Callsigns used by Royal Air Force

[Trabbi]

Hello all,

as a handling agent with the pleasure :rolleyes: to have a handling contract with Royal Air Force, I always wondered if there is a list somewhere where I can lookup the different callsigns you are using for your flights.
Well, the RRR Ascot callsign is the standard one, but I also got one with JGN calling themselves "Joint Guardian" (I believe that is flying for an SFOR flight?).

Can you enlighten me what the different callsigns stand for?

Greetings from EDDL.

Trabbi

[Wader2]

Transport aircraft use ASCOT which is a legacy callsign from AIR SUPPORT COMMAND which was disbanded years ago.

Other Royal Air Force aircraft will possibly use RAFAIR is their mission is scheduled.

The 4-number suffix identifies the route and associated diplomatic clearance.

Non-scheduled aircraft may use a variety of callsigns.

Other British Military may be ARMY and NAVY.

While there are documents they are not on general circulation and I don't have any central contact details. You could write to the Ministry of Defence (UK) stating what you require. You will probably get what you want under the Freedom of Information Act.

[Trabbi]

Yeah, thanks for that.
Just found this list which looks good and gives me an idea that it is not as easy as I thought :\

Military Callsigns (http://www.airfield.guides.lowfly.net/8.html)

Thanks!

Trabbi

[Wader2]

Indeed,

to pick just a couple from your list;

ANYFACE is a NATO brevity Codeword for a particular mission. The basic list is NATO Unclassified.

BOMBER, in the RAF Context is a squadron tactical callsign, one of several. It is also a 'formation' callsign with the possibility that the crew may use a RAFAIR callsign as well. It would not normally be used for 'international' flights.

CWL is effectively a shorthand version of CRANWELL. Again you would not expect this callsign on an international flight.

MAGIC was a callsign for the NATO AEW Force and also used by the RAF Element of that Force.

While callsigns like Cranwell would not normally be used by aircraft intending to land in a foreign country it is not impossible that they might divert with a national callsign.

Properly speaking all Royal Air Force aircraft should all prefix whatever internal callsign they use with RAFAIR is they do not have a proper international callsign. This is so that the national authorities in one country know that the aircraft is an official STATE aircraft from another country ~ vide BOMBER Tornado IDS JBG 33 Büchel

[Trabbi]

All we had so far were
RRR (Ascot)
JGN (Joint Guardian)
RFR (but can't recall what they called themselves - ASCOT? RAFAIR?)

So no extraordinary callsigns so far, I was just wondering :}

Greets,
Trabbi

[MG]

RFR will almost always call themselves RAFAIR. Some will use Romeo Foxtrot Romeo as it's a whole lot easier when abroad than trying to spell out Rafair to someone who has English as a second or third language.
Don't take the earlier list as totally true; I noticed that it said Vortex could be Harrier GR9 or helicopter. IIRC it's only used for helo. Again, it's unlikely to be used outside the UK as RFR will usually be the callsign.

[Dan Winterland]

"While callsigns like Cranwell would not normally be used by aircraft intending to land in a foreign country it is not impossible that they might divert with a national callsign."


I did plenty of planned overseas flights using a CWL callsign. Callsigns are all listed in the RAF FIH which is available for purchase from 1 AIDU.

[Kitbag]

Glad to see a certain dogs name still in use, even if it is only on the ground

[brit bus driver]

Surely DSCOM or HQ AIR Mov Ops should be able to give you the defintive list of flights you may be expected to handle? I assume they are the ones who award you the contract in the first place, and that you handle the chartered aircraft as well?

[FlightTester]

Glad to see a certain dogs name still in use, even if it is only on the ground


I was in the PBF at BGN one day and heard that particular dogs name mentioned from a visiting aircraft from that Sqn as they called in - queried the use as I thought they'd reverted to "Blackdog", and was pleasantly informed that "we've had enough of being PC". Too bloody right!

[TheInquisitor]

The only ones you should routinely see in Germany are:

ASCOT - 4xxx/5xxx (Hercs), 2xxx (VC10s), 3xxx (Tri*), 6xxx (C17), or other random numbers (could be anything).
JGN / Joint Guardian - SFOR tasks, as you alluded to.

*Before anyone bleats, this is all UNCLAS and in the Public Domain.

[Thaihawk]

Ascot 1xxx cakksigns must be fairy common in Germany,these are used by 32(TR)Sqn at RAF Northolt for standard flights.

Kittyhawk xxx callsigns would indicate Royal Family or government members on board.

[Occasional Aviator]

Trabbi,
I would use the site you linked to with caution. Just a cursory glance at some of the callsigns I have used shows a fairly inaccurate definition. Note that there are official callsigns (usually associated with a particular organisation, eg RAFAIR, ARMY AIR, etc) and also formation callsigns which are allocated to individual squadrons, and sometimes used by singletons. There is also a classified list of callsigns for units that changes daily but since the end of the cold war these are rarely used.

For an up-to-date list of official callsigns, you could look in the UK Flight Information Handbook, available for a small payment from No 1 AIDU (http://www.aidu.mod.uk/) or you could ask a passing RAF crew for a look at their copy (every crew will have one).

Hope this helps

[Trabbi]

Thank you all for the clarification.
Now I know that they are not randomly chosen :ok:

All the best,

Trabbi