posted 02-12-2006 09:08 AM               

We have a boat load of Navy pilots as astronauts throughout our space program history, but we never seem to hear much about what their call signs were and are.

posted 02-12-2006 02:24 PM               

As a member of the VP-6 squadron (The Blue Sharks) during the Korean war, Carpenter says that all the VP-6 squadron members used the call sign "Baker Easy."

Carpenter was "Baker Easy 4," because 4 was the number his P2-V's tail, and that this is how the Navy kept track of its airplanes and its aviators.

It would have been a security breach to use Baker Easy in conjunction with "the bureau" number — whatever that is. I guess it was classified.