Miscellaneous discussion about the Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox alphabet, which was widely used until the mid 1950s. Note particularly the last item. Article 11445 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang From: JAREA@ukcc.uky.edu Subject: Re: logical pronunciation of letters Organization: The University of Kentucky Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1993 01:30:46 GMT In article <1993Jul28.181120.24661@infodev.cam.ac.uk> bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk (Brian Kelk) writes: > >I have seen the above described as the NATO alphabet. There >are others. One of them starts Able Baker. > This is the one we used in WWII: Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George Hypo Inter Jig etc. Italian uses the names of cities, so that my last name is sounded out Roma Empoli Ancona. >I'd be interested to know about corresponding alphabets for >other languages. > Article 11576 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang From: dravey@netcom.com (Donald Ravey) Subject: Re: logical? pronunciation of letters Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Sun, 1 Aug 1993 02:59:17 GMT Herman Rubin (hrubin@mentor.cc.purdue.edu) wrote: : In article <1993Jul31.171143.2622@infodev.cam.ac.uk> bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk (Brian Kelk) writes: : >In article <1993Jul28.181120.24661@infodev.cam.ac.uk> I wrote: : >>In article <23593mINNlc1@myall.awadi.com.au> tmason@awadi.com.au writes: : >>>The international phonetic (Roman) alphabet is: : >>>Alpha, bravo, Charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot, golf, hotel, India, : >>>Juliet, kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, papa, Quebec, Romeo, : >>>Sierra, tango, uniform, Victor, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. : ........................... : >Thanks to various contributors for alphabets in Dutch, : >Flemish, German and Swedish. Are there any more? I may post : >a summary. : This is of interest, but I cannot find anything at all : LOGICAL about it. I would have to agree. However, it might be of interest to some that the international authority of the above phonetic alphabet notwithstanding, the military services have used several earlier phonetic alphabets (Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item...) and law enforcement agencies use different ones, too (Adam, Boy, Charlie, David, Edward, Frank, George... around here). CHARLIE seems to be the one stable element common to all the sets of which I'm aware. Curious? +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Don Ravey dravey@netcom.com OBJECTS IN MIRROR | | ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Article 11706 of alt.usage.english: From: barrett@lucy.ee.und.ac.za (Alan Barrett) Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta: also in Swedish Date: 4 Aug 1993 08:08:51 +0200 Organization: Elec. Eng., Univ. Natal, Durban, S. Africa Keywords: alphabets In article <1993Aug2.204405.11351@infodev.cam.ac.uk>, bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk (Brian Kelk) writes: > [The Cambridge Encyclopedia Of Language gives whiskey (sic)] They don't spell it "encyclopaedia"? > Partial alphabets: [perhaps remembered imperfectly] > Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George Hypo Inter Jig > Able Baker Charlie Dog Easy Fox George How Item That looks like the alphabet that I learned from "The Complete Morse Trainer (with a section on Semaphore)", by F. Tait (Telegraphist and Wireless Operator, Central Telegraph Office, London), published in London by Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., 1944. The exercises in the book are almost all of a military nature, and there are several other hints that the intended audience was largely composed of military folk, so it seems plausible that the phonetic alphabet presented in the book was in official use by the British military during WW2. Here's the alphabet: able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king love mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor william x-ray yoke zebra. --apb Alan Barrett, Dept. of Electronic Eng., Univ. of Natal, Durban, South Africa RFC822: barrett@ee.und.ac.za Article 5869 of sci.lang: Newsgroups: sci.lang From: JAREA@ukcc.uky.edu Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta: also in Swedish Organization: The University of Kentucky Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1993 00:50:54 GMT Back in 19 hundred and ought 42, as the old timers would have reckoned it, the Army Air