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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 2572.PDF
638 FLIGHT DECEMBER IOTH, 1942 WHAT'S IN A NAME? Designation Systems Used by U.S. Air Forces MANY readers have no doubt been confused by the variety of names, letters and numbers employed to designate American aircraft. We in this country adhere to the simple method of giving an aircraft one name and sticking to it, indicating subsequent versions of the same machine by the addition of a Roman numeral, plus an appropriate letter to indicate functional modifications. Thus, for example, we begin with a Hawker Hurricane, although the makers' name is nowadays often omitted. Improvements in due course resulted in the Hurricane II, while differences in functional equipment of the Hurri cane II are clearly indicated by Hurricane IIB (bomber version) and Hurricane IIC (cannon version). When a landplane is adapted for navy use in the Fleet Air Arm we merely prefix the word "Sea" as in Sea Gladiator and Sea Hurricane. The Navv's Spitfire is a recent slight exception; it has been named the Seafire, but even this is simple and self-explanatory. America, however, employs combinations of letters and figures, each of which has its special significance ; it is more or less in the nature of a code. This is further complicated by the fact that the U.S. Navy uses a different code from that of the Army. Let us first dissect the U.S. Army code. This employs a letter or combination of two letters to indicate the type of aircraft, and a number to indicate a specific model. Subsequent developments of the same model are indicated by another letter; thus we see, for example, that the machine designed to the Army's 17th specification for a bomber is the B-17, which happens to be the Boeing Flying Fortress. The one accepted on the Army specifica tion No. 20 for an attack type is the A-20, known to us as the Douglas Boston. Later developments of these two examples are, of course, the B-17E and the A-20A. The U.S. Navy method also uses letter symbols for the type, but adds a third letter to indicate the makers' name. Numbers, separated from the letters by a hyphen, show variations of the same model, while subsequent types in the same classification are indicated by inserting a figure in front of the makers' letter, thus the SBD-i and SBD-2 are two different versions of the Scout bomber (SB) pro duced by Douglas (D) ; when, however, the same company 'supplied a second and completely different model of Scout bomber, this was known as the SB2D-1. Sometimes, of course, the same machine will be' in service with the Army and Navy, differing only in the equipment required by these two Services, and will be known to each by a totally different set of symbols. An example of this is the aircraft we know as the Douglas Dauntless, which the U.S. Army calls the A-24 and the U.S. Navy know as the SBD-i. Unfortunately, the two American air forces seem to have worked out their codes quite independently, with the result that the same com bination of letters can mean one type in the Army and a quite different type in the Navy. The following table illus trates a few examples: — mbols P. P.B. P.T. F. G. Type in U.S. Army Pursuit Two-seater Pursuit Primary Trainer Photographic Autogiro Type in U.S. Navy Patrol Patrol Bomber Patrol Torpedo Fighter Single-engined Transport It is only fair to add, however, thatJB stands for bomber and O for observation in both Services, A few American aircraft are also given names by their manufacturers, such as the Boeing Flying Fortress, Martin Mariner, Vought-Sikorsky Kingfisher and the Curtiss Hell- diver, but these are in addition to the official symbols. Here is the complete officially approved list of U.S. Army Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft type symbols, together with the manufacturers' letter symbols employed by the latter service. Although only 24 firms are listed among the Navy's aircraft and there are 26 letters in the alphabet, it will be noticed that in several instances two or morp makers share the same letter, which can only add to tljt^ complication ; the letters G, I, L, Q, R. V and Z are not used at all. Experimental types prefix " X " to the usual combina tion of letters and numerals, as, for example, XPB2M-1, which is the Martin patrol bomber, Mars. Army Attack Autogiro Bombardment Cargo (Transport) Combat, Basic Fighter (Multiplacc) .. Observation Observation (Amphibian) Bombing Fighting. . Miscellaneous Observation Patrol Scouting Torpedo Training.. ... Transport (multi-engine) Transport (single-engine) A G B C BC FM O OA B F M O P S T N R G Manufacturers Brewster Aeronautical Corporation Boeing Aircraft Co. Beech Aircraft Co. Curtiss-Wright Corp. .. Douglas Aircraft Co. .. Bellanca Aircraft Co. .. Grumman Aircraft Eng. Co Hall-Aluminum Air craft Co. Stearman - Hammond Aircraft Corp. North American Avia tion Keystone Aircraft Corp. -A -B -B -C -D -E -F -H -H -J K Photographic Pursuit Pursuit (Biplace) Rotary Wing .. Training, Primary Training, Basic Training, Advance Navy Utility Bombing-Fighting Observation-Scouting .. Patrol-Bombing Patrol-Torpedo.. Scouting-Bombing Scouting-Observation .. Torpedo-Bombing Utility-Transport Symbols : Navy Fairchild Aircraft Corp. Kinner, A. & M. Corp. Ltd Glenn L. Martin Co. .. Naval Aircraft Factory Lockheed Aircraft Corp. Pitcairn Aircraft Inc. . . Sikorsky Aircraft Stearman Aircraft Co... Northrop Aircraft Corp. Chance Vought Aircraft Waco Aircraft Corp. .. Experimental Consolidated Aircraft Corp. F P PB R PT BT AT J BF OS PB PT SB SO TB JR -K -K -M -N -0 -P -S -s -T -u -W -i / -Y AMERICAN GENEROSITY "E'lVE hundred little orphans whose fathers have made the •*- Great Sacrifice are to be supported for at least five years by members of the American Expeditionary Force stationed in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This scheme, which is patterned on the action of U.S.A. soldiers during the first world war who made the well- being of war orphans in France their responsibility, has the full blessing and approval of Lt. Gen. Eisenhower, U.S. Commander in the European theatre of operations. Uncle Sam's large-hearted doughboys are set upon bring ing practical help to the children of. fallen or severely crippled British sailors, soldiers and airmen and of men of the anti-blitz services. JM Basis of this aid is a War Orphan Fund which has just'-f" been inaugurated in collaboration with Stars and Stripes, the A.E.F.'s own weekly newspaper. The fund is adminis tered by the American Red Cross, which is bearing all administration expenses. The programme calls for each child to have ^20 per year raised for its benefit, or £100 as an entire amount.
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