Military Callsigns

benclark · Post by **benclark** » 15 Jun 2007, 18:33

Hey guys here's a fantastic page I found while looking up something criminal

- http://www.siscom.net/~mmeece/Callsigns.html

HTH oh and see if you can figure out what I'm working on

Stewart Pearson · Post by **Stewart Pearson** » 15 Jun 2007, 18:39

Thanks Ben,

New sources are always appreciated.

Cheers

Stew

jetmax · Post by **jetmax** » 15 Jun 2007, 22:30

Use it with caution. I just matched it up with the callsigns we use here at KGSB. One was right and the one was wrong.

Cheers

Scott

Stewart Pearson · Post by **Stewart Pearson** » 15 Jun 2007, 23:07

Hi Scott,

Callsigns created by me for Military Aircraft are based on several sources and I select the most likely one in use.

Is it 100% accurate? No way. As I am based in the UK I can pretty well confirm callsigns being used in this country. For elsewhere I use the internet and some publications that I have. Many a time I also use 'best guess'

One also has to take into account that whilst a callsign may not be in use during normal ops in the unit's base area, it may well have been used elsewhere (ie on exercise) when the listener has logged it.

Whether a callsign is in use (in real life) or not really isn't a problem, after all we are dealing with a simulation and any callsign must be an improvement on the default Air Force

Cheers

Stew

Post by **VulcanDriver** » 16 Jun 2007, 06:19

Also when the Royal Marines are on exercise (they have a base about 1 mile from where I live) the helicopters use Tac Callsigns e.g. Alpha One Tango Three Hotel or when in transit through the local airport zone they use a three letter+3 numbers callsign e.g. ODM (for RAF Odiham) 123.

It gets confusing don't it...

John

Stewart Pearson · Post by **Stewart Pearson** » 16 Jun 2007, 09:35

Don't it just.

These TAC callsigns sometimes know as trigraph callsigns are (I think) often generated by computers used to run the exercise. WHich means you've got "Buckleys" chances of identifying the aircraft from airband transmissions.

Damned inconsiderate of the MOD I'd say

Cheers

Stew

CelticWarrior · Post by **CelticWarrior** » 16 Jun 2007, 10:15

It gets even more confusing when you get into flightplans and such like, as the callsign is unlikely to the same for most flights unless it's a transport flight.

Some UK units allocate individual pilots their own callsigns, some use callsigns that are allocated to the aircraft. Formation callsigns are allocated by a central organisation to units/stations, but are only used in a formation, they won't be used by a single aircraft operating on it's own. Some callsigns will only be allocated for an operation or exercise. It's possible to know if an aircraft is training or on a task by it's callsign, quite often a training or positioning sortie will use a generic station callsign (e.g. Victor 123 for a valley Hawk) and a specific one for a task (e.g. Vortex 43 for a tasking SH).

My own callsign is Alpha Five Five, but when I'm talking to any airfield other than my home base I become Shawbury Five Five, when I'm in a formation I could be Weasel (Shark or Hamlet) Lead, Weasel One or Weasel Two depending on my position in the formation and how many formations we have flying at the same time.

I have tried to find a document listing all the callsigns used by the British military to no avail, I know that there used to be one.

It is confusing.

Regards,

Cary