Distress signal

The distress signal "Mayday" comes from the French "M'aidez" (help me). In 1921, radio officer Frederick Mockford at London's Croydon Airport proposed it for aviation communication with Paris, as both English and French speakers could understand it.

The popular belief that SOS stands for "Save Our Souls" is a myth. SOS has no inherent meaning—it was chosen as a distress signal because in Morse code it becomes "··· ─── ···," which is concise and unmistakable.