance after he recovered. But after that, he was "Coma".

[donaldkeltner]

The Air Force generally stays with the max two syllable rule. But when a squadron mate's actual name is Clark Kent, its got to be "Superman".

[zone_recon]

If your first name happens to be Ed, well, then you're "Special" or "Short Bus." Then there was my friend who flew F-4s in the Navy long ago. Spectacularly defeated two other aircraft in a 1-v-2 air-to-air sortie, call sign "Magic." RIP, brother, gone too soon.

[edgarlewis]

1972, North Vietnam, near Haiphong, lots of action happening. I heard the following on the radio: (perhaps paraphrasing a little).
“Break right Frank, break right…no left, left break left.”
Later after landing on the carrier, walking along the flight deck, I overheard: “Sorry about mixing up the directions.” “Ya. Well my name’s not Frank either.”

[raybates]

We had a dude that tried to make his own callsign. He had the whole aviator RayBan thing going on and insisted he be called "Hollywood". We quickly informed him he couldn't make his own callsign. His name became "Speck" because he was covered with freckles! LOL

[michaelnix]

A funny story regarding military aircraft crew call signs comes from my 35 year career as a Design Engineer with a Defense Contractor. My work often interfaced with our Flight Test team which, as you might imagine, was almost completely staffed with former military pilots and aviators. Every member of that team had a call sign, and usually referred to each other by them. Once, following a meeting with several teams including Flight Test, I asked one of my counterparts for the actual names of the Flight Test members in attendance. His reply was, “I don’t really know, because everybody knows them by their call signs.”

[FLYUSMC]

Love this! I am an aviator and was given the call sign “The Mayor” because everywhere we landed I always knew someone local. We could be in some far off DET and I would always find someone I knew from years ago. Great explanations! Love the channel!