Swanwick Mil this is Trouser formation

[Razor61]

Jaguar and Su-22 Fitter flew over just now this afternoon using TROUSER as the callsign.
They were up again this morning with 1 Jag leading 3 Su-22's.

Got to be one of the best callsigns ive heard in a long time.

[The Rogue]

Must admit, I do like the 493rd's 'CHOSEN'

[Widger]

They were following Cresta...It's frothy man!

[Flobadob]

You can't beat the C/S GIMLET - Oxford Dictionary definition is 'A small boring tool'

Think it was a Jag C/S a while ago? More suited to harrier jockeys me thinks.:cool:

[12 PSI]

I went downbird with an oil leak once - The PAN call as 'Booby Leader' went down well!!! Apparently it's a large sea bird....

[Impiger]

Callsign Abuse

Recall that during Allied Force those nice folks at Vicenza got to decide on national callsigns for singletons on airtests etc (the fighting callsigns being allocated by the ATO). Much effort was expended on making things funny by the addition of 'One' Hence:

Chosen One

Givva One

Holin One

Happy One

there must have been more ..........

[5 Forward 6 Back]

Don't forget "Slipper" :E

[Compressorstall]

Always beware Squadron Bosses going through the obscurest reference books to find 'themed' callsigns...

[Razor61]

SPANK from the 48th FW was a good one.... Unfortunately they don't tend to use single numericals, so it was SPANK 11 or higher.

Believe it was to do with a fluffy monkey they had and the arsehole of the week had to fly with 'Spank' in the cockpit.

[Black 'n Yellar]

On a recent deployment to Poland I was leading a formation of Sea Harriers across Germany to our first refuelling stop. We were using our Squaron callisign of 'Vixen' formation and I could not work out why the German controllers were laughing every time we checked in on their frequency. One controller even said on the radio 'you don't want to know what that means in German!'
None the wiser we landed at Wunsdorf for a refuel and one of our formation, a fluent German speaker suddenly remember that vixen (or wixen as they would say it) meant wan*ing in German. No wonder there was so much mirth as we checked in as Wan*ing 2, 3, and 4 across the German airwaves.

[Magoodotcom]

Reminds me of an exercise over northern Australia a few years back (possibly a Pitch Black).

The visiting FJ teams from the USMC, Thailand, Singapore were all using snake related callsigns, e.g. Cobra, Taipan, Python etc...

Apparently the RAAF 707 tanker crews thought it would be funny to play along with the game, so they dubbed themselves "Trouser". :E

I hear it had to be explained to the Thais! :}

Magoo:ok:

[Widger]

Black N Yellar,

there was an occasion some years ago at Fighter Town when a certain "F" diverted a whole squadron to Valley due weather.

They were furious and wanted to come back as "Big fat ba**ard who lives next to Wings formation" but they had to make do with "Axewound" formation.

What does that mean? Why was it so funny?


:E :E :E :E :E :E

[bighedsmallface]

208 at Valley use OBI.

Kind of falls down after 1 though.

Recovered after Trouser who were all fuel priority and couldn't resist a gag about these trousers not having the legs.

Trouser 1 had to inform Ops "Trousers down in 10 minutes"

Arf.

[Navaleye]

Black 'n Yellar, apart from having an obscure local meaning they also cannot pronounce it.

[rej]

Back in the days of the large US contingent in the UK the A10s from Bentwaters and Woodbridge used to use some very strange callsigns. In addition the 2 bases had their IAFs named after females.

It was not unusual to have Willy calling for immediate penetration on arrival at Karen.

[Pierre Argh]

an old favourite formation callsign was "Potato"... checking in as "Potato 1, Potato 2, Potato 3, Potato 4...

A10s when based in the the UK used pig related callsigns... when Sausage Formation where inbound for a practice approach and overshoot (go around)... the controller asked them if they would be prepared to roll from the approach... for controller training

Truth was it was simply becasue he wanted to make the liaison call to Tower... "10miles Sausage Roll" (doesn't work with phraseology "touch and go" though?)

