Originally Posted by
Phil_R
Many thanks. What I'm getting from this is that everyone has something formal in the format A1B23 where the first three are randomly assigned and the last two indicate an aircraft, and also something else in the format [word] [number] [number], which may be based on all kinds of things. It's not quite clear to me at what time either of those would be used. Almost all of the military communications traffic I've ever heard has been "knight four one" or "focus three eight," that sort of stuff, though it is very often in an American context.
(Oddly enough, "knight" probably isn't one I'd use in fictional writing, because it sounds too... you know... top gun?)
Not quite true. One callsign per aircraft. For UK operational use (such as QRA etc) you’ll have an A1B23 style callsign where A1B23 is the formation lead and A1B24 is the wingman (providing it’s a formation).
For training sorties, a singleton is likely to have a Stn identifier plus pilot identifier - for example ‘Marham 01’ will be a Marham based aircraft, and 01 a pilot from Marham (normally the Stn Cdr in 01).
Formations will normally use a formation callsign - allocated to a particular Squadron - plus a numerical identifier corresponding to a place within the formation. So ‘Vandal 2’ would be the no 2 in Vandal formation - Vandal being a 617 Sqn callsign (or at least it was in Tornado times). Some variations on this theme, so if there were two Vandal formations launching in a day the first four might be Vandal 11-14, and the second 4-ship Vandal 21-24 etc.
For ops outside the UK you’ll use an Air Tasking Order callsign for your formation, but the number convention above applies. So you might be tasked as ‘London’ formation for example, and also given the callsigns 71 through 74 depending on what else had gone on.