Aircraft Designations
For those who are not aviation fanatics, aircraft designations and titles can be rather confusing. This is particularly the case for the United States military as, elsewhere in the world, the trend has generally been to name aircraft on the simple pattern of:
Manufacturer – Series Title
In this sense, the British-made Avro Lancaster has a designation not unlike the Ford Thunderbird. Even with a numerical designation, this method is not too complicated as the German He-111, for example, can be read as “Heinkel 111.” Variants of a series can be indicated in different ways, be it a letter following a number or a number following the series title.
For example:
Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V
(Supermarine is the company, Spitfire is the series, and this is the airplane’s fifth variant.)
Bf-109G
(Bayerische Flugzeugwerke or Bavarian Aircraft Works is the company, 109 is the series, and G is the variant.)
In the United States, aircraft designation is purpose-based so that a person can instantly know an aircraft’s job simply by seeing its name. This system has changed little since 1926 with the founding of the US Army Air Corps. The problem is that, until 1962, the Air Force and its antecedents used a different system than the Navy. When the Kennedy administration forced both services to use the same system, designations changed slightly, favoring the Air Force somewhat, with the numbers starting all over again.. On average, the US system can be read thusly:
Manufacturer – Purpose – Government Designation – Variant – Series Title
Using such this system, we can learn a good deal from an aircraft’s designation.
For example:
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress
(Boeing is the company, the aircraft is Army/Air Force bomber number 17, G is the variant, and Flying Fortress is the series.)
Prior to 1962, the Navy’s system used letters to designate manufacturers and numbers to designate variants. For pre-1962 US Navy aircraft, we need to chart the letters for both prefix and the suffix. This can result in complex designations at times.
For example:
F4F-3 Wildcat
(The aircraft is Navy fighter number 4, Grumman is the company, 3 is the variant, and Wildcat is the series.)
Before going on to the charts, it is worth pointing out that the United Nations developed a curious system for designating the purposes of Soviet aircraft during the Cold War: F words for fighters and B words for bombers.
For example:
Tu-95K Bear
(Tupolev is the company, 95 is the series, K is the variant, and the aircraft is a bomber.)
This system was originally developed during World War II for use against the Japanese, wherein fighters received boy’s names and bombers received girl’s names.
US Aircraft Designation Prefixes (1926-1962)
(Note that this chart is somewhat simplified.)
A: Ground Attack (Close Air Support)
B: Bomber
C: Cargo
D: Dive Bomber
E: Ambulance (“Evacuation”)
F: Photographic Reconnaissance (Fighter for Navy and post-1948 Air Force)
G: Glider
H: Helicopter (post-1948)
J: Jet-Propelled Bomb or Rocket (Utility for Navy)
K: Fuel Tanker
L: Liaison
N: Naval Trainer
O: Observation
P: Fighter (“Pursuit”) (Patrol for Navy)
Q: Radio Controlled Drone
R: Personnel Transport (post-1948 Reconnaissance)
S: Search and Rescue (Scout for Navy)
T: Trainer (Torpedo Bomber for Navy)
U: Utility
V: Vertical Takeoff
W: Weather
X: Experimental
Y: Trial Version (“Why?”)
Z: Dirigible (“Zeppelin”)
US Navy Aircraft Manufacturer Suffixes (1926-1962)
(Note that his chart is heavily abridged.)
A: Brewster Aeronautics
B: Boeing Aircraft
C: Curtiss-Wright
D: Douglas Aircraft
F: Grumman
G: Goodyear
H: McDonnell Aircraft
K: Keystone Aircraft
L: Bell Aircraft
M: Glenn Martin or General Motors
N: Naval Aircraft Company
O: Lockheed Corporation
Q: Stinson Aircraft
R: Ford
S: Sikorsky Aircraft or Stearman Aircraft
U: Chance-Vought
Y: Consolidated Aircraft (later Convair)
US Aircraft Designation Prefixes (1962-Present)
(Note that this chart is extremely simplified.)
A: Ground Attack (Close AIr Support)
B: Bomber
C: Cargo
E: Special Electronics
F: Fighter
H: Helicopter
K: Fuel Tanker
O: Observation
P: Patrol
Q: Drone
R: Photographic Reconnaissance
S: Anti-Submarine
T: Trainer
U: Utility
V: Personnel Transport (“VIP”)
W: Weather
X: Experimental
Y: Trial Version (“Why?”)