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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0130.PDF
,84 FLIGHT, 18 January 1951 SERIAL NUMBERS How Individual British Military Aircraft are Identified : The History of a System Inaugurated 38 Years Ago By M. J. F. BOWYER ALL R.A.F. and Naval aircraft carry a serial number /% allotted when a contract is placed with a manufac- *• -»- turer or when the aircraft are purchased. A method of identifying each airframe became an obvious necessity when the Army began to adopt aircraft in 1912, and so each machine was given a number starting at 1 and follow- ing through to 9999. Originally the Air Battalion R.E. was responsible for operating aircraft, but on May 13th, 1912, the Royal Flying Corps came into being, having a Military and Naval Wing. The latter changed its name to the Royal Naval Air Service in 1914, and at the same time took over all airships from the Army. Numbers 1 to 200 were allotted to the Naval Wing and 210 onwards were allotted to the Army. When the Naval Wing used up its first block, it was allotted a second batch, 801 to 1600 inclusive; 1601 to 3000 and 4001 to 8000, both inclusive, were Military aircraft, whilst 3001 to 4000 and 8001 to 9999, both inclusive, were Naval aircraft. It is believed that numbers above 9999 were allotted but I have no definite information upon this point. When number 9999 was reached—or a number slightly greater, assuming that five-figure numbers existed—it was decided to place an alphabetical letter preceding the number to prevent the numbers from becoming too great. A second series began at Al and ran through to A9999, followed by a third, Bl to B9999, etc. Allocation of serials was rapidly speeded up as the immense value of the aeroplane in war was realized. Series prefixed "C," "D," "E," "F" and "H" were allotted, running through in each case from 1 to 9999. "G" series was reserved for captured German air- craft, whilst "I" was not used, to prevent confusion with the number one. When the letter J was reached it would seem that the first number allotted was J1000. It is true to say that no machine ever appeared with a number prefixed by "J" between 1 and 999. By the end of the 1914-18 war J1100 was approxi- mately the number reached, but few aircraft between J1000 and J6700 were actually built, and many contracts were cancelled due to the completion of hostilities. The remaining "J" numbers 6700-9999 were used up between 1919-1927—a true indication as to how the industry suffered then. Upon the formation of the R.A.F., on April 1st, 1918, a new series prefixed "X" and beginning at 1 was intro- duced for experimental aircraft, but this was a very short- lived series, soon dispensed with. When 9999 had been reached in the first series, all new Naval aircraft were then allotted a number prefixed by the letter "N." R.N.A.S. aircraft numbered between Nl and N499 were prototypes (e.g., N163 was a Fairey Flycatcher, and N164 was its seaplane version). Whilst Nl to 499 was left for prototypes, the whole batch was never used up, the highest number being about N263. Numbers from N500 were reserved for deck-landing aircraft prototypes, whilst R.N.A.S. production aircraft had serials commencing at N1001. N9999 was reached in about 15>24, and a new series for Fleet and Coastal Area aircraft commencing at S1001 was allotted, but in 1931 this was discontinued, and since that time Naval and Coastal aircraft have received no special series to themselves. It is interesting to note that in 1919 civil aircraft were allotted a series beginning K100, but they terminated at K175 because the present system of registration letters was introduced late in 1919. " K " numbers commenced in 1927 with K1000, and each successive series began at 1000 and terminated at 9999.1 Single-letter prefixes used were K, L, N, P, R, T, V, W, X and Z. "K" numbers were still being issued when the R.A.F. expansion scheme was introduced in the mid-1930s, and many wartime types had prototypes in the Ks (e.g., K4049 and K4212, Wellington prototypes; K5054, Spitfire; K5083, Hurricane; K4586, Whitley; and K6127, Lysander). The "Ls" were all expansion types, with few exceptions, these being prototypes of aircraft which emerged during the early stages of the war (e.g., Stirling, L7600; Lancaster, L7502; Lerwick, L7248; and Whirlwind, L6844). It was during the K and L series that the "blocking-out" system1 was introduced. An example will show the meaning of this phrase. Auster Mk. 1 aircraft were of the double-serial letter sequence (referred to later) and extended from LB263 to LB385, inclusive. Therefore, one might assume that 123 Austers Mk. I were built in this contract batch. But certain numbers were " blocked out" and small batches within the larger group only were produced, these being LB263 to LB299, LB311 to LB352 and LB365 to LB385. Total pro- duction was thus 100 machines and not 123. Only by know- ing these "break-downs" of batches would an enemy be able to assess actual production, and this is the reason for the " blocking-out" system. It did not, however, apply to war- time American aircraft used by the R.A.F. Prior to the last war, certain aircraft were rebuilt from, for example, a Naval to an R.A.F. type (e.g., Fairey IIIF to Gordon). When this was done a letter " R " appeared after the original prefix letter and preceded the number. Z9999 brought an end to the single-letter series, and so a new system, using two letters followed by three numbers, was introduced at AA100. As there are so many combina- tions, it is not proposed to deal with each of them. Numbers ran in each series from 100 to 999, being, of course, " blocked out" in many cases. First letters used in combinations so far have been A, B, D, E, F, H, J, K, L, M, P, R, S, T, V and W. Second letters used have been A, B, D, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T5 V, W, X and Z. Within these, certain combinations were not used, such as DA, DB, EA, ET, HA, HT, JE, JH, MR, NW, NZ, SV, TN and TR. NC were letters used by Wellingtons, but "C" appeared no- where else in these letters. EV to HD inclusive and JS to KP, were Lease-Lend aircraft; SA to SK were allotted to Lease-Lend aircraft but were never taken up, due to the end of the war. Suffixes were used during the war to indicate various cate- gories of individual aircraft; as an example of this, SNAKE was one coding, and this gave the clue to what type of equip- ment was carried (although not such an obvious clue as one might think!). [The foregoing article is from a recent issue of "Aircraft News," published by Auster Aircraft, Ltd.—Ed.] ALL-SWEDISH TURBOJET A STOCKHOLM announcement claims that Sweden will bethe first of the smaller nations to produce a turbojet of domestic design, collaboration to that end having already been initiated between the STAL (Svenska Turbinfabriks AB Ljung- strom) concern, of Finspang, and Svenska Flygmotor AB, a subsidiary of the SAAB Aircraft Company. The new unit is of axial-flow design, and is intended for a SAAB fighter to supersede the J-29, now in service with the Swedish Air Force. All technical data are withheld, but it can be said that the thrust will be considerably higher than the 5,0001b delivered by the de Havilland Ghost, installed in the J-29 and built under licence by Svenska Flygmotor. W. A. ROLLASON'S MOVE IN a recent paragraph in these pages concerning the location ofthe offices of W. A. Rollason, Ltd