Bob,
There is nothing official about callsigns. In WW 2 my dad was the senior naval
aviator on board the Chicago a Light Cruiser. He flew the SC-1 Seahawk from
that ship for spotting the bombardment of Japan, anyway the ships call sign was
Malicious. Each of the pilots went by the card deck. My dad was Ace, then King,
Queen and Jack for each of the 4 pilots aboard. As a tribute to my dad I lead
several flights as Malicious flight. I was Ace then each wingman in order went
as King, Queen and Jack. I'm sure the other guys had no idea what was going on.
Maybe I should have explained the significance to them. I will be burying my
dad in Arlington this November.

On Enterprise we were the set for the movie Topgun. While on cruise we finaly
had a chance to view the movie on a port call in Perth Aus. The CO of one of
the fighter squadrons (Meatball, ( due to similar physical build)) said thet
the next nugget pilot and RIO who checked int the squadron would be Maverick
and Goose.

Sparky


A few questions about the whole call sign thingie:

1: When did it start?

2. Is there an official component to this silliness, such as a central
registry? Is it on a squadron level or higher up?

2 (A). So what about duplicates/recycling?

3. Is this a Navy/USMC only practice?

Bob McKellar