Corps Radio School at Scott Field IL taught us , able baker CAST dog easy fox George HYPO inter jig (now why did they change that one!) king love Mike NEGAT OBOE PREP Queen Roger SUGAR TARE Uncle Victor William X-ray yoke and Zebra. (We were also made aware of obsolescent how, item Nan Peter, and switched from oboe to over later that summer.) We were told this was a Phonetic Pronunciation -- Phonetic Alphabet. I innocently (nascent lingkuist) asked why they called it Phonetic, and was told by the Sergeant to look at p 94 of Basic Field Manual FM 24 - 13, where it is printed, and if that's what the Army Field manual calls it, that's what it is, stupid! That Field Manual was labeled "Restricted", so I hope they don't shoot me at this late date under pro vision of the State Secrets Act. Ki semenat ispinaza, non andet iskultsu! J. A. Rea jarea@ukcc.uky.edu Article 12123 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang From: dravey@netcom.com (Donald Ravey) Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta alphabets: revised Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1993 21:58:41 GMT Brian Kelk (bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk) wrote: : Here is a collection of alphabets of the Alpha Bravo : Charlie Delta kind, as used for spelling things out over : radio links. There are several distinct alphabets for : English, and alphabets for: B [...lines deleted for brevity...] : The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) version: : Adam Baker Charlie David Edward Frank George Henry Ida John : king Lewis Mary Nancy Otto Peter queen Robert Susan Thomas : union Victor William x-ray young zebra : [also Adam Boy (?)] : From a book entitled "The Complete Morse Instructor..." (1944): : able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king love : mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor william : x-ray yoke zebra : [This one seems to have undergone quite a lot of evolution. : Entries also cited: cast, hypo, inter, negat, over, prep ] As a ham radio operator for over 45 years (W6DBZ), permit me to add some recollections, though I can't document these. First of all, the "young" cited above from ARRL seems wrong. Trouble is, I can't think what seems right to me... But my main point is that in the ham radio tradition there is a tendency to spurn the "establishment" phonetics, whether that is or is not wise, and if you listen to the ham voice transmissions on bands where there is considerable international operation, you will more likely hear some variations of the following: America Brazil Chile Denmark E.. Finland Greece Hawaii I.. J.. Kilowatt L.. Mexico Norway Ocean Pacific Q.. Radio Sweden Texas U.. Venezuela Whisky Xray Y.. Zulu Sorry my memory is so spotty. The second citation above, attributed to a Morse training booklet, is actually the U.S. Navy (other military?) phonetics from WW II. These terms were frequently used on the bridge of a warship, instructing the signalman to hoist signal flags to the yardarm. The flags and pennants all had names, so that the officer could shout them out to the signal- man. That's where 'Prep' comes from, for example; when the 'P' flag was hoisted above other flags, it informed the ships in formation to prepare for the maneuver signalled by the flags. A separate hoisting, without the 'Prep' flag, would mean 'execute this maneuver when the signal is lowered.' 'Inter' is similar: the 'inter' hoisted above a sequence of flags meant it was a question; indeed, it was usually pronounced "interrogatory," I believe. Also the 'negat', which I recall as being pronounced "negative." Since I'm started on this, a nautical FLAG is square shaped; a PENNANT is long, tapered, and the far end may have a dual 'tail' to it. Pennants were used for numerals and some other "prosigns"--now THERE's a special military word I haven't thought about in a long time! Oh, well--nostalgia just doesn't seem the same as it used to! Don Ravey Article 12142 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang From: JAREA@ukcc.uky.edu Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta alphabets: revised Organization: The University of Kentucky Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1993 00:32:18 GMT In article <draveyCBpx1u.M3C@netcom.com> dravey@netcom.com (Donald Ravey) writes: > >Brian Kelk (bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk) wrote: > >: The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) version: > >: Adam Baker Charlie David Edward Frank George Henry Ida John >: king Lewis Mary Nancy Otto Peter queen Robert