
“So my squadron said they would have to send me out to battle first, let me fire off all my missiles, and then send me home so I don’t shoot any friendlies. It is indiscriminating and will shoot down the first thing it sees, friend or foe, he said. Mad Dog is what they call an AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile that is fired at no predetermined target. “I ‘shot down’ three bad guys, which was good, but I also fired at my evaluator, who was one of the good guys.” “I got my call sign, Mad Dog, after a check ride during my training,” Major Gonzalez said. The exception is when a pilot draws attention to himself by acting out of the ordinary, which is another way to receive a name. “No matter what he does, he’s not going to get a different call sign.”Ī pilot will often carry his call sign with him from squadron to squadron and as he moves from base to base.
Fighter pilot call signs movie#
“One pilot here is called Shrek because he looks exactly like the movie character, minus the green color,” he said. Other people may get named for how they look, such as Shamu if the pilot is carrying a few extra pounds, or named after a movie character he resembles, Major Gonzalez said. “Some natural call signs play off a person’s last name, such as Speedy Gonzalez, Allen Wrench or Specht Tater.” Pedro Gonzalez, 2nd Fighter Squadron assistant director of operations. “There are a few different ways a pilot can earn his call sign,” said Maj. Naming rituals vary by branch and by squadron, but three rules universally apply: Pilots who do not have good names when they arrive at their first operational squadron, will be given new ones they probably will not like them and, if they complain, they will get even worse names. The call sign has since evolved into a tradition celebrated by each branch of the military. “It was faster and easier to call a pilot by his nickname, and it would have confused the enemy in case they were listening.” “The first call signs were likely used by ground controllers to communicate with pilots, as pilot-to-pilot radio wasn’t efficient at that time,” she said. But where do call signs like these come from, and just how are pilots “named?”ĭetails are scarce concerning the origin of call signs and how the first pilots were named, but the tradition became popular in World War II, said Yvonne Kincaid, an Air Force historian. Most fans of the military film are quick to respond with Maverick and Goose.

What was Tom Cruise’s call sign in “Top Gun?” How about Anthony Edwards, his backseat radar intercept officer in the F-14 Tomcat?
