RAF Vulcan Callsigns 1970's.

[GLIDER 90]

Afternoon All

Did the Vulcans back in the 70's apart from trigrapghs use any other different types of callsigns such as they do now for example = TARTAN, etc. Did 27 Sqn Vulcans at Scampton use different callsigns.

Cheers ( Vulcan Nut!! )

Glider90

[MPN11]

Early 80’s it was all trigraphs, as far as Waddington ATC was concerned. I doubt 27 Sqn would have been different.

No idea when the ‘word’ callsigns came in ... after I stopped being an active controller in the mid-80s, for sure! (Apart from the USAF, of course, who had always used them).

[BEagle]

In 1980, routine training in UK used a 3-cipher group, followed by 2 digits.

My last Vulcan sortie was as 49X55 in March 1980. 4:30, of which 3:45 was a boat-spotting bore-ex (MRR)...

[GLIDER 90]

Thanks For The Replys. Glider 90

Evening All

Thanks for the reply's, I often wondered what they used.

Cheers
Glider 90

[OldRaven]

On overseas trips we couldn't use Trigraphs, but used RAFAIR callsigns, usually RAFAIR followed by 4 numbers, an example would be RAFAIR 9123.

[H Peacock]

RAFAIR; so much better than that dreadful ASCOT callsign that was inflicted upon us from the bloody AT fleet!

[Tankertrashnav]

You have my sympathy Beagle. I did a couple of MR sorties in 1972 when there was some talk of tankers taking this on as a secondary role. As you imply, quite the most boring flying I ever endured.

[stumblefingers]

Before the RAFAIR callsigns introduced for overseas sorties a 5-letter system was used. They all seemed to start with "M" and 2 of mine on 617 in the very early 70s were MBRAH and MOUSJ.

[BEagle]

I once heard that a Buccaneer (I think) was once allocated Mike Alfa Foxtrot India Alfa for a flight to Cyprus?

I'll bet they had fun with Rome Control!

But I suspect that the tale was a shaggy dog story - surely no-one would have been stupid enough to allocate such a call-sign...

[Wensleydale]

surely no-one would have been stupid enough to allocate such a call-sign

Not even 617 who reputedly used the "Dog's Name" callsign on a deployment to the USA....

[GLIDER 90]

Thanks For Reply's.

Morning All

Thanks, much appreciated did you have to use the full call sign everytime when airborne?



Cheers ( Vulcan Nut!! )

Glider 90

[MPN11]

Full Trigraph on first contact with each ATCO, then first letter + numbers.

So Mike Echo Delta 36 would become Mike 36.

[spekesoftly]

Originally Posted by BEagle

I once heard that a Buccaneer (I think) was once allocated Mike Alfa Foxtrot India Alfa for a flight to Cyprus?

I'll bet they had fun with Rome Control!

I also heard that Rome gave the Bucc "Direct Akrotiri" - an offer they could not refuse!

[212man]

Originally Posted by MPN11

Full Trigraph on first contact with each ATCO, then first letter + numbers.

So Mike Echo Delta 36 would become Mike 36.

First or last? My UAS callsign was WVY121 and this became "yankee 121"

[MPN11]

Originally Posted by 212man

First or last? My UAS callsign was WVY121 and this became "yankee 121"

I blame aged memory cell, or perhaps the system changed?

My last live controlling was in 1983

[212man]

I blame aged memory cell, or perhaps the system changed?

My last live controlling was in 1983

possibly the former as this was 1985....

[MPN11]

Originally Posted by 212man

possibly the former as this was 1985....

Most probable!! How weird - I've said it tens of thousands of times over the years, and now it's gone

[uffington sb]

Wensleydale.
I was at Marham at the time of the incident. The dog call sign was a formation and also the ops call sign.
A formation using that c/s did an airfield attack at one of the USAF bases, Lakenheath I think, and the dog poo hit the fan.
Senior officers were hauled off to Ramstein for an interview with the USAF commander. The c/s changed to ‘Black Dog’.

[ORAC]

Trigraphs were a crypto thing - daily changing from a SACLANT crypto monthly issue. So you could always look it up and find out the Sqn.

Trigraphs were, or should, have been assigned to every sortie - though generally weren’t.

Missions also used tactical callsigns - especially in AD. Why? BecUse they changed multiple times during a sortie. Let me explain.

A CAP would be assigned a CAP callsign, for example Hotspur, and ideally be manned by @ 4 ship. Aircraft were launched to the CAP using their trigraphs and, on reaching the CAP, assumed the tactical callsign Hotspur 1-4 (assuming they had a 4 ship lead, otherwise we ended up with 2 pairs with different callsigns.)

As fighters claimed kills and went “Winchester”, they would recover and everyone would renumber. On an ad HoC basis aircraft would be pulled from other CAPs who were 4 ship/pairs leads to join a formation and unqualified crews sent to other CAPs. It was not unknown for CAPs to “renumber” their tactical callsign’s 6 or more times.

This obviously would be a nightmare when doing post mission reports when sending MISREPS after their sortie, which were therefore required to use their trigraphs which never changed during their mission. Unfortunately many didn’t and endless hours were spent trying to correlate claims and statistics at the end of every exercise day between Sqn/base/CRC int staff....

RAF daily tactical callsigns were also assigned using a STC manual with each Sqn assigned 5-6 callsigns based on historical reasons, e.g. 43 Sqn Rooster, so simultaneous missions could have different callsigns. That was introduced as so many Sqns had previously assigned their own and multiple “red” formations wandered the Sky confusing everyone - and reportedly - leading to multiple erroneous ejections.

[H Peacock]

First or last? My UAS callsign was WVY121 and this became "yankee 121"

I was WVY170 - so Y170 in the circuit at Woodvale. At Cranwell I started as CWN856, which dropped through 756, 656, 556 then 456 as I progressed through the course. The callsign being N456 at Cranwell/Barkston, but C456 at Coningsby, Waddo etc.

Now was it CWN or CWL? So long ago!