What does “bogey” mean?
A bogey is an aircraft nobody has identified yet. It’s a blip, a contrail, a sound overhead: something is there, and you don’t know what it is.
1A radar or visual contact whose identity is unknown.
“A CONTACT whose identity is unknown.”US Multi-Service Tactical Brevity Codes, 2023
2golf One stroke over par on a hole.
3originally A specter or phantom. See bogeyman.
Every contact starts as a bogey
When a fighter controller asks a pilot to declare a contact, the answer is a word on a ladder. Everything starts at the bottom: unknown. Identification moves it up.
- STARTBOGEYSomething is there. Nobody knows what.“A CONTACT whose identity is unknown.”
- 01FRIENDLYOne of ours.“A positively identified FRIENDLY aircraft, ship, spacecraft, or ground position.”
- 02NEUTRALIdentified, and not on either side.“A positively identified aircraft, ship, or ground position whose characteristics, behavior, origin, or nationality indicate it is neither supporting nor opposing FRIENDLY forces.”
- 03BANDITIdentified as the enemy. Not permission to do anything about it.“Positively identified as an enemy in accordance with (IAW) theater ID criteria. The term does not imply direction or authority to engage.”
- 04HOSTILEThe enemy, and cleared to engage. The end of the ladder.“A contact identified as enemy upon which clearance to fire is authorized IAW theater rules of engagement (ROE).”
Definitions verbatim from ATP 1-02.1, Multi-Service Tactical Brevity Codes (2023).
Where the word comes from
- c. 1500Bogle, a Scottish word for a ghost. Older English had bugge, “a frightening specter,” and bog or bogge.
- 1500sThe bogeyman: the thing in the dark you can’t see but are sure is there.
- 1940Britain’s radar stations plot aircraft crossing the Channel at night. A 1943 newspaper account of that RAF night-fighter work reads: “A ‘bogey’ (unidentified aircraft) had been detected by ground stations” and “Bogey identified as ‘bandit’.”
- TodayBOGEY is still the official word, in both the US multi-service and NATO brevity codes: a contact whose identity is unknown.
The radar word kept the old meaning. A bogey is a phantom: something real enough to show up on a screen, but not yet anything you can name.
The radio words for spotting
Brevity codes exist so a pilot can say a lot in one or two words. These are the ones about finding and seeing aircraft, which is what spotting is.
“What's out there?” A request for the bearing, range, altitude and heading of the nearest group.
“Request for information on indicated or closest GROUP in bearing, range, altitude, and aspect (BRAA) format.”
“I see it.” Eyes on the contact.
“Sighting of a target, non-friendly aircraft, or enemy position. Opposite of NO JOY.”
“I can't see it.” The opposite of tally.
“Aircrew does not have visual contact with the TARGET or BANDIT. Opposite of TALLY.”
“I see my wingman.” Eyes on a friendly.
“Sighting of a FRIENDLY aircraft or ground position or ship. Opposite of BLIND.”
“Lost my wingman.” No eyes on a friendly.
“No visual contact with FRIENDLY aircraft, ship, or ground position. Opposite of VISUAL.”
Set the transponder. The same transponders broadcast the signals Bogey reads.
“Operate IFF/selective ID feature as indicated or IFF or selective ID feature is operating as indicated.”
Every plane is a bogey until you know what it is.
You hear it before you see it. Then there it is: a glint, a contrail, a shape going over the house. To you, it’s a bogey.
Bogey is the radar scope in your pocket. Every aircraft around you is a contact on the map, at its real position. Tap one and you’ve identified it: the card flips with what it is, who flies it and where it’s going, and it goes into your collection. The rare ones are worth more.
Unknown to known, one tap at a time.
What bogey means in golf
On a golf course, a bogey is one stroke over par. It started as the opposite. In 1890 the Coventry Golf Club set a “ground score,” the number of shots a good golfer should take at each hole. At Great Yarmouth, a player chasing that score called his unbeatable, invisible opponent a regular “bogey-man,” after a popular music-hall song. The name stuck, the phantom became Colonel Bogey, and the word was in print by 1891.
Later, with par as the standard score, a bogey came to mean one over it; it was used that way in the US by 1930. Golf still has a “Par/Bogey” format in the official Rules. The famous Colonel Bogey March, written just before the First World War by British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts and later whistled through The Bridge on the River Kwai, is named after the golfing colonel.
Same root either way: a phantom you’re up against and can’t quite see.
Quick answers
What does bogey mean in the military?
A bogey is an aircraft or radar contact whose identity is unknown. The US and NATO brevity codes define it as “a contact whose identity is unknown.” It isn't friend or foe yet; it's a question.
What's the difference between a bogey and a bandit?
A bogey is unknown. A bandit has been positively identified as an enemy. Even a bandit isn't permission to engage: that's a hostile, which means identified as enemy and cleared to fire.
Where does the word bogey come from?
From old words for ghosts and goblins: the Scottish bogle (recorded around 1500), the bogeyman, and the Middle English bugge, a frightening specter. Allied airmen in World War II used it for unidentified aircraft; a 1943 newspaper account of 1940 RAF night-fighter work already reads “Bogey identified as ‘bandit’.”
What does bogey dope mean?
It's a pilot's request for the bearing, range, altitude and heading of the nearest group of contacts: in plain words, “what's out there?”
What does tally mean in aviation?
Tally means the pilot can see the contact. The opposite is no joy. For friendly aircraft the pair is visual and blind.
What does bogey mean in golf?
One stroke over par on a hole. It started in 1890s Britain as the opposite: the target score a good player should make, imagined as a phantom opponent called the Bogey Man, later Colonel Bogey.
Why is the app called Bogey?
Because every plane overhead starts as a bogey: you can hear it and see it, but you don't know what it is. Bogey turns it into a known aircraft with one tap.
Sources
- ATP 1-02.1 / MCRP 3-30B.1 / NTTP 6-02.1 / AFTTP 3-2.5, Multi-Service Tactical Brevity Codes (7 March 2023)
- Online Etymology Dictionary, “bogey”
- Merriam-Webster, “bogey”
- Wordorigins.org, “bogey” (1943 New York Herald Tribune citation; 1891 and 1930 golf citations)
- The R&A, Rules of Golf, Rule 21.3 (Par/Bogey)
More plain-English answers in the spotter’s guides.
Got a bogey overhead?
Open Bogey, tap the blip, and find out what it is. Then it's yours.
- A live map of every aircraft around you, at its real position.
- Tap one and it flips into a trading card: type, airline, route, photo.
- Catch rare ones. Build a collection. Climb the leaderboard.