Susan Thomas >: union Victor William x-ray young zebra > >: [This one seems to have undergone quite a lot of evolution. >: Entries also cited: cast, hypo, inter, negat, over, prep ] > >As a ham radio operator for over 45 years (W6DBZ), permit me to add >some recollections, though I can't document these. First of all, the >"young" cited above from ARRL seems wrong. > >Don Ravey The entire alphabet starting Adam, through Young to Zebra is exactly the version giveen on p 521 of the ARRL _The Radio Amateur's Handbook_ 25th edition (1948) [price $2.00!] My War Department Basic Field Manual (Restricted) 21 February 1944 lists Affirm, Inter, Negat, Option, Prep with asterisks beside them and in parentheses, and below the alphabet says "*Names in parentheses will be used when the U.S. Navy General Signal Book is used." I.e., in place of Army: Able, Item, Nan, Oboe and Peter. Actually us Air corpse types used Inter, Negat, Over and Prep normally, as well as Hypo instead of How. The next chart contains Zero Wun Too Thuh-ree Fo-wer Fi-yiv Six Seven Ate Niner. Ki semenat ispinaza, non andet iskultsu! J. A. Rea jarea@ukcc.uky.edu GA PLS OM and 73 Article 12315 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang From: ktappe@infonode.ingr.com (J. Kurt Tappe) Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta alphabets: revised Keywords: alphabets Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL. Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1993 00:56:12 GMT bck1@cl.cam.ac.uk (Brian Kelk) writes: >Here is a collection of alphabets of the Alpha Bravo >Charlie Delta kind, as used for spelling things out over >radio links. >... >able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king love >mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor william >x-ray yoke zebra I've seen (heard) this one used by air-traffic controllers and pilots. Could there be such a thing as an international aircraft standard that happens to echo the morse code version? -Kurt Tappe Article 12678 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta alphabets: revised From: jane@latcs2.lat.oz.au (Jane Philcox) Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1993 04:33:36 GMT Organization: Comp Sci, La Trobe Uni, Australia In article <PD.93Aug19131123@surrey.x.co.uk> pd@x.co.uk (Paul Davey) writes: >>>>>> "jkt" == J. Kurt Tappe <ktappe@infonode.ingr.com> writes: >>able baker charlie ... >jkt> I've seen (heard) this one used by air-traffic controllers and >jkt> pilots. Could there be such a thing as an international aircraft >jkt> standard that happens to echo the morse code version? >Surely they use the NATO standard, Alpha, Bravo ... We do. And have done for the last 25 years, to my personal knowledge. I believe Able Baker to have disappeared from use about 30 years ago, but that's just an impression, not knowledge. Regards, Jane. -- My pedantry is your scholarship, his reasonable accuracy, her irreducible minimum of education, and someone else's ignorance. [Fowler: Modern English Usage] Article 12705 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang From: mudgett@bose.com (Mark Mudgett) Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta alphabets: revised Keywords: Alfa Bravo Charlie Organization: Bose Corporation Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1993 15:02:43 GMT > (Able Baker Charlie ... ) >I've seen (heard) this one used by air-traffic controllers and >pilots. Could there be such a thing as an international aircraft >standard that happens to echo the morse code version? Yes, there is an international standard for aviation use. The following list of twenty-six words is known as the phonetic alphabet and is approved for use in air-traffic control communications by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Alfa Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India Juliett Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu This phonetic alphabet is also approved for use in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administation (FAA). Many pilots use an older alphabet (Able Baker Charlie ...) Either they learned it in the military, or they are pretending. Controllers are quite consistent, they use the ICAO version. >And I cannot find anything PHONETIC about it. The title for this set >of words is not "International Phonetic Alphabet" but it does have the >word "Phonetic" in it (I've forgotten the actual title). Calling a >group of code names a phonetic alphabet is wrong. phonetic alphabet "Any of various systems of code words for identifying letters in voice