How Do Fighter Pilots Get Their Callsigns? | How Do Fighter Pilots #1 or #2 in the Jet?

-Aaron asks how fighter pilots get their callsigns and how I got the callsign of "Mover"
- Noah asks how fighter pilots use the bathroom in the jet.
Plus, a nice gift from Lynn.
Mover Mailbag - Episode 10

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[jeffreybaker]

My favorite call sign is 'Psycho' (a weapons system officer). Funny thing is that he is one of the nicest, calmest people you will ever meet. Was present when he introduced himself at a meeting and the chair (an Army two-star) said, "I just have to ask..", to which Psycho replied without hesitation, "Anger issues, Sir". The General shook his head reassuringly, "I understand".

[rockymcallister]

Funniest call sign I ever heard was, Bambi. Dude landed on a doe and her fawn at Lemmore NAS....

[Bender]

I was given mine in flight school....it was based on my last name


"Bender" Overman

[rammphillips]

Most memorable callsign story for me: I met a gent when I was at the F-4J Phantom training squadron at Oceana, VA. He was one of the then rare men of color (1979). He introduced himself as, "Torch". I said, 'Glad to meet you, as I am a man of color myself (Asian/Caucasian). I said to him, "...isn't it a bit brutal that, as a black man, they call you, 'Torch'?" He said, NO! I was taking off in an F-14 and I forgot to set the fuel dump switch properly during the cockpit wipeout before startup. Great guy with a terrific attitude. Since fuel dump is inhibited with weight on wheels, it didn't dump until I was lifting off the runway! The dump mast is between the two afterburners of the jet. Tower was impressed with the huge fireball trail and let me know about it immediately. Hence, the callsign. From then on, I always checked the Fuel Dump switch first thing!

[protonjones]

"I got my callsign from blowing up a bunch of cows"

[ricconway]

My Dad was a Marine Aviator. His callsign was "Jinx". He got it after not one, not two, but three consecutive F-8 carrier sorties that all had mechanical issues.

[smoke_eater_]

We never even bought you a beer, and you told us your call sign anyways. I guess I’ll just buy your new book instead! 😉

[MichaelSmith-ilwm]

I had a pilot commander who's call sign was "Crash"...never heard the story behind how he got it...

[friendlyhonda]

The best CF-18 I've ever seen had "Captain Tim 'Trailer' Park" painted on the side.. Yep - Captain Trailer Park.

[neskyz]

We had an AV-8B pilot at Cherry Point who landed WELL BELOW minimum fuel and he earned the callsign "Vapor"!

[BIGDROC]

Best name I saw them give to a pilot:

“SLAG”

Screams
Like
A
Girl

[KutWrite]

As to piddling: My first solo in 1971 in the T-34B (Navy) came as a surprise, right after my safe-for-solo hop with the instructor. After we left the aircraft, he just pointed me back to the plane and said "Go solo. You've got an hour."

I got strapped in & started up and taxied to the runway, then realized, I really had to pee! I thought I could hold it, but after a loop I knew I couldn't. I couldn't go back early, or the solo wouldn't count.

What do do? Well, our flight suits had two zippers on one track. I trimmed the aircraft for level flight, opened the bottom zipper, and aimed for a hole in the floor under the left rudder pedal. Boy was that a relief!

Only thing, I kept waiting for some electronics to short out, or after landing, for the line guy to say something about a leaking yellow fluid. Luckily, neither happened.

When we graduated to the T-28, I was "relieved" to find out there was a relief tube under the seat. They told us if needed, to "use it, don't abuse it." I wonder if they said that when the female students started to show up a few years later.

This is the first time I ever told this story!

:D

[Acreyman]

I was in the Air Foce. Knew a Lt. Col. Razor so of course his call sign was "Blade". That was pretty awesome.

[tommynikon]

I asked my dad, an old USAF fighter jock, what his call sign(s) were. He said in his generation there weren't any except for missions and newbies: the "FNG's". Fucking New Guy. He told me that story when I was in highschool; I'm now I still appreciate the humor and Mover reminding me of the culture. And Dad is still around. Which makes my call sign....Lucky.

