Red 99 Falklands

[jimmyoc]

Hi all, do we have anyone on here that would know who the Call Sign Red 99 is. It is regarding some research I am doing concerning the end of the Falklands war, please pm me if you have any knowledge of this call sign, it is featured on various Army Air Corps radio transmissions,
bye for now Jimmy OC :ok:

[HEDP]

From my distant memory it would refer to a location rather than a callsign. I amy well have it in my logbook but wouldn't have the decode after all this time.

[Sloppy Link]

My memory is equally poor but I think the Reds were in Stanley and its immediate environs. Whites were north West Falklands, Greens were the south, Blue were the north East Falklands and Yellow the south. Red 99 doesn't ring any bells, we used to resupply the Rapier sites, perhaps Red 99 was one of those or it may have been the Tiswas site where we got fuel.

[jimmyoc]

Hi, I don't think it was a location, I think it is a person,
16.11hrs (zt): from C/S 1E to C/S 0 “On task with R99.”
18.33hrs (zt): from C/S 1E to C/S 0 “Your location two minutes with Red 99.”

[SilsoeSid]

As SL says, the Reds were around Stanley, all to the East of Mt Longdon.

IIRC, there was only R03, R07, R19, R19.5, R20, R23, & R52.
Blues - (North) East Falkland
Yellow - (South) East Falkland & Islands
Greens - (North) West Falkland & Islands
Whites - (South) West Falklands & Islands


More details of source needed Jimmy, especially as the callsign doesn't make sense!

[jimmyoc]

Hi, sorry about that, the messages relate to the last day of the war,14th June, but the same call sign is mentioned in the previous weeks transmissions, and R 99 seems to be ferried about,
656 Sqn radio log VHF Comd Sqn, operating position 0.
16.11hrs (zt): from C/S 1E to C/S 0 “On task with R99.”
18.33hrs (zt): from C/S 1E to C/S 0 “Your location two minutes with Red 99.”

[SilsoeSid]

IKTUGWEFA any help, or possibly Slidex :ok:

[jimmyoc]

Hi, no, I am not a signals guy, but it does seem like someone's personal chopper, Could it be Brigadier Julian Thompson? or someone of that ilk, or CO 22,

[SilsoeSid]

Well, if you've not found out about callsigns after 2 years of trying...
signals call signs and number denominations (http://www.arrse.co.uk/royal-signals/157314-signals-call-signs-number-denominations.html) ... I get the feeling that perhaps there's some other kind of fishing trip going on here.
:suspect:

[jimmyoc]

Hi, no fishing trip here,,but I thought someone would have heard or knew of it, I am in the process of finishing my account of 3 Para during the Falklands, and we are pushing into Stanley, so I am sorting out bits of radio traffic,
Bye for now Jimmy

[AtomKraft]

'9' is the c/s of an element leader, '99' more so, at least in Army VP.

Might be a quite senior person.

[cornish-stormrider]

wasn't red 99 the LZ for the control centre for the BA option, and i'm not talking about an airline here....?

[jimmyoc]

Hi, its definitely not a location, it is someone, by the looks of the map, those landing designation are after the war. This bloke (R99) who ever it was is being ferried all over the place by the same helicopter, Call sign 1E,

[Airborne Aircrew]

'9' is the c/s of an element leader

That's Sunray in Army VP... The Yanks us 9 to indicate leadership.

Is it possible this was a piece of kit?

[AtomKraft]

Sunray is the codeword, as you say, for an elements 'leadership'.

9 denotes the same thing as part of a callsign. So, if a 9 appears in a c/s.. that's what it's telling you.

99 is unusual- maybe informal, but ifI heard that would probably think 'someone senior'.

( FWIW I'm an ex Army B1 sig)

[ralphmalph]

In BATUS the commander is known as 9....., same kind of thing?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Atom:

Hmmm... Now I think about it you're right but we only used it if the boss had his own comms, (away in his L/R for example), without a designated signaller. If he was on unit he would drop his personal C/S and become Sunray of the unit.

I've never come across units being designated as a colour for their C/S though. Was that common in the Army. Whenever I spoke to them they were always alphanumeric C/S' such as 23, 23A, 23B, 23C etc.

[AtomKraft]

Airborne

Well, it was a while ago....my own call sign was always 'zero' (or 'zero A' when we were step-up). Moved every 24 hours, so 24 hours i/c as zero, shut down, move- set up as 'zero A', then take control as our mirror unit moved.

I worked in 2 Armoured Divs' Air cell.

I agree the colour thing is unusual, but as someone else said- those colours were in use to denote areas. I'd read 'Red 99' as a VIP or the boss of red area, or if red area was the ranking area (which it might be if it was Stanley) boss of the whole plot.

It does sound like a 'ad hoc' short term callsign, which fits well with it being right at the end of hostilities. Maybe some VIP or pol being shown around?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Atom:

Yep... I was a Zero for a while, (quiet in the peanut gallery), when I was seconded to 3 Wing RAF Regiment to run their net.

Your theory sounds good and since Red was the Stanley area according to the map above and the fact this was the last day or so of the war one wonders if Red 99 might not have been Sir Rex Hunt returning home...

[lj101]

Jimmy

Why don't you see if you can locate the auth sheets for the Helicoptor Sqns involved.

British Units in the Falklands War (http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Falklands/Brit-units.htm)

[SilsoeSid]

ORAC;Quick snapshot of the corner of the map. :O

The difference between my map and yours, is that mine was a working map and not a desk jocks wall map :ok:


16.11hrs (zt): from C/S 1E to C/S 0 “On task with R99.”
18.33hrs (zt): from C/S 1E to C/S 0 “Your location two minutes with Red 99.”

I wouldn't have thought that the L.S. designators were in place during the time Jimmy is researching, besides 2:22hrs wouldn't be a straight A-B trip. Anyone remember what 'Romeo' was further down the IKTUGWEFAB... code?

[jimmyoc]

Hi, it wasn't used just at the end, it was used all the way through, I've just written to Julian Thompson, I will let you know what comes of it. :ok:

[Sloppy Link]

Those printed maps didn't exist, mine was hand marked and hand fabloned (including a handful of pubic hair deposited by he from the RGJ....you know who you are).

SL

[SilsoeSid]

Jimmy;
The answer is subject to an extended 30 year secrecy rule. Because of its sensitivity, the details weren't released last year and the extension put in place.
Suffice to say that 'R99' was HMS Urchin and the answer you are looking for is in the codename Urchin.

[Navaleye]

I suspect the call sign relates to General Jeremy Moore, just my 2p.

[lj101]

Does this link help with aircraft movement; concurs with the post above

RNA 10 Area Website (http://www.rna-10-area.net/falklands.html)

[SilsoeSid]

.....apart from it being an 820 Sqn ac and the R99 reference being on the AAC net :ugh:

[jimmyoc]

Hi, I`ve just received an email off Julian Thompson,
"My call sign was 99, but don't remember the Red bit"
so still looking, his radio operator was a marine Cpl Robinson, so I may have a look for him,,

[lj101]

Apologies Sli

I didn't realise their comms were exclusive. Every day a learning day.

[Genstabler]

Red as opposed to blue. Menendez?

[SilsoeSid]

lj, there would be more nets around the Falklands back in '82 than there ever was, even with the fishing fleet up to full strength...more 99's than an ice cream convention in the middle of summer and more zero's than at Pearl Harbour :ok:

[MightyGem]

The Yanks us 9 to indicate leadership.
Don't you mean 6?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Probably... :\