NATO phonetic alphabet

[Lefty Guns]

I was taught it in the ATC (in the early 90's) as:

ALPHA
BRAVO
CHARLIE
DELTA
ECHO
FOXTROT
GOLF
HOTEL
INDIGO
JULIET
KILO
LIMA
MIKE
NOVEMBER
OSCAR
PAPA
QUEBEC
ROMEO
SIERRA
TANGO
UNCLE
VICTOR
WHISKY
X-RAY
YANKEE
ZULU

Pub conversation being what it is, we got round to arguing about I and U. Some think it's India and Uniform.

What sayeth the PH pilots and/or military types?

[Allanv]

In the early 80’s I was taught it with India and Uniform. And that was in the ATC as well.

[Hammerwerfer]

India

Uniform

[Lefty Guns]

How bizarre. Has anyone heard of I and U being Indigo and Uncle?

It was suggested in the pub that different words were used between forces/rescue services but that seems unlikely...

[selwonk]

For clarity, the Cockney phonetic alphabet should be used:

I for Novello
U for Ear

Cheers.

[E31Shrew]

Allanv said:

In the early 80’s I was taught it with India and Uniform. And that was in the ATC as well.

ATC too in 1974..Happy days!

Uncle and Indigo as far as I am aware was used prior to this

[Lefty Guns]

E31Shrew said:

Allanv said:

In the early 80’s I was taught it with India and Uniform. And that was in the ATC as well.

ATC too in 1974..Happy days!

Uncle and Indigo as far as I am aware was used prior to this

'kinell, we must have been well out of date! I joined in 1993.

[Moose.]

As above, I=India, U=Uniform

The current UK CAA radiotelephony use can be found in CAP 413:

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&amp...

[dirty boy]

Same here, India and Uniform


I deal with the Inland Revenue all the time, and I love it when they say F for Freddy, S for Sugar etc. When I give names back, I use the phonetic alphabet and make them feel all 'inferior' - works a treat.

[E31Shrew]

Lefty Guns said:

E31Shrew said:

Allanv said:

In the early 80’s I was taught it with India and Uniform. And that was in the ATC as well.

ATC too in 1974..Happy days!

Uncle and Indigo as far as I am aware was used prior to this

'kinell, we must have been well out of date! I joined in 1993.

Shawbury hasnt changed!

[Pints]

Hammerwerfer said:

India

Uniform

I think this is an appropriate time to add...

+1

[Fume troll]

Lefty Guns said:

How bizarre. Has anyone heard of I and U being Indigo and Uncle?

It was suggested in the pub that different words were used between forces/rescue services but that seems unlikely...

I think it's the UK police version.

Cheers,

FT.

[E31Shrew]

E31Shrew said:

Lefty Guns said:

E31Shrew said:

Allanv said:

In the early 80’s I was taught it with India and Uniform. And that was in the ATC as well.

ATC too in 1974..Happy days!

Uncle and Indigo as far as I am aware was used prior to this

'kinell, we must have been well out of date! I joined in 1993.

Shawbury hasnt changed!

Meant ATC as being Air Traffic. Hope you didnt think it was Air Training Corps

[Lefty Guns]

Sorry I meant the latter

[mrmaggit]

E31Shrew said:

Allanv said:

In the early 80’s I was taught it with India and Uniform. And that was in the ATC as well.

ATC too in 1974..Happy days!

Uncle and Indigo as far as I am aware was used prior to this

I learned the ICAO alphabet wny learning to fly starting in 1972. The books I was using were pretty well used, and they had them as India and Uniform.

[cs02rm0]

How did I end up remembering Indigo and Uniform?

[hugo a gogo]

Able/Affirm
Baker
Charlie
Dog
Easy
Fox
George
How
Item/Interrogatory
Jig/Johnny
King
Love
Mike
Nab/Negat
Oboe
Peter/Prep
Queen
Roger
Sugar
Tare
Uncle
Victor
William
X-ray
Yoke
Zebra

or even
Ack (hence Ack-Ack for anti-aircraft guns btw)
Beer
Charlie
Don
Edward
Freddie
Gee
Harry
Ink
Johnnie
King
London
Emma
Nuts
Oranges
Pip
Queen
Robert
Esses
Toc
Uncle
Vic
William
X-ray
Yorker
Zebra

[Eric Mc]

There have been quite a few phonetic alphabets in use since the earliest days of telephone and radio communications, as can be seen from the lists shown above.

The old British system used Ack for "A" which is why Anti-Aircraft fire in World War 1 was referrded to as "Ack Ack" (AA). And "Ack Emma" was AM (as in morning).

Up until the mid 1950s, Britsh phonetics were quite different -
G was George
F was Freddy
H was How
J was Jig
S was Sugar

The current alphabet became a world standard later ion the 50s.

[RDE]

I learned of the previous phonetics after watching Band of Brothers and realising that as they mentioned other companies that they were categorised alphabetically. I thought 'Easy' was just their nickname or something until Able and Baker etc were mentioned.

At work the other day I had a baffling urge to say 'zebra' in place of 'zulu'. No idea why, but it led to a pretty odd sounding "Baby 4 5 Zzzzzzulu...". ETA - I didn't even know that Zebra was previously used, which makes me sound even more detached!

Edited by RDE on Thursday 4th June 21:29

[eharding]

RDE said:

I learned of the previous phonetics after watching Band of Brothers and realising that as they mentioned other companies that they were categorised alphabetically. I thought 'Easy' was just their nickname or something until Able and Baker etc were mentioned.

At work the other day I had a baffling urge to say 'zebra' in place of 'zulu'. No idea why, but it led to a pretty odd sounding "Baby 4 5 Zzzzzzulu...".

What was the weather like? - I was introduced to a charming term a few weeks ago when considering whether to to cut and run from Glenforsa back down south as the weather looked to be turning distinctly unpleasant - an ex-Harrier mate described the chart as 'looking like a Zebra's ar*sehole'.