The phonetic alphabet is one of the first things in aviation that a pilot or air traffic controller learns because it forms the foundation of all spoken air/ground communication.

Up until 1 March 1956 civil aviation in Australia used the British phonetic alphabet which had been extensively used during the war years. However, from 1 March 1956 a more 'international' version of the phonetic alphabet, supposedly easier for people of non-English speaking background to pronounce, was adopted. This new phonetic alphabet is used unchanged throughout the aviation world today.

The table below gives both phonetic alphabets:

Letter	till 1 March 1956	post 1 March 1956
A	Able	Alpha
B	Baker	Bravo
C	Charlie	Charlie
D	Dog	Delta
E	Easy	Echo
F	Fox	Foxtrot
G	George	Golf
H	How	Hotel
I	Item	India
J	Jig	Juliett
K	King	Kilo ('keelo')
L	Love	Lima ('leema')
M	Mike	Mike
N	Nan	November
O	Oboe	Oscar
P	Peter	Papa
Q	Queen	Quebec ('kweebeck')
R	Roger	Romeo
S	Sugar	Sierra
T	Tare	Tango
U	Uncle	Uniform
V	Victor	Victor
W	William	Whiskey
X	X-ray	X-ray
Y	Yoke	Yankee
Z	Zebra	Zulu

This information was sourced from the DCA's Flight Radio Operator's Manual, Fourth Edition, September 1955 and amendments.

Listen to the early phonetic alphabet in action in Essendon Tower in an excerpt from an interview of Air Traffic Controller Jack McCubbin by Norman Banks of radio station 3AW c.1950 (555 KB MP3 file).

Download a Movie Clip: A Position Report, 1950s-style, using the old phonetic alphabet.

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