Did you know?..or will you "learn something new"..with the following...

Jace

Jace

Well-known Member

'You' probably know or have heard..the first three letters..Alpha, Bravo, Charlie..​

but do you know the entire ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) or
NATO phonetic alphabet?

if not..
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliette
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Rome
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-Ray
Yankee
Zulu

How many knew all?

Ever had to use?🤔

Do tell...
 

In 1936, the comedy double act Clapham and Dwyer recorded the following version, entitled "A Surrealist Alphabet":

A for 'orses (hay for horses)
B for mutton (beef or mutton)
C for 'th highlanders (Seaforth Highlanders)
D for 'ential (deferential)
E for Adam (Eve or Adam)
F for 'vescence (effervescence)
G for police (chief of police)
H for respect (age for respect)
I for Novello (Ivor Novello)
J for oranges (Jaffa oranges)
K for 'ancis, (Kay Francis),
L for leather (Hell for leather)
M for 'sis (emphasis)
N for 'adig (in for a dig, or infra dig.)
O for the garden wall (over the garden wall)
P for a penny (pee for a penny)
Q for a song (cue for a song), or Q for billiards (cue for billiards)
R for mo' (half a mo'-moment)
S for you (it's for you)
T for two (tea for two)
U for films (UFA films)
V for La France (vive la France)
W for a bob (double you for a bob, (shilling) as in gambling)
X for breakfast (eggs for breakfast)
Y for Gawd's sake (why, for God's sake?)
Z for breezes (zephyr breezes.)
 
Years ago I worked at Manchester Airport and had a radio to communicate to the control tower. I had to pass an exam on "RT Code" - at the time it was slightly differemt from the abve.

Romeo
Zebra
 
Canadian military, Toronto Ambulance, and Toronto Police Service Auxiliary, all used the NATO phonetic alphabet when I was serving. The original concept was to use words that had 2 parts like YanKee, or BraVo, or QueBec. Because NATO has so many member nations, most of which don't speak English as their first language, the words also had to be short. My last name would be Bravo Uniform November Tango India November Golf. JimB.
 
My grandfather was a HAM radio operator for decades, used to hear him in wonder. All of my work at the State Police HQ depended on spelling precisely when reporting arrests to state agency. I haven't used it in 5 years.
 
I learned some from my BIL (ARMY) and books (The Thirteenth Valley") where a commander was wanting to "DEROS" out. Plus assorted military reading
 
Jace said:
How many knew all?
Click to expand...
I got one right! I don't know why (maybe I don't speak clearly) but I find myself needing to use that system to spell my name a lot for people. I just make up the words, I see now why lots of times when I'm doing it people on the phone are telling me 'echo'.
 
Right Now said:
My grandfather was a HAM radio operator for decades, used to hear him in wonder. All of my work at the State Police HQ depended on spelling precisely when reporting arrests to state agency. I haven't used it in 5 years.
Click to expand...
One of the running jokes at Toronto Police Service was when asking the radio room to do a CPIC ( Canadian Police Information Center ) name check was to say the subjects last name and given name, which was some nearly impossible to spell Yugoslavian or Romanian one, followed by the phrase "common spelling ". The radio room come back was " spell it phonetically please " with a gruff voice. Now that all the patrol vehicles have MDT that joke is not happening anymore. Back then getting a return on a NCIC check could take up to an hour.

A Niagara Regional officer did a NCIC check on a vehicle that had recently crossed into Ontario from New York at Buffalo. The return took so long the officer let the vehicle and driver go......An hour later the NCIC return revealed that the driver was wanted in Kentucky for 2 murders. The Ontario Provincial Police caught the driver for speeding the next day in eastern Ontario. He was driving to Quebec. JimB.
 


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