Aviator call sign

An aviator call sign or callsign is a nickname given to a military pilot, flight officer, and even some enlisted aviators. This call sign is a substitute for the aviator's given name, and is used on flight suit and flight jacket name tags, painted/displayed beneath the officer's or enlisted aircrewman's name on aircraft fuselages or canopy rails, and in radio conversations. They are most commonly used in tactical jet aircraft communities (i.e., fighter and attack) than in other aircraft communities (i.e., airlift, mobility, maritime patrol), but their use is not totally exclusive to the former. Many NASA Astronauts with military aviator backgrounds are referred to during spaceflights by their call signs rather than their first names.

The origins of aviator call signs are varied. Most call signs play on or reference on the aviator's surname. Other inspirations for call signs may include personality traits, middle name, references to historical figures, or past exploits during the pilot's career. Aviator call signs nearly always must come from a member or members of the aviator's squadron, training class, or other cohort.

It is considered bad form to try to give oneself a callsign and it is also common for aviators to be given a fairly derogatory callsign, and the more they complain about it, the more likely it is to stick. Some stick with the aviator forever, while in other cases an aviator might have a series of call signs throughout his or her career. For example, the late Lieutenant Kara Hultgreen, USN, was originally given the callsign "Hulk," because of her habitual weight training; later, after a television appearance in which she wore detectable makeup, she received the callsign "Revlon" (her biography is entitled Call Sign Revlon).

Examples from Top Gun include:

Other fictional examples:

In the TV series 'JAG', the lead character, Harmon Rabb, is given the name "Pappy" due to the fact that he is the oldest pilot in his squadron. This is later changed to 'Hammer' which was his father's Vietnam War callsign -a mark of respect.

In Tom Clancy's novel Without Remorse, fictional Vice Admiral Winslow Holland Maxwell, during World War II, received the callsign "Winnie," which he hated; after a mission in which he shot down three Japanese planes (all confirmed by gunsight cameras), he found a new coffee mug in the wardroom, engraved with the callsign "Dutch." When he later became an admiral, he displayed the mug—no longer used for coffee or pencils—in a place of honor on his desk.

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