I'm sure there are hundreds more...?

[maxburner]

Once upon a time in Deci, there was an ANDOVER formation. The check-in went something like.......

Andover, Legover, Bendover etc. The Italian controller at Frasca did not find it amusing.

[Green Flash]

When the Jags were at Gioia they would use 'callsign 1' when on an airtest or local wazzing about (like a very memorable airfield attack - the Italian Airforce Spada batteries couldn't train the launchers down far enough!). Replace 'callsign' with 'Givva' or 'Slippa'. Don't think the locals caught on ...... ;)

[Monty77]

Once heard a rotary formation bell up ATC announcing themselves as Hobbit formation. Confused ATC replied, "Was that 'Hobble' formation?".

Straight back with,"No mate. Hobbit. As in a small dwarf-like creature with furry toes."

Made me laugh.

[vecvechookattack]

Pierre.....Think you'll find that the correct check in for Potato formation is....

"One potato, two potato, three potato, Four"

[Itsrainingagain]

Trouser called today - sad controller couldn't resist asking...


"Confirm thats a pair??"

[alexmac]

Must say 3 Sqn have some good callsigns, formation of 3 called up "London your worst Nightmare with you, flight of 3..."

Got to say been some...interesting conversations between Swanwick ATC & aircraft of late - a USAF Herc 'Reach' talking about beer and Tetley's tea bags ..and another ref TG up in a VC10 :ok: Recognise those ?!

[country calls]

There was an F18 driver in the early days of the Afghan silliness (before Thummers got a PTI and one Wg Cdr for every grain of sand) who used the callsign Elvis. It was always amusing to hear his call "Ladies and Gemmun, Elvis has left the target" And if it was a Brit AWACs the reply was always "thankya verr much"

[Flobadob]

Laarbruch Tower mid 80's, four Tonkas call up.

Lead "Copper check"

Ello, Ello, Ello replied.


.........or Cottesmore Zone late 80s. Marham 617 Tonka calls up for LARS.

"Cottesmore Zone PEN15"

"PEN15 Cott Zone who chose that callsign?"

Reply "Erm sorry, it's not one we are proud of" :ugh:

[BOAC]

Maybe time to dust off the (was it 429 Sqn RCAF?) at Baden Soellingen who did the 'Redskin Fourship' check in in the bar (before we thrashed them at 'Tanks'.....................and took out a 4-star general:D

[YumYum]

Reminds of the days when 617 were at Marham - callsign Saxon was in vogue then. The often used check-in when away from home plate went something like:

"Saxon"
"Drugs"
"Rock"
"Roll"

Sometimes it was met with stony silence, most often not.:hmm:

[KPax]

I seem to remember way back a USAF tanker c/s 'JESUS' who called to say that ' JESUS is with the angels'. Not PC these days, how sad

[Grey Area]

Don't forget Caesarean Section!

[ProfessionalStudent]

Don't the Harrier mares use "Wellard"? Quite cool methinks...(Please don't tell my friends I said something nice about Harriers... PLLLLLLLLease!!:bored:

[BEagle]

Yes they did. Except that I always responded with 'Willard' when tanking them - after the little boy with his rat pack.

Seemed appropriate, somehow....

[ORAC]

Cereal section check.....

[Razor61]

The Harriers still use Wellard.

Use to hear the RM Gazelles use 'Tumbleweed' section when doing Fighter Evasion sorties over Exmoor.

Still think Psycho is a fav, used by Harriers.

[6foottanker]

56's SCOOBY formation always made me chuckle - Scoooby scooooby twoooo!

And at Linton, ROCKET checked in 'Rocket 4, 3, 2, 1', and were not 'airborne', but rather 'had lift off'. Well, it was funny as a stude at the time!

