Air Force Academy historian Brian Laslie said one famous case was that of World War I German ace Manfred von Richthofen, who painted his fighter aircraft red. Some historians say that pilot call signs may have originated from ground controllers wanting a quick way to reference those aviators over the radio, but that's still hearsay.Ĭall signs were sometimes even given to the enemy. Gergory Boyington was nearly a decade older than the men serving in his command, so he was known as "Pappy." David Lee Hill was from Texas, so his nickname was "Tex." Marine Corps Col. For example, when nicknaming became popular during World War II, Army Brig. He said aircraft call signs became common in the 1970s because they were short and added an extra level of identification, "particularly during times of intense, fast-paced operations."Īccording to several historians, a lot of individual aviators in the early days of flight had nicknames, too, but they weren't classified as call signs – they were generally given early in a pilot's career and revolved around his physical traits, personality or something pop culture-related. As radio communications grew in prominence into World War II, so did call signs for planes, ships and occasionally geographic points, said National Naval Aviation Museum historian Hill Goodspeed. Some historians believe aircraft call signs were first used when radio became a commodity around 1930. Several military historians were interviewed for this story, and no one could definitively say how pilot call signs got their start.
But those rituals developed slowly over time, and the origins of the tradition are a bit murky.
Nowadays, call sign naming rituals for fighter, bomber and other pilots are a pretty formal process amongst the services, which will be detailed later in this article. These pilot nicknames can quickly identify an aircraft or individual, and they also help to confuse the enemy, who might be listening in on your communications. The call sign tradition is celebrated by aviation communities across all military branches. If you've been a fully trained military pilot for more than a few months, chances are that you've scored yourself a call sign by now.
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