Old callsign - 1989 Upper Heyford

[Yammer]

Whilst browsing an old log book I found my scribbled radio callsign annotations that may be of interest

31-8-1989 Upper Heyford

JUDGE 1and 2 F-111E yellow tips to Holbeach

MILDER 53 F-111E red tip - callsign ?? to Flamborough

SWEEP 1 and 2 EF-111A

?? 30 F-111E blue tip took the cable on landing serial 68-034

BUNG 72 F-111E tiger tip - callsign ?? to Valley

my notes show

Tower 313.65
Departure 316.85
Switchblade 294.55
Approach 234.6

[andrewn]

HI Yammer,

I happened to be listening that day too, from the shack at home in Cheshire. I noted the following UH Swingers:

09.50: AKEE 43 inbound UH on 240.8 (London Mil) to 359.85 at 09.51
11.33: SHANE 1&2 on 240.8 switch to Midland Rad on 254.25 at 11.43
11.43: AKEE 1&2 on Midland Rad 254.25
15.43: DECK 52 for lowfly off Gt Ormes Head on 240.8
16.41: BRAVO 1&2 on 262.8 (London Mil N ICF) out of lowfly for Cowden Range, switch to 240.8 at 16.44 and Midland Rad 307.5 at 16.52
16.44: MELDA (?) 53 on 240.8 then switch 307.5 at 16.53
17.31: BONES 72 on 267.9 (London Mil) then heard on London Pole Hill/Irish sea 285.9 at 18.00

The one I heard as MELDA(?) 53 is I assume what you captured as MILDER 53. Neither of these were regular 20TFW callsigns, that I can recall? Would appreciate confirmation if it was definitely MILDER.

It's also possible the one you logged as BUNG 72 may have been BONES 72, as BONES was a regular 20TFW/79TFS callsign.

Fascinating after all these years

[graham luxton]

I was a regular at Upper Heyford and never heard MELDA, MILDER or BUNG. MEDAL was frequently used though and as andrewn mentioned so was BONES.

[H.A.Bucken]

Nickel might have been a 55th c/s; Deuce, Card and Casino 77th TFS. Volt, Sparks? etc ex 42 ECS flying the EF-111s. I think some of UH c/s morphed over to the 48th at Lakenheath.
Roger.

[Yammer]

I'm very impressed with your radio log Andrewn for exact same day

[Yammer]

I've revisited my log and note that I arrived at 15.20 which fits nicely with andrewn listening log

I can add

Take Off at 15.55 BRAVO FLIGHT which were 68.011 red tip and 68.071 no colour noted - fits "16.41: BRAVO 1&2 on 262.8 (London Mil N ICF) out of lowfly for Cowden Range, switch to 240.8 at 16.44 and Midland Rad 307.5 at 16.52"


Landing 16.08 SWEEP 1 EF-111A 66.019 followed by SWEEP 2 EF-111A marked "42 AMU" which I believe was 66.050


I also noted that the camo BDRF F-4C 63.(7)449 had now acquired a "BK" tailcode ( was previously wearing its original "SA" tail code in summer 1988 )

[H.A.Bucken]

Here goes, a listing I got in the 1980s, from where I can't remember.
General 77th TFS, red 79th TFS, yellow 47thECS. 55thTFS, blue/white
Alamo Acey Best Booster Brave
Amic Kee Bones Colt Boldly
Barn Bravo Goal Fazer Chaps
Beef Casino Limey Fox Darth
Chain Dart Lion Hex Dollar
Chico Deck Lock Hoodoo Mapes
Chink Epic Maul Hulk Medal
Costa Glare Quest Jam Noble
Echo Judge Rage Magnet Nomad
Elton Judy Rerun Mordor? Sewn
Fort Malibu Roar Raven Style
Fumus? Mean Scan Reno Yankee
Hippy Pitman Snarl Roller
Lance Quebec Snort Skyray
Lay Rival Wild Sweep
Jet Ruler Trodd
Key Shane Volt
Mark Swift Walt?
Mex Tahoe Zap
Milan Vark
Raid Warp
Rock
Whirl.
After Upper Heyford closed a redundant warehouse in Kendal was selling off surplus items like desks, chairs and stationery and I came by a 20th TFW binder, but I don't know if the enclosures were original.
Roger

Edit: The listing hasn't come up as typed, typical. If you read across each line the first c/s is 'General', the second =77th, third 79th (last c/s= Wild), =42nd ECS (last = Zap) and fifth along a line are 55th TFS (last= Yankee).

