In Sid Meier's Ace Patrol, your pilots gain callsigns as they progress through the game. Each callsign has its own benefits and drawbacks.

It might be difficult to figure out just what these callsigns do and how effective they are. This guide is, more or less, an attempt at fixing that.

As a side note, it's good to know that each time you get an opportunity to give a pilot a callsign, you only get four options, which are selected at random. Because of this, it's entirely possible for the same callsign to be one of the four options each time or never see a particular callsign at all.

The following callsigns are the ones you have access to at the beginning of the game, assuming that you haven't successfully completed any campaigns.

Under each callsign's heading there are positive and negative remarks about the callsign and its effects.

Copy Cat - Copies any and all upgrades received by other pilots in your squadron.
+ Good for quickly gaining pilot upgrades.
- Only useful until the pilot with this callsign gains all four upgrades.
- Relatively quick and easy to acquire all upgrades without this callsign.

Dead Eye - Increases the distance that your pilot can shoot and hit the enemy.
+ Makes it easier hit the enemy before he can hit you.
+ Useful if the enemy is attempting to run away.
- Loses its effectiveness at close range, where many dogfights eventually take place.

Escape Artist - Gives your pilot an increased chance to escape a POW camp if captured.
+ Good if you get shot down a lot.
- So long as you don't get shot down, crash, or make an emergency landing over enemy territory, this isn't even an issue.

Grease Monkey - Allows your pilot to repair his or her plane at a faster pace.
+ If you're particularly reckless or new to the game, this can get you back in the air faster.
- So long as you return to base with less than 50% damage, your plane is fully repaired before the next mission.

Lucky - Completely negates all damage normally incurred by anti-aircraft flak cannons.
+ This is the most useful callsign in the entire game as every mission includes enemy airfields with flak cannons.
+ Makes completing the objective and dogfighting much easier, as you never need to expose yourself to enemy fire when attempting to avoid flak coverage.
- If you're not flying over or near an enemy airfield, this callsign has no effect.

Nine Lives - Your pilot can survive a crash without injury.
+ If you're shot down over friendly territory, you won't have to miss flight time in the hospital.
- If you don't get shot down (or you're shot down over enemy territory), this callsign is useless.

Stormrider - Lets your pilot perform most of his or her moves while within cloud cover.
+ Makes dogfighting within cloud cover much easier.
- Useless if there is no cloud cover (i.e. winter) or there are no clouds near your objective.

Strong Heart - Allows your pilot to perform more high-g maneuvers than normally possible.
+ Can make high-g dogfighting a bit easier.
- In most cases, your pilots can perform plenty of high-g maneuvers without needing the slight boost from this callsign.

After completing a campaign, you're awarded with two new callsigns per nation.

These callsigns may be used by any pilot of any country, regardless of the campaign the callsign was originally earned in. For example, a callsign gained after the German Campaign could be used by an American, British, or French pilot.

Under each callsign's heading there are positive and negative remarks about the callsign and its effects.

Balloon Buster - Do extra damage against balloons. This may include zeppelins.
+ Useful if you're having problems shooting down balloons.
- Shooting down balloons is extremely easy, especially if you take care of the fighter cover first.
- Zeppelins aren't even a concern if you're playing the German side, and they're nearly as easy to destroy as balloons.

Charmed Life - Take no critical hit damage.
+ You won't receive extra forms of damage (such as engine fires), which can be devastating as they can cause damage each turn.
- You can still suffer from normal damage or flak damage.


Eagle, The - Increased performance and damage when attacking from above.
+ If you make an effort to always attack from a higher altitude (which is a good idea anyway), this callsign can come in handy.
- Only truly becomes viable once you've obtained the high altitude upgrade and you're flying a plane that can climb and dive quickly.

Incinerator, The - Critical hits scored against an enemy will often cause engine fires.
+ Engine fires cause damage each turn, so it's possible to shoot down an enemy even if he's turned tail and run.
- Causing engine fires is often quite easy to do even without this callsign.
- Relies entirely on scoring a critical hit. If you don't do that often, this callsign's effect won't trigger.


Executioner, The - Gives your pilot the chance to kill an enemy target in one hit.
+ In the right situation and with some good luck, you can quickly shoot down a whole squadron by yourself.
- Relies on chance, so more often than not, this callsign's effect won't make a huge difference.

Test Pilot - Lets this pilot choose a new plane before its been officially released.
+ Could end up giving you a more advanced plane than your enemy counterparts.
+ Most useful for the German side as the best overall plane (the Fokker D.VII) normally becomes available about half-way through the final campaign, and this callsign gives it to you a lot earlier.
- New planes aren't always better. This is especially true on the French side, where the final plane (the Nieuport 28) is no better, and in some cases actually worse, than the previous plane (the SPAD S.XIII).
- In most cases, you don't get to fly new planes that much before everyone else, so the overall usefulness of this callsign highly depends on which side you're playing on.


Baron, The - Causes more damage when scoring a critical hit against an enemy target.
+ The faster you cause damage, the less time the enemy has to damage you or complete their mission.
- You have to first get a critical hit for this callsign's effect to make a difference.

Natural, The - Gives this pilot your choice of any available ace maneuver.
+ Gaining an immediate ace maneuver before other pilots can be a bonus.
+ It's a decent callsign for your first pilot, although nowhere near the best one available.
- You only get ONE ace maneuver from this callsign.
- You get the most benefit from this callsign the earlier you gain it.