I know that 109 and 105 Squadrons had permanent 2 letter call signs assigned to crews (probably the Pilot) that were transmitted to them in morse as a signal to begin their 10 minute bomb run into the target.
This may have been unique to those squadrons since their operations used ground controllers who knew their exact position and plotted their bomb runs into the target, transmitting time to target information back to the crew.
Regards
Dave Wallace 

Hi Alan, A couple of things re call signs. I understand the WL (434 Sqdn.)followed by a letter code assigned to the aircraft A-B-C-D-E- etc. etc. but this was Squadron identification only it did not have anything to do with the call sign. I will give you an example, my brother told me a number of years ago (and I now regret not asking this question then) their call sign was LAYMAN and the Croft call sign was BIGTREE, what I'm trying to find out is was the call sign LAYMAN assigned to the crew, in this case it would be the Badgery crew, or was it assigned to the aircraft in which they were flying which often as not was the Halifax coded "W". With regards to 431 Squadron coding, this Squadron was coded SE not SQ, so my brother and crew did most of their Op's in SE-W. It is my understanding that the call sign was used so that the pilot of an aircraft could identify themselves to the tower and visa versa. Thank you for your reply.

Hi again Alan. I've sent an e-mail to an ex 431 Sqdn. Nav. hoping he might be able to help. Bill.

-- Edited by William Heron at 11:51, 2007-06-30

Thanks for the advice John I'll give it a shot. Bill

Bill

Much as I hate to disagree with one who was there, I think that your 431 Sqdn Nav. has remembered incorrectly. Call signs were allocated to bases and to units, but not to individual aircraft or crews.

As you have said, each aircraft carried unit code letters in your example, WL for 434 Sqdn, SE for 431 Sqdn, followed by a individual letter for the particular aircraft, as in Halifax W. If an aircraft was lost or replaced, the individual letter was re-allocated to the replacement. OK so far thats the visual identification taken care of.

For radio communications, bases and units were allocated call signs using a fairly complicated system which I wont go into (cus I dont understand it!) and by means of secret documents circulated to all bases. The aircraft radio call sign would consist of the units call sign Layman followed by the aircrafts individual letter mentioned in the paragraph above and its phonetic alphabet indicator. So your Halifax WL-W would identify itself when communicating as Layman W-William.
And when calling Croft : Bigtree, this is Layman W-William. Call signs were changed for various reasons, relocation of squadron, change of base function etc. I think some remained unchanged throughout the war, while others changed a few times.

One last point. The connection between aircraft and crew was detailed before the operation in the Order of Battle and of course, on the chalk board in Operations, so beloved by film makers.

Hope that lot is of help/interest.

Regards

Allan

Alan, So to understand your last message, you are saying that in this case, Croft would have the call sign Bigtree as explained, OK so I think that part is taken care of  and the Unit / Squadron in this case 431 Squadron, would have the call sign Layman and the only thing assigned to the aircaft would be the letter code in this case W -- Whiskey. So a typical message from an aircraft on approach to Croft could sound like,

"Bigtree tower -- this is layman whiskey -- requesting clearance to land"

This identifies that the aircraft recognizes that he is landing at Croft and that the aircraft belongs to 431 Squadron and the aircraft letter code is W
Sounds good to me. Thanks

Hi Folks.

This is an old thread but, hey, I have only just found the site!

Bill Heron got there. My late Father was a w/op with 35 Squadron (callsign COMPLEX) and was based at Graveley (callsign BRISHBRUSH)

On arrival back at base he would identify his aircraft over the RT by calling the individual aircraft letter (usually M in his case). A typical conversation would begin:-

A/C 'Complex M-Mother to Brishbrush are you receiving, over'

Tower 'Brishbrush to complex M-Mother - pass your message, over'

Final transmissions were always ended with the term 'out' NEVER 'over and out'

Although crews often flew a particular aircraft, it was by no means 'allocated' to them. Dad usually flew in M-Mother but, at various times, flew in P-Peter, A- Apple, Q-Queenie and L-London amongst others.

I have a 1943 'Secret' Navigators folder with the callsign and map locations of around 40 airfields.

RAF Little Staughton's call sign was "Breadboard"  The Station code was "LX" and that would be flashed in morse when aircraft were arriving back at the station to identify it from from other stations in the area. I have read many accounts of crews landing at one station, thinking it was another, which required an explanation at debriefing and left faces red.
Dave Wallace