[andrewn]

I'm very impressed with your radio log Andrewn for exact same day

Thanks, I was an avid listener back then, especially in the school hols. And thanks for the tie up for Bravo flight, 30yrs later, lol

I miss the UH swingers more than any other mil type, always busy, always interesting to listen to and if you were lucky enough to get there and hear one step on the loud pedal then its a experience you never forgot.

Happy days as always

[andrewn]

Here's the list of regular 20TFW callsigns I heard between 1988 and 1993. Not included are the one-off exercise ones, many of which went unverified.

[H.A.Bucken]

Howdo, Andrew. That's how I wanted to list the c/ss I had, but when I hit the 'submit' they got rearranged; tried editing later to no avail.
Roger

[andrewn]

Howdo, Andrew. That's how I wanted to list the c/ss I had, but when I hit the 'submit' they got rearranged; tried editing later to no avail.
Roger

Try taking a screenshot using something like Snipping tool, save the picture up to Flickr or PB and then you can embed as an image - same way you would share any other photo on FC.

[roughcutter]

HI Yammer,

I happened to be listening that day too, from the shack at home in Cheshire. I noted the following UH Swingers:

09.50: AKEE 43 inbound UH on 240.8 (London Mil) to 359.85 at 09.51
11.33: SHANE 1&2 on 240.8 switch to Midland Rad on 254.25 at 11.43
11.43: AKEE 1&2 on Midland Rad 254.25
15.43: DECK 52 for lowfly off Gt Ormes Head on 240.8
16.41: BRAVO 1&2 on 262.8 (London Mil N ICF) out of lowfly for Cowden Range, switch to 240.8 at 16.44 and Midland Rad 307.5 at 16.52
16.44: MELDA (?) 53 on 240.8 then switch 307.5 at 16.53
17.31: BONES 72 on 267.9 (London Mil) then heard on London Pole Hill/Irish sea 285.9 at 18.00

The one I heard as MELDA(?) 53 is I assume what you captured as MILDER 53. Neither of these were regular 20TFW callsigns, that I can recall? Would appreciate confirmation if it was definitely MILDER.

It's also possible the one you logged as BUNG 72 may have been BONES 72, as BONES was a regular 20TFW/79TFS callsign.

Fascinating after all these years

Midland Radar, that's a blast from the past Weren't they based at North Luffenham?

[graham luxton]

HI Yammer,

I happened to be listening that day too, from the shack at home in Cheshire. I noted the following UH Swingers:

09.50: AKEE 43 inbound UH on 240.8 (London Mil) to 359.85 at 09.51
11.33: SHANE 1&2 on 240.8 switch to Midland Rad on 254.25 at 11.43
11.43: AKEE 1&2 on Midland Rad 254.25
15.43: DECK 52 for lowfly off Gt Ormes Head on 240.8
16.41: BRAVO 1&2 on 262.8 (London Mil N ICF) out of lowfly for Cowden Range, switch to 240.8 at 16.44 and Midland Rad 307.5 at 16.52
16.44: MELDA (?) 53 on 240.8 then switch 307.5 at 16.53
17.31: BONES 72 on 267.9 (London Mil) then heard on London Pole Hill/Irish sea 285.9 at 18.00

The one I heard as MELDA(?) 53 is I assume what you captured as MILDER 53. Neither of these were regular 20TFW callsigns, that I can recall? Would appreciate confirmation if it was definitely MILDER.

It's also possible the one you logged as BUNG 72 may have been BONES 72, as BONES was a regular 20TFW/79TFS callsign.

Fascinating after all these years

Midland Radar, that's a blast from the past Weren't they based at North Luffenham?

That's right roughcutter - I was at Midland Radar for a while in the early 70's.