[whowhenwhy]

Wonder how many Harrier mates have heard "Hmmmmm, help you I will" when they've checked in as Jedi.

Also remember being on party det in Corsica with Jags a few years backwho had obviously decided to amuse the French as first Ripsaw then Trouser formation checked in.

Que? Wwipsore? Twouzair? (please say in comedy French accent)

Yeah, you know. Le pantalon?

Que? Le Pantalon???? No sense of humour that lot.

:ok:

[Hueymeister]

"East Midlands Approach this is Swallow 69" UAS studette coerced into making the radio call...the c/s was gen....honest!!

silence

"East Midlands Approach this is Swallow 69"

"aircraft calling East Midlands say your callsign again"

"East Midlands, this is Swallow 69, Wessex out of aldergrove, passing 10 miles south...blah blah blah" crew begin to giggle...a lot

stunned silence

"Swallow 69, roger.....can't say much more to that can I?.....ummmm, squawk 7000 and go on route...change frequency Blah Blah"

East Midlands then carried out a lengthy investigation to find out if the c/s was gen and approved..it was a 72 Sqn fave.

[passpartout]

Elvis was also a callsign used by Ravens out of Incirlik - usually flying as pairs.

It took some time to persuade them, but eventually we got them to check in,

"Elvis Check."

"Uh-huh"

[alexmac]

ELVIS is now with LTW at Lyneham. Out of coincidence, WELLARD was in use the other day with 1 Sqn Harriers and THUMPER with 20 Sqn today; Thumper have any link to Bambi film?!

[teeteringhead]

Swallow 69 was indeed a 72 Sqn favourite for out-of-Province work. They used to use "Swift" (from the Sqn badge) but some ComSec people pointed out it was allocated somewhere else apparently. Had to use "Swallow" instead.

Tried to contact a certain officer detached at an air display (Cosford '94??) ... but the organisers refused to Tannoy for "Flt Lt Richard Head, captain of Swallow 69" as they were convinced it was a spoof ;)

Probably the same det as mentioned above - seem to recall that UBAS were hosting and some studes were taken flying in return. Ric was also amazed to discover lots of "girly webbing" hanging up in the locker room .... never would have happend in the V-force harrumph!!

[Shagster]

Young lady working 2 x A10 c/s Willy "Willy request destination?"

response "Willy en-route Harwarden"

A10's also used Baby......

[Get me some traffic]

RAF Valley, early 1970s. Frustrated controller trying to hand over a formation of Jet Provosts (constant speed variable noise machines) to a female controller at Midland or Ulster Radar, I forget which. "Rowlock Yankee Black Formation, no, ROWLOCK Yankee Black, R-O-W-L-O-C-K, no, bollock with an R!!

[The Proctologist]

Is Mongol still used by the Uk F15 fraternity?

[alexmac]

Yep sure is :D Had that one confused with Leeming Hawks calling LONGBOW, new one this end...the ever deepening hole of mil callsigns! :rolleyes:

[BEagle]

In Gnat days, 4FTS Valley used to use some very odd call-signs, including 'Sambar'...

Black chum of mine was on review - and went on a formation flex ride (as did most of us!) with the sqn boss leading. A nice chap of Asian descent.

Spotting the somewhat nervous black mate, he broke the ice by saying "OK, soul brother, it's you and me. And we're not 'Sambar', we're 'SAMBO'!"

So off they went; no-one dared query the "Sambo, check-in" calls. Black mate pi$$ed himself with laughter with every check-in and relaxed as a result, the trip went well and he came off review. The sqn boss knew he could do it and was just tensed up - that's what I call inspired leadership!

Such a good bloke that the Viet-Taff named a lake after him....not Celyn, Vyrnwy Brenig or Trwsfynedd.

(And yes, I might have told the tale before - but it's pertinent to this thread!)

[Razor61]

No Offence to anyone here....
But have you heard those Indians at Valley talk to ATC?

