From 1922 until 1962, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

and the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

used a system to designate their aircraft that included information about a craft's role and its manufacturer. For a listing of all such designations, see the

list of United States Navy aircraft designations (pre-1962) This list of United States Navy aircraft designations (pre-1962) includes prototype, pre-production and operational type designations under the 1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system, which was used by the United States Navy, the Un ...

Background

The U.S. Navy used two sequential designation systems prior to 1922, neither of which directly conveyed information about the aircraft's mission. The first system, adopted in 1911, consisted of a single letter signifying the manufacturer and aircraft class followed by sequential numbers for individual aircraft. In March 1914, the navy introduced a new system similar to

hull classification symbols The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

for warships, with an alphabetical code for the aircraft class followed by sequential numbers for individual aircraft, with the designation of the first aircraft of a particular design being used as the type designation for similar aircraft; for instance, aircraft similar to '' AH-8'' were referred to as ''AH-8 type''. The second system was abandoned in May 1917 without replacement; the navy began using the manufacturers' model designations.

The 1922 system

On 29 March 1922, a new designation system was introduced with a reorganization of U.S. naval aviation under the

Bureau of Aeronautics The Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for naval aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" (''i.e.'', responsibility) for the design, procurement, and support of naval aircraft and relate ...

. The system conveyed its information in the form: :(Mission)(Design Number)(Manufacturer)-(Subtype)(Minor Modification) For example, F4U-1A referred to a minor modification (A) to the first major subtype (1) of Chance-Vought's (U) fourth (4) fighter (F) design. For the first few years after the system was introduced, the manufacturer's letter and the mission letter were sometimes reversed. If it was the manufacturer's first design for that particular mission, there was no number before the manufacturer letter.

Mission

The mission of the aircraft was designated by a one or two letter code. This code would also indicate whether the craft was a

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

(L),

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

(H) or

lighter-than-air A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result. It is required for aerostats to create buoyancy, particularly in lighter-than-air aircraft, which include fre ...

(Z). Duplicated codes were not in use at the same time.

Design number

In cases where an aircraft was its manufacturer's first design for a particular mission, the 1 would not be written. Thus the

Consolidated Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

patrol aircraft was the PBY, not PB1Y, and the McDonnell Phantom was FH, not F1H.

Manufacturer

The codes used to denote manufacturers were not unique to a single company as they were reassigned, usually when the company had either ceased operations or had not produced an aircraft for the Navy for a considerable period of time. Additionally, aircraft built under license received a separate design number than the aircraft produced by the designing company. For example, Goodyear produced the

Vought F4U Corsair The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts ...

as the FG and the

Grumman TBF Avenger The Grumman TBF Avenger (designated TBM for aircraft manufactured by General Motors) is an American World War II-era torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air and naval av ...

torpedo bomber was produced by General Motors as the TBM. Foreign aircraft generally did not receive a designation under this system unless they were to be built under license in the United States, or were built for use in the United States, such as aircraft built in Canada, including the Fairchild-Canada SBF Helldiver and Canadian-Vickers PBV Catalina.

Minor modifications

Letters were occasionally appended after the design number to denote minor modifications to the subtype; e.g. adding 'N' to the

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...

designated the

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

-equipped

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

version of that model: F6F-5N. The first suffix to be used was "C" for aircraft modified for launching from an

aircraft catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...

on a

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the suffixes were often consecutive, with many lacking defined meanings, and they were not often used. During the war, they came into wide use and were given defined meanings, but letters were duplicated and their meanings were inconsistent. For instance, the letter "A" was used both for deletion of the

tailhook A tailhook, arresting hook, or arrester hook is a device attached to the empennage (rear) of some military fixed-wing aircraft. The hook is used to achieve rapid deceleration during routine landings aboard aircraft carrier flight decks at sea ...

from an aircraft normally so equipped (e.g. the Douglas SBD-5A, used from land bases) and for addition of this equipment to a land-based aircraft; for amphibious versions of

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

s (e.g. the Consolidated PBY-5A); for armament added to a normally unarmed type; and for miscellaneous modifications (e.g. the aforementioned F4U-1A). The addition of a tailhook to a land-based aircraft could also be designated with a "C", e.g. the North American SNJ-5C, repeating the letter previously used for catapult-launched aircraft. A significant wartime exception to this system was existing

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF) types adopted by the Navy, such as the

North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

; in some such cases, the minor modification letter simply mirrored the USAAF sub-type letter, e.g. the B-25H became the PBJ-1H.

End of the system

In 1962, the Department of Defense unified its aircraft designation systems along the lines of the Air Force's system. Many Navy aircraft then in service were redesignated. For many planes, the mission letters and design numbers were retained, as the Douglas AD Skyraider became the A-1 and the McDonnell F4H Phantom II became the F-4. Some aircraft design numbers were not retained, like the North American Vigilante, which was redesignated from A3J to A-5 (the A-3 designation having already been assigned to the

A-3 Skywarrior The Douglas A-3 Skywarrior is a jet-powered strategic bomber that was developed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was designed by Douglas on behalf of the United States Navy, which sought a carrier-capable strategic bomber. Duri ...

Similar systems

A very similar system, the short system, was adopted by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in the late 1920s that differed only in the use of the 1 for the first assigned type, having letters assigned to match Japanese aircraft and manufacturers, and not having a different number series for each manufacturer.

System examples

References

Citations

Bibliography

*{{cite book , last1=Swanborough , first1=Gordon , last2=Bowers , first2=Peter M. , date=1976 , title=United States Navy Aircraft since 1911 , edition=2nd , location=Annapolis, Maryland , publisher=Naval Institute Press , isbn=0-87021-968-5

External links

Designation-Systems.net: Aircraft Redesignations in 1962
United States military aircraft