In the early days of crossing the north Atlantic using Doppler and low frequency navigation there were many times a precise fix was hard to come by. To aid in the process, the government placed some poor Coast Guard kids out in the north Atlantic and Pacific to help planes and ships make the crossing. I used to get such a kick out of giving these folks a call and hearing how cheerful they were, even though they were getting pounded by rough seas and wind. There were three ships on the east side of the Atlantic ocean that we would talk to, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie. They would try to radar identify you and then give you a fix based on where they thought they were in the ocean. We would send them a Met Report of the winds at our altitude, sky condition and temperature. We had a chart on the plane with a grid system and would use it to plot the fix. It was better than we could do sometimes if the Doppler was not giving a good fix. All this fun ended around 1980.

Fast forward to the late 80’s. Back in the good old days, when flying was fun and more relaxed, I flew with a Captain named Bernie Dunn. We would say, “flying is fun with Bernie Dunn.” Here we are in a 747 crossing the ocean with state-of-the-art INS navigation and Bernie wants to have some fun. He instructs the F/O to give ocean station Charlie a call and get a fix. Now we know full well that these ships have been gone for almost a decade, but it’s time for fun.

The message goes out on the common north Atlantic frequency...” Ocean Station Charlie, Ocean Station Charlie, this is TWA 700 – OVER! No response. After a few minutes we repeat the message... Ocean Station Charlie, Ocean Station Charlie, this is TWA 700 – OVER! The hook is set! After a few seconds comes a reply on the frequency. TWA 700, this is THE CLIPPER 2, there are no ocean stations! With that, Bernie gets on his radio and cups his mouth over the microphone and says... TWA 700 This is Ocean Station Charlie, go ahead with your Met Report. Needless to say everyone on the common radio frequency let loose with roars of laughter at the expense of “THE CLIPPER.”

Lou

More reading...

http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/rpdinsmore_oceanstations.asp
http://www.noreasterpress.com/books/OceanStation.php
This is a cool book with a lot of data...
http://www.archive.org/stream/northatlanticoce00hann#page/n1/mode/2up