#ECHOES SPELLING CODE#

In 1947, the International Air Transport Association developed a new draft code that was meant to act as a universal cipher for those speaking in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. These countries used the Ana Brazil code, a modified code which was easier for Spanish speakers. The Able Baker code continued to be used in both military and civil aviation after the war, until flights to and from Latin and South America became more common later in the decade.

This became known as the Able Baker alphabet, which was also used by the RAF in 1943 to make communications between the two allied nations easier. armed forces worked together to standardize their own internal alphabets in the lead up to the war. World War II marked a significant uptick in both civilian and military flight operations around the world. In 1932, several amendments were made to the alphabet to make it more understandable, and it was this alphabet that the International Commission for Air Navigation used right up until World War II.Īmsterdam Baltimore Casablanca Denmark Edison Florida Gallipoli Havana Italia Jerusalem Kilogramme Liverpool Madagascar NewYork Oslo Paris Quebec Roma Santiago Tripoli Uppsala Valencia Washington Xanthippe Yokohama Zurich

As such, the alphabet quickly became a work in progress as problems with comprehension were identified through frequent use. This combination of letters and numbers needed to be understood by both English and non-English speakers. The first recognized radiotelephone spelling alphabet was put into practice by the International Telecommunication Union in 1927. It soon became clear, however, that these communications could be garbled or misunderstood, often resulting in tragic consequences. The rise of radio and telephone communications in the early to mid-twentieth century had a powerful impact on all aspects of life, including the emerging field of aviation. Despite its widespread use, few realize what an accomplishment it was to create a universal code that we could safely use to navigate the skies – no matter our country of origin or destination. It’s the world’s most used radiotelephonic code, which assigns code words that represent each letter of the English alphabet.

That's tough on Memphis-area spellers, but the good news is that the University of Memphis will partner with the bee’s Nashville sponsors, the Tennessee Titans, to bring the event back to Memphis in 2019, according to U of M president David Rudd.It’s the language pilots use every day in the air: the International Radiotelephone Spelling Alphabet, also known as the NATO phonetic alphabet. This arrangement made sense, because words to a newspaper are like grass to a lawn.īut during the complicated ownership transition from Scripps to the Journal Media Group to Gannett, the local bee - part of the network that led to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington - lost the coordination of The Commercial Appeal, and no other company or entity was able to step forward and take over the event in the time available.Īs a result, the March 10 regional spelling bee in Nashville is the closest contest available for spellers who hope to compete in the 91st Scripps national bee in May in Washington. For decades, the bee was sponsored and organized by The Commercial Appeal (with former employee Mary Lou Brown acting as Queen Bee, so to speak, for many of those years).

Echoes spelling