Phonetic alphabet - the history of....

[tmatourguide]

Hello all,
I am putting together a training manual for aspiring ATC's, and am trying to find the history/origin of the Phonetic alphabet that is used today. I have e-mailed the ICAO offices, and have checked numerous museums, but have not had much luck.
I would appreciate any help/info that you possibly have. The internet does not seem to be to much help, but that could also be the operator

[jabberwok]

This has been done to death on some of the radio ham sites. Have you looked at this or for more depth here

[prospector]

Dont get to carried away with the phonetic alphabet, this is what "leading educationalists" think of them. This from an article trying to explain why some 30% of Australian children are leaving school illiterate.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/p...098523897.html

'Nelson's concern was dismissed as pandering to right-wing extremists who were committed to imposing "boring phonics" on children as a form of ideological control. One leading educationist even drew a link between the teaching of phonics and the Iraq war."

Prospector

[Flying Lawyer]

Why isn't phonetic spelt with an 'f'?

[Gainesy]

Because it would then be phonetif.

[Kolibear]

Na, it was the Phoenicians who invented it.

[ORAC]

Is ET a phonome or a bigraph?

[rodthesod]

I believe this was the original - I'm sure some A1 QFI can fill in the gaps:

A for Horses
B for Lamb
C for Yourself
D for Dumb
E for Brick
F for Zessence
G for The Old Folks Back Home
H for ??
I for The Terrible?
J for Oranges
K for B---k B-----d (Not very PC these days but my s of h never was)
L for Leather
M for Sis
N for ??
O for A Nice Cup Of Tea
P for ??
Q for Everything
R for English (Askey, Daley etc. P.Y.O.)
S for Williams (Rantzen etc P.Y.O.)
T for Two
U for Mism
V for La France
W for ?? )
X for ?? ) shouldn't be in there anyway
Y for ?? )
Z for ?? )

[treadigraph]

P for Relief
N for mation?
X for Breakfast

Can't remember the other gaps...

[BOAC]

.......or

H for dropping (bit 'heducational', that one)
P for pleasure
U for me
Y for ****s sake?

(sorry, Rod, only A2)

.......then, of course, there is always http://www.sbrewer.demon.co.uk/A_is_for_orses.htm and http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=A%20for%20'orses

[PPRuNe Pop]

For one minute I thought we were trying to be serious, well silly me

But..........it would appear that it was the French who, in 1813, made the first attempt at it but it was a dogs breakfast and somehow it was the Brits who came up with a version like THIS ONE.

Must say I prefer to think WE did it first!

PPP

[BOAC]

Not so silly, Pop - I cannot tell a lie - it was Flying Lawyer wot dun it, M'Lud.

[maat]

Gillie Potter, 1930’s humorist

A for horses
B for mutton
C forth highlanders
D for ential
E for Brick
F for Zessence
G for ?
H for ?
I for novello
J for ?
K francis (30’s star)
L for Leather
M for Sis
N for ??
O for the garden wall
P for relief
Q for song
R for mo
S ?
T for Two
U for Mism
V for La France
W for ??
X for ?
Y for ?
Z for ??


Y for girlfriend would nice

[seacue]

Two candidate phonetic alphabets

ICAO-1
Able, Babble, Cable, Dabble, Edible, Fable, Gable, Hobble, Idle, Jumble, Kettle, Ladle, Maple, Noble, Ogle, Pebble, Quibble, Rabble, Sable, Table, Usable, Vigil, Waddle, Xingu, Yule, Zeal.

ICAO-2
Aisle, Bile, Coil, Dial, Exile, File, Guile, Heil, Isle, Jewel, Kale, Lisle, Mile, Nile, Oil, Pile, Quail, Rile, Silo, Tile, Urn, Vile, While, Xylene, Yule, Zeal.

ICAO = Intended to Confuse Aircraft Operators in this case.

[BEagle]

A for 'orses (Hay for Horses)
B for Mutton (Beef or mutton)
C for th' islanders (Seaforth islanders)
D for ential (Differential)
E for Adam (Eve for Adam)
F for vessence (Effervesence)
G for police (Chief of police)
H for respect (Have respect)
I for novello (Ivor Novello)
J for orange (Jaffa orange)
K for ancis (Kay Francis)
L for leather (Hell for leather)
M for sis (Emphasis)
N for lope (Envelope)
O for the garden wall (Over the garden wall)
P for relief (Pee for relief)
Q for music (Cue for music)
R for mo ('Arf a mo)
S for you (it's for you)
T for 2 (Tea for two)
U for films
V for la France (Viva la France)
W for a fiver (Double you for a fiver)
X for breakfast (Eggs for breakfast)
Y for God's sake (Why, for God's sake)
Z for breezes (Zephyr breezes)


We used to chant this in the car on long road trips back in the 1950s!

[Cornish Jack]

Many moons ago, when the mighty Blackburn Beverley was RAF Transport Command's medium range and tactical machine (constant speed, variable loud noise!!), the ONLY serviceable example in the Middle East was running regular trips Aden, Riyan, Salalah, Masirah etc. Its callsign was MOBXG and this was the period shortly after the introduction of the ICAO phonetic alphabet, replacing the military ABLE, BAKER etc. The 'Siggie' (one Pete Brooks) introduced his own unique version - MIKE OSCAR BLUNDERBUSS XMAS GURGLE. The route station operators were quite happy with 'XMAS GURGLE' but 'twas just as well that the dreaded IRIS wasn't around!!
Awful thought!! the above will be so much gobble-de-gook to a vast swathe of PPruners

[henry crun]

At the time we changed over to the current alphabet I had a C/O who was a lay preacher.

He was leading the first pair to get airborne on changeover day, and as he climbed away out of the circuit he called Twr to say he was changing to Approach which was labelled N on our VHF box.
" Red is airborne, changing to N?......N?...... N..nonconformist".

[ICT_SLB]

When I was an apprenti on BAC 1-11s at Hurn, I had the privilege of working with a Brat. As QC occasionally we had to ring out connections by hand from one side of a bulkhead to the other. The phonetic alphabets yelled at me ranged from Ack (WWI) through Able (WWII) to Alpha and so on - it kept a young erk on his toes & made a boring task (a) interesting enough to keep accuracy and (b) almost enjoyable.

George Monk was the Brat in question - joined just prior to WWII and ended up a Groupie (as in Group Captain) - beleive he was in charge of Air Crew selection at Biggin just prior to retirement from the mob.