Tactical Call Signs

Radio Call Signs

For communications purposes both aircraft and ground stations had specific call signs that identified them. Fixed call signs for the United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft use identifiers consisting of a name followed by a two or three digit number. The name is assigned to a unit on a semi-permanent basis and only changes when the U.S. Department of Defense goes to DEFCON 3. For example, JAMBO 51 would be assigned to a particular B-52 aircrew of the 5th Bomb Wing. B-52’s of the 92nd Bomb Wing, flying out of the Fairfield AFB, WA used the call signs COUNT ##, CZAR ##, LEPER ##, and TITAN ##. One of the coolest B-52 call signs is DOOM ##, used by the 2nd Bomb Wing located at the Barksdale AFB, LA. Other neat B-52 call signs are GHOST RIDER ##, PANTHER ##, BOGEY ##, WEASEL ##, SCALP ##, etc.

Ground stations also had tactical call signs that are used for voice communications in place of the station’s geographic location name for security purposes. Each of the DEWLine stations had a regular radio call sign, the geographical location of the station, for use with commercial air traffic, and a tactical call sign for use when communicating with military aircraft, usually B-52’s.

I recently received a treasure trove of information from Fred Teeter who was a Console Operator in the mid to late 70’s. Among the Streator training treasures was a list of the tactical call signs for each of the DEWLine stations. So here, courtesy of Fred Teeter, who never threw out a piece of paper in his life, is a list of DEWLine station regular and tactical radio call signs.

List of DEWLine Station Tactical Call Signs