Funny Call Signs

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brewmeist

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While watching "Top Gun Maverick" during break with my son, I asked him what he would want his call sign to be. He informed me that call signs are chosen by others, and there is usually some excellent humor involved with the decision-making process. Call signs are not meant to be glamorous. Many times they are designed to keep egos in check.

He went on to tell me that a pilot is considered an Ace if he/she takes out 5 or more enemy aircraft in combat. Then he went on about a story of a rookie Navy pilot who was slightly off with his carrier landing. He ended up clipping the ends of the wings of 6 parked fighter jets. The were all able to be repaired, but were out of commission for a few days. Of course he ended up earning the call sign "Ace." That cracked me right up.

Whether or not this story is true (in my mind it is!), do any of you experienced pilots have any similar stories?
 
brewmeist said:
While watching "Top Gun Maverick" during break with my son, I asked him what he would want his call sign to be. He informed me that call signs are chosen by others, and there is usually some excellent humor involved with the decision-making process. Call signs are not meant to be glamorous. Many times they are designed to keep egos in check.

He went on to tell me that a pilot is considered an Ace if he/she takes out 5 or more enemy aircraft in combat. Then he went on about a story of a rookie Navy pilot who was slightly off with his carrier landing. He ended up clipping the ends of the wings of 6 parked fighter jets. The were all able to be repaired, but were out of commission for a few days. Of course he ended up earning the call sign "Ace." That cracked me right up.

Whether or not this story is true (in my mind it is!), do any of you experienced pilots have any similar stories?
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There is often a backstory, often one not particularly flattering to the pilot:
www.sandiegouniontribune.com

Call signs part of the Topgun lore, whether pilots like it or not

Nicknames often stem from doing something stupid
www.sandiegouniontribune.com www.sandiegouniontribune.com

DH’s related to a facial feature, but is actually a very cool and suitable one. DBIL’s related to his Prince William-like hair paucity.
 
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If you go to F-16.net there is a place where you can see call signs and their meanings. I spent hours looking through them. Most I would say are acronyms and second most is a play on peoples last names. One of my favorite was ZUES which stood for Zero Effort Unless Supervised. There are numerous funny ones
 
First person stories are always best, but if you can't wait for them to seep from the community organically we have other resources.

The web's largest collection of pilot callsigns

www.f-16.net www.f-16.net
aviationhumor.net

The 100+ Most Creative Pilot Callsigns With Explanations - Aviation Humor

What is a callsign? It’s the name a pilot or crew member is called so they don’t have to use their real name when talking through communications equipment. It’s for both operational security and identifying the aircraft/pilot. There are three rules in coming up with a callsign: 1. If you don’t...
aviationhumor.net

Favorite so far:
Electroman – This guy was like electricity with the ladies: he took the path of least resistance.

EDIT: @Bigrod posted while I was writing.
 
My classmate Dave Goldfein...during basic..."Mr. Goldfein...Goldfine...Gold...hell, it looks like Goldfinger..."
(it apparently followed him around)

Oh, did I mention "Fingers" retired as the Air Force Chief of Staff?

160627-F-EK235-072.JPG

(He's a really nice guy too! Although he does catch grief about losing that fight with an S-125...)
 
I have read about the rescue of Hammer 34. Cool as a cucumber, before he ejected he just said "start finding me boys!"
 
The first time someone asked me "What's your callsign going to be?" my dad snapped "She won't choose it and she probably won't like it."

Parenting from a Navy-loving dad at its finest.
 
brewmeist said:
Whether or not this story is true (in my mind it is!), do any of you experienced pilots have any similar stories?
Click to expand...
I'm not a pilot but a good friend flies F/A-18s and his call sign is BRoC which stands for 'BReakfast Of Champions' because he was swigging booze one morning to mitigate a hangover from the night before.
 
brewmeist said:
While watching "Top Gun Maverick" during break with my son, I asked him what he would want his call sign to be. He informed me that call signs are chosen by others, and there is usually some excellent humor involved with the decision-making process. Call signs are not meant to be glamorous. Many times they are designed to keep egos in check.

He went on to tell me that a pilot is considered an Ace if he/she takes out 5 or more enemy aircraft in combat. Then he went on about a story of a rookie Navy pilot who was slightly off with his carrier landing. He ended up clipping the ends of the wings of 6 parked fighter jets. The were all able to be repaired, but were out of commission for a few days. Of course he ended up earning the call sign "Ace." That cracked me right up.

Whether or not this story is true (in my mind it is!), do any of you experienced pilots have any similar stories?
Click to expand...
My spouse was a Navy pilot. Flew jets. Most times guys/gals in his squadron got their call signs related to their last names or something they did stupid and or crazy. Some were even borderline racist - but younger pilots are becoming more racially educated so that's not really happening a lot these days. Try picking your own call sign like Maverick and see what happens. Haha.
 
When I was with HMLA 267 back in the 90's, we had a 1stLt with the callsign of "Assman". He got the name because he looked at another guy's behind and said to another pilot, something to the effect of.. "he must work his glutes a lot, he is in shape". He HATED his callsign.
 
Just had a ripper of a time watching "Top Gun Maverick" with me son on arvo break. Asked him 'bout call signs, and he schooled me on how they ain't meant to be fancy. They're all 'bout keeping those egos in check, ya know?He went on to yak about pilots becoming Aces when they down 5 or more enemy planes. 🛩️🛩️ Then, he spun this yarn 'bout a rookie Navy pilot who had a bit of a bingle with his carrier landing, took a swipe at 6 parked fighter jets. They all got patched up but were grounded for a few days. And what's his call sign? "Ace!" Fair dinkum, that's a good one!Now, I reckon that story's true as a dingo in the desert. Any of you old hands got some similar tales to share? Cheers, cobbers!
 
Every branch does it differently and i think the squadrons themselves do it differently. For example, my son flies B-52s. His call sign is Iglou pronounced Igloo. It's an acronym and has never explained what it means. I have a client who is a F-18 Navy Pilot. I don't want to give his call sign but with his group they seem to go with nicknames. So for example, he is middle Eastern so his name sounds Arabic. I don't like the acronyms as you have to know the whole story to understand it. With the nicknames, you at least get a idea of what it means. My son wasn't called Igloo because he is cool under pressure. . The call sign someone mentioned "Assman" while you may not understand why he got it, you at least know ass is part of the story. Also, due to pressure from above, call signs are being cleaned up so as not to offend anyone. Well the new ones are.
 
My guess is that alex (2 total posts) was tossed because he mostly just re-wrote the initial post and was not contributing anything original. I am not privy to what happened but it's not hard to see what might have transpired.
 
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