Takes a while....umm a long while to understand exactly what is being said.
Heard them recently when night flying...or him by himself not sure (I cant remember) but i couldn't make head nor tail of anything what was said.
I believe there is an Indian or two or was, at Valley for the new lead in trainer (hawk) they are getting soon.

Was listening to Trouser formation again the other day, and to be honest, the Polish pilots are not too bad to understand, the radios seem a bit crap which is the only thing that let them down, but their understanding of English seemed okay....even if it took the Jag pilots several times to chop to Swanwick Mil 275.35!

[diginagain]

A newly-formed Lynx Flight, comprising SNCOs of the well-covered type, just had to use SUMO, didn't we?

[alexmac]

Polish seem okay, likewise with the French M2000's that are/were at Colt; took them a while to chop between freqs and at one point they didn't know which freq he was on. Think comment went something along the lines of "i'm trying to raise my French number two, think i've lost him"...frenchman talking english with a french accent always reminds me of the Pink Panther! :rolleyes:

[tonkatechie]

sorry to ask a basic question, but as 'enlisted filth' I'm out of the loop here - who is it that chooses / assigns callsigns to a unit? Seems there's a hell of a wide scope for a laugh there...

[Bo Nalls]

Tonka's, Laarbruch, late 80's, callsign - Kebab.

Initial call to Donna Nook AWR went "Donna...Kebab" :O

[buoy15]

Had problems during Airshows in the States convincing the Yanks that to use ac type as a C/S would simplify things

Later transpired that Nimrod was american slang for 'Dick-Head'

As we were kilted and accompanied by a piper for all the social events, the girlies asked the obvious question - "Is it true that all Scotsmen, blah?"

For $10 a shot to charity, we didn't disappoint them

We raised $3000 for charities in a fortnight

Thank you Cleveland, Omaha, Ottawa and Florida

I know some of you threadies will say that Nimrod people are dickheads anyway, so I'll get in before you do, and add that some of these girlies not only saw what was up the kilt, but also enjoyed it later on in the hotel!

Love many, Trust a few, Always paddle your own canoe!

[DK338]

tonkatechie,

For peacetime ops RAF callsigns, and this includes ground callsigns too, are managed by a small cell based at HQSTC. However, primacy ulimately rests with ICAO who have the final say. The RAF have a list of reserve callsigns that can be claimed/allocated by units but as you may expect all the Gucci ones went long ago. I expect that the 16 and 54(F) Sqn callsigns have gone into the pot by now and could be up for grabs.

Units can apply for a bespoke callsign through the aforementioned cell at HQSTC who then liaise with ICAO to ensure that the callsign is not in use elsewhere around the globe.

Mission callsigns in times of conflict a dealt with separately.

[The Proctologist]

Buoy15...
Are you a Jock or have you become one since moving up there?

[Razor61]

MOTLEY 1, this is Whiskey Zulu, complete

;)

[moony]

In the70ties, American jet took off from somewhere in East Anglia, called Eastern Radar and said he had forgotten his callsign. He was instructed to adopt the callsign 'Stupid 1,!

[CarPete]

In Adergrove back in the seventies, was often amused to hear the Wessex crews using a callsign something like sausage32, can't exactly remember now, long time ago, being a stupid Army enlisted sh1t lynx jock, thought would take the p1ss and called up tower as Porkchop642, miserable bu55ers wouldn't respond until took the porkchop off!

NOosense of humour crabs!!

[Ducks and runs for the door!]

[Big Cat Handler]

NOosense of humour crabs!!

No sense of humour? I thought SH STANEVAL turning up and telling everyone in NI that they had to change their callsigns because someone else was using them was quite amusing - especially when the Army immediately ditched theirs for the boring "Army Air" while the RAF are still, over a year later, using "Tiger" while deciding what to change to.

And if the Trappers are reading this, I'd better get my hat for when the Boss gets a phone call tomorrow...