[mariusceregutiu]

Callsigns have spread to other services and other countries, at least at an unofficial level. After I finished high-school, I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the Romanian Air Force, but because some of medical issues, I was not accepted. So, after I graduated the university where I got my engineering diploma in electronics, I went to Army NCO school for communications and electronic warfare. I left the active service with the rank of Sergeant major. While I was in the military school, one day I went with my platoon on the range to train for infantry tactics; we split in two groups, one would defend a position and the other would attack it, and then we switched roles. For the purpose of the exercise, we received blank rounds, not to kill each other. When it was my turn to be on the attacker side, while some guys were down on the ground laying fire, others would jump and advance. At one point I jumped up from my position and started to run towards the enemy, holding my automatic assault rifle with one hand an firing while on the run. The platoon commander saw me, and he said "Who do you think you are, Rambo ? " And the other guys heard him, and that's how I got my nickname, Rambo.

[avrgrip]

Callsigns can last a lifetime. I still have guys call me “Grip”. Frankly I miss it. If I could go back and do it again, I would in a heartbeat. Greatest group of guys I have ever known.

Sometimes guys had unfortunate last names.
Baden callsign “Master”
Mawhinney callsign “Spank”
Dixon callsign “cheese”
Utley callsign “bug”
Lowe callsign “Hung”

Others:
“Rash” because he was so damn irritating.
“Goose” Goosed the throttles near a hanger and blew a bunch of people and thing down the ramp.
“Buzz” had the nose of his F-14 chewed up by the prop of an E-2
“Krispy” Kriegel, got electrocuted plugging in the RDO truck (Runway duty Officer making sure the students don’t land gear up)

“Fossil” he looks the same 30 years later, old.
“Vulcan” looked like Spock
“Spanky” looked like Spanky on the little rascals.
“Radar” looked like Radar O’reilly

[sewing]

Back, a long time ago, when I served in Uncle Sam's Canoe Club (Flying Club) the call signs used for radio comm were always squadron level, not individual. Only a few of the Naval Aviators I served with had Colorful nicknames. A few that I recall are: the late Cdr David McRae was "Barrell" (the story I heard on how he got that was he barrel rolled the RA-5C Vigilante he was flying through a dogfight his F-4 escorts were having over North Vietnam while taking pictures instead of running for the coast like he was supposed to do), the late Capt James Pirrote was "Pirate", Cdr Robert Powell USN Retired was/is "Boom" (He apparently actual had on at least one occasion gone supersonic over an air station tower like the fictional account in "Top Gun"), and last but not least, Vice Adm Ted Branch USN Retired was/is "Twig".

[jasonjones]

My dad was a tanker in the army and earned his callsign a similar way to you, was at a gunnery range in germany engaging a convoy, they use pop up heated target panels, his crew engaged all the hard skinned targets and had switched to soft skinned, well up pops a troop carrier, he engages target, kills it and sees infantry sized targets hauling ass from the vehicle, tc is already scanning for more targets so he selects coax and engages the infantry, gets back for bda/debrief turns out those infantry targets had been wild boars that were laying on the panel to stay warm, earned him a half good job/ half ass chewing for engaging troops in the open that were not on the script for the exercise, he left the next unit function with the call sign Selector

[Megalodon]

There is a Youtube video of a guy flying an F-4 Phantom and he had to go number 2 but couldn't hold it in and soiled himself on the cockpit. The guys on the radio were all laughing at him and he had to RTB. The video is called When Nature calls at 500 knots.

[stephenhenley]

Bombers all have a "can" due to the fact they are flying VERY long duration missions. My personal longest was 19.5, but I flew with many who went over 24. B-52s are literally a bedpan on a wooden box (bring a plastic bag, slide it on, do your thing, bag it and take it with you back to your seat. A "long" 6-hr flight for an F-16 is a short training sortie for a B-52.

The B-2's have a portable camping-style toilet. I'm less sure about B-1s