communication." (American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Ed.) It is known popularly among pilots and controllers as the "International Phonetic Alphabet", but in official documents of the FAA it is called a "phonetic alphabet" (lower case) or the ICAO phonetic alphabet. The real International Phonetic Alphabet is something quit different. >>Not only that, but the spelling of the first word should be "Alfa". >Wow. Where did you learn to spell? Alpha is exactly correct. There is no such >word as Alfa. Let's not confuse phonetics with spelling. Wow. "Alfa" is exactly correct. The word is in the dictionary. I learned to spell this word in aviation training. The dictionary backs me up: alfa "A word used in communications to represent the letter _A_." Also ALFA (Random House Dictionary 2nd Ed.) And a note about capitalization ... These words are almost always capitalized when used in print. Although Random House uses the spellings "alfa" and "ALFA", "Alfa" is most common in print. "Alpha" is also common, perhaps more common than "Alfa". These code words are designed for _spoken_ communication, and the correct spelling is usually not an issue. A recent posting that carefully spelled "... golf, hotel, India ..." showed the signs of a compulsive speller (:-). In this context, "India" is not a proper noun, it is a code word. Capitalization should be consistent: all words in this alphabet should be capitalized the same way. The official pronunciations of these words are not necessarily the same as the stanndard Engligh pronunciations of the words: Victor is "vik-tah" Quebec is "keh-bek" || Mark C. Mudgett Telephone: (508) 879-1916 ext 6945 || || Bose Corporation, MS 15D Internet: mudgett@bose.com || || The Mountain Fax: (508) 879-4806 || || Framingham MA 01701-9168 || -- || Mark C. Mudgett Telephone: (508) 879-1916 ext 6945 || || Bose Corporation, MS 15D Internet: mudgett@bose.com || || The Mountain Fax: (508) 879-4806 || || Framingham MA 01701-9168 || Article 15084 of alt.usage.english: From: ar121@yfn.ysu.edu (Carl Porter) Newsgroups: alt.usage.english Subject: Phonetic alphabet Date: 3 Nov 1993 20:07:49 GMT Organization: St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown, OH The "Able, baker, charlie,...zebra" phonetic alphabet was in standard useage in the USAF (and elsewhere) until the early '50's-when I was in. There was an abrupt, official change to the "Alpha, bravo...zed" because, it was said, this was to be the new international standard. Apparently the former didn't translate too well in certain countries. This caused a minor disruption in our communications, but we were young and changeable. -- ================================================================= Supporting Hillbilly Pride(tm) Carl Porter, Knoxville, Tenn. The gov't is my nanny, I shall not want for much, etc. ================================================================ Article 15180 of alt.usage.english: From: bam@hermes.mod.uk (Brian A. Mellor) Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,soc.culture.british,uk.misc Subject: Re: Phonetic alphabet Date: 9 Nov 1993 09:38:46 GMT Organization: Defence Research Agency In article <1993Nov8.162527.16056@bard.cray.com>, btd@bard.uk.cray.com (Bryan T Dongray) writes: |> Carl Porter (ar121@yfn.ysu.edu) [3 Nov 1993 20:07:49 GMT] wrote: |> |> > The "Able, baker, charlie,...zebra" phonetic alphabet was in standard |> > useage in the USAF (and elsewhere) until the early '50's-when I was in. |> > There was an abrupt, official change to the "Alpha, bravo...zed" because, |> > it was said, this was to be the new international standard. Apparently |> > the former didn't translate too well in certain countries. This caused |> > a minor disruption in our communications, but we were young and changeable. |> |> I have just checked with a friend and the UK police have: |> Alpha |> Bravo |> Charlie . . . . |> Yankee |> Zulu My recollection was that able, baker etc was the UK version, the US using something similar to the alpha, bravo etc. The new form was mostly the US with a few of the words changed for international use. I believe our military was not too happy. The Alpha - Zulu form is enshrined as the ICAO alphabet (International Civil Aviation Organisation ?). I can't track down the reference source for this at present, other than that it is `common knowledge'. As English is the international communication language, the alphabet does not have to be translated into other languages. Working For The Common Good Brian Article 15184 of alt.usage.english: From: pd@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Peter