B-17 RADIO COMMUNICATION CALL NAMES
The call names are arbitrary names chosen by higher command to represent the different elements of the formation. Sometimes they’ll use the same call signs within bomb groups for a duration of time and sometimes they’ll choose new ones every mission. The call names for the combat bombardment wings will change with almost every mission, especially on significant or special missions like Schweinfurt-Regensburg or Berlin, etc. Unfortunately there is no mass record of these call names, but individual ones can be found in mission records, memoirs, or books.
edit: the 100th BG specifically would use new ones every day
Generally speaking, the 13th CBW is made up of the 95th BG, 100th BG, 390th BG, 490th BG, and the 493rd BG. On a typical mission, only three of the BGs would be flying and together they are assigned a call name. For Regensburg, FIREBALL was the designation for the 13th Combat Bombardment Wing.
Within FIREBALL is the three BGs and each is given a phonetic letter designation.
FIREBALL ABLE would be the "A" Group Lead Crew
FIREBALL BAKER would be the "B" Group Lead Crew
FIREBALL CHARLIE would be the "C" Group Lead Crew
where for our example A, B, and C are bomb groups from the 13th CBW.
On the mission to Regensburg, the 100th Bomb Group was leading 13th CBW therefore they were designation FIREBALL ABLE. The other two bomb groups would be FIREBALL BAKER and FIREBALL CHARLIE.
Within each bomb group there are further call names, however, these are not used often. That's because only the lead a/c for each bomb group is to speak and is spoken to on the command radio. All aircraft have access to the command radio, but only the lead crew of a BG is to speak over this channel and thus the squadrons are never referred to by this call name.
FIREBALL ABLE LEAD - 100th Lead Group Lead B-17
FIREBALL ABLE LOW - 100th Low Group Lead B-17
FIREBALL ABLE HIGH - 100th High Group Lead B-17
On a mission, the squadrons of a bomb group will also have their own call names for their inter group communication.
Think about the mission to Trondheim. The 100th Bomb Group was leading the 13th Combat Bombardment Wing, call name ZOOTSUIT meaning that the 100th was call name ZOOTSUIT LEAD.
ZOOTSUIT - 13th CBW
The call names for 100th BG squadrons for this particular mission included:
PACER - 418th Sq of the 100th BG
RED MEAT - 350th Sq of the 100th BG
RED MEAT 3 is the 3rd plane of the 350th
READ MEAT LEAD is the Lead of 350th
So Blakely’s Crew/Bucky’s plane in MotA Episode 2 would have the call sign ZOOTSUIT LEAD (ABLE) when talking with the entire formation, as well as the call sign PACER LEAD when communicating within the 100th BG. This is why Bucky deciding to throttle down so Biddick could keep up was such a big deal. Bucky was leading not just the 100th, but also another bomb group as well in the formation. The number of bomb groups in a combat bombardment wing varies from mission to mission, but they’ll almost always be in their same combat bombardment wing, unless they’re tasked to fly with a different group (rare but happens).
Here’s an example that uses the 303rd BG. This is the basis for all of my information above and I HIGHLY recommend checking it out!
This document has a GREAT breakdown of each bomb group and hundreds of charts and diagrams that are essential in understanding how the bomber command organizational structure works.
Like I mentioned earlier, the call names used can vary from mission to mission and can be almost anything. From what I can tell, they are almost always at least two syllables.
In Crosby’s book, he mentions the following (which isn’t anywhere near a complete list but might help give you a better idea of the randomness):
- Mafking
- Scrubbrush
- Fireball
- Leadbelly
- Toothloose
- Downtown
- Redpath
