The NATO Phonetic Alphabet

The phonetic alphabet, or commonly dubbed the NATO phonetic alphabet is universal not only for radio but wherever it can aid verbal communications.

During World War 1 phonetics were used on the western front based on air force slang, like Ack Beer Charlie Don, while during that same conflict the British Royal Navy used Apples Butter Charlie Duff.

However the first internationally recognised alphabet was adopted by the International Telecommunications Union in 1927, it underwent subsequent changes until 1932 when a set of mainly place names adopted including Amsterdam Baltimore and Casablanca Denmark.

During World War 2, due to allied operational requirements, the Army/Navy alphabet was introduced, consisting of a group of words such as Able Baker Charlie Dog, and one of them, Roger, still lingers today, despite being replaced with Romeo. Different alphabets were used by the Royal Air Force. Alfa Bravo Coca Delta is one example.

Post war when the aviators entered or re-entered civil aviation there was confusion, particularly with air traffic controllers in non-English speaking Latin America.
In recognition of the value of using phonetics, efforts were made to come up with a set that was internationally usable
and worked well under poor receiving conditions.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation devised a new alphabet in 1956 that was adopted shortly after by the International Telecommunications Union, appearing in the radio regs. of 1959. The alphabet also includes phonetics for numerals, such as fife for five and niner for nine.

And how did it get dubbed the NATO alphabetic? Well, NATO is the acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The alphabetic was used for joint naval activities of the NATO and United States, and to differentiate from what existed previously, it was referred to as the NATO alphabet.

Jim Linton
Victor Kilo 3 Papa Charlie

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia

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