Durham) Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,soc.culture.british,uk.misc Subject: Re: Phonetic alphabet Date: 9 Nov 1993 15:43:50 +0100 Organization: Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton In <2bnof6INNdu8@signal.dra.hmg.gb> bam@hermes.mod.uk (Brian A. Mellor) writes: ** stuff deleted ** >My recollection was that able, baker etc was the UK version, the US using >something similar to the alpha, bravo etc. The new form was mostly the US with a I thought the British changed during the war, to reduce confusion. The classification of documents was also changed (eg 'Most Secret' -> 'Top Secret'). Peter Article 15247 of alt.usage.english: From: bam@hermes.mod.uk (Brian A. Mellor) Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,soc.culture.british,uk.misc Subject: Re: Phonetic alphabet Date: 9 Nov 1993 16:05:29 GMT Organization: Defence Research Agency In article <2boab6$8ho@marr.ecs.soton.ac.uk>, pd@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Peter Durham) writes: |> In <2bnof6INNdu8@signal.dra.hmg.gb> bam@hermes.mod.uk (Brian A. Mellor) writes: |> |> ** stuff deleted ** |> |> >My recollection was that able, baker etc was the UK version, the US using |> >something similar to the alpha, bravo etc. The new form was mostly the US with a |> |> I thought the British changed during the war, to reduce confusion. The |> classification of documents was also changed (eg 'Most Secret' -> 'Top |> Secret'). |> |> Peter I agree that it was around 42 -43, but wasn't too sure. Thanks for the confirmation. I guess the ICAO format was agreed in the 50s and would have included the Indigo to India change. Cheers Brian Article 34295 of rec.radio.amateur.misc: From: stoll@OCF.Berkeley.EDU (Cliff Stoll) Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc Subject: Phonetic Alphabets Date: 17 Mar 1994 21:04:43 GMT Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility I found these posted to a bbs, so I checked 'em & added references. Enjoy! Cliff Stoll K7TA (please don't send me e-mail for a while, my mailbox overfloweth) Phonetic Alphabet for World War II: [source: ARRL 1945 Handbook pg 359 "Used by Armed services of USA & GB"] Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item, Jig, King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sugar, Tare, Uncle, Victor, William, Xray, Yoke, Zebra. Phonetic Alphabet for NATO: [source??] Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Gold, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, Xray, Yankee, Zulu. Phonetic Alphabet for ITU: [from ARRL '93 Handbook, pg 37-7] (same as that NATO list except "Golf" instead of "Gold" Article 39819 of rec.radio.amateur.misc: From: kirk@neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov (Robert Kirk) Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc Subject: Re: RFI re: words for alphabet Date: 24 Jun 1994 18:34:52 GMT Organization: NASA Keywords: radio words alphabet In article <2uesqd$j9q@b11.b11.ingr.com> nsparker@ingr.com (Nick Parker) writes: >Does anyone have a listing of the word equivalents for the alphabet >(alpha=a, bravo=b, etc) they could post or email? > charlie delta echo foxtrot golf hotel india juliette kilo mike november oscar papa quebec (pronounced 'kay-bec) romeo sierra tango uniform victor whiskey x-ray yankee zulu or, the old way able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king love mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor william x-ray yoke zebra if I remember right? Article 29329 of alt.usage.english: Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang,rec.radio.amateur.misc From: phb@syseng1.melpar.esys.com (Paul H. Bock) Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta: phonetic alphabets (repost) Keywords: alphabets Organization: E-Systems, Melpar Division Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 21:16:10 GMT Brian.Kelk@cl.cam.ac.uk writes: >***** ENGLISH ***** >The NATO phonetic alphabet (as per the Cambridge Encyclopedia >of Language under Seaspeak): >Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf Hotel India >Juliet Kilo Lima Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo >Sierra Tango Uniform Victor Whiskey Xray Yankee Zulu As a side note, when this alphabet first came out in the late 1950's or early 1960's to replace the then-in-general-use "ABLE-BAKER-CHARLIE, etc., C was COCOA and M was METRO. I remember it because my Dad (who was a pilot) chided me that I'd have to learn a new set of phonetics. Apparently, COCOA and METRO didn't last long and CHARLIE and MIKE were re-hired... :-) /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ o------------o------------o | | Paul H. Bock, Jr. K4MSG |_| "Doin' it the ol' Principal Systems Engineer | | fashioned way..." pbock@melpar.esys.com |_| (well, almost) _______ | | | | __________ ____O_O____ `*' | | Rice-box | | Ye Olde | \( )/ |__| (IC-735) |-----| Tuner | /( )\ |__________| |___________| \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Article 29352 of alt.usage.english: From: kirk@neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov (Robert Kirk) Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang,rec.radio.amateur.misc Subject: Re: Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta: phonetic alphabets (repost) Date: 8 Sep 1994 13:07:56 GMT Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Keywords: alphabets In article <34l63s$jqj@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> Brian.Kelk@cl.cam.ac.uk writes: > > > Phonetic Alphabets (Alpha Bravo etc) > >There is a widely known alphabet Alpha Bravo ... Yankee Zulu. >Such alphabets are variously known as phonetic alphabets, >radio alphabets and spelling alphabets. This collection >currently includes alphabets for the following languages: > > English, French, German, Dutch, Flemish, Italian, > Rumantsch, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, Swedish, > Finnish, Russian and Chinese. > >This posting is a repeat of the one of 23rd July. > ..... > >From a book entitled "The Complete Morse Instructor..." (1944): > >able baker charlie dog easy fox george how item jig king >love mike nan oboe peter queen roger sugar tare uncle victor >william x-ray yoke zebra The above alphabet was the official US military, or at least US Navy, alphabet in use at the time of the changeover to the current NATO alphabet now used by the military. I learned it my first year in 1955, and then immediately in the latter part of 1955 had to learn the new version which is still used. (That new NATO version used ALFA and not ALPHA.) Incidently, william, x-ray, yoke, and zebra lived on, and may still be in use, in the Navy as classifications for the various classes of damage control readiness on ships on the theory, I guess, that the condition was a term and not a phonetic abbreviation. Why rewrite all those manuals? Then again, they never did worry about issuing new instructions. Maybe it was so the old timers would have something to reminisce about, like CW. Bob Kirk N3OZB > >[The same alphabet is described as "Used by Armed services of > USA & GB" in the ARRL 1945 Handbook. Entries cited in variants > of this alphabet: affirm, cast, hypo, inter, negat, option, > over, prep] ... + Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 14:16:25 +1000 + From: "John Alcorn, VK2JWA" <jalcorn@nor.com.au> + Subject: Re: US Army Air Corps Phonetic alphabet used in ETO . . . + Up until early 1941 the US Army, Navy and other services used different + phonetics. + They were mostly similar but were not the same and each service + jealously guarded their own version and would not agree on a common + version. + + The service chiefs could see problems with this in the inevitable + involvement in WW2. + The chief signals representatives of all services were "invited" to a + conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where they + were put in a "lock in" with all the necessary references and material, + dictionaries, pads etc. + + They were told that they would be fed etc. but that the door would be + otherwise locked + and that no one could leave until they had derived and agreed upon a + common phonetic alphabet to be used for all services. This they + eventually did. + + This is the Joint Army/Navy (JAN) phonetic alphabet used when the US + entered WW2. + + Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy, Fox, George, How, Item, Jig, + King, Love, Mike, Nan, Oboe, Peter, Queen, Roger, Sail, Tare, + Uncle, Victor, William, X-Ray, Yoke, Zebra. + + This they used but it differed from the other allies, principally + British, and so some confusion was caused. A common alphabet had to be + adopted. This was derived and came into force on the 1st January, 1943. + + It was the same as that above with a few changes which were - + + Golf, Sugar, Zed. 'Zed' became 'Zebra' in 1945. . . . + -- + John W.Alcorn, VK2JWA Ph.: +61 02-66215217 + 33 Spring St. Email : jalcorn@nor.com.au + LISMORE, NSW. 2480. http://www.nor.com.au/community/sarc/phonetic.htm + Australia. + Location: Grid QG61QE 28.90 deg South, 153.10 deg East + + "Radiotelegraph and Radiotelephone Codes, Prowords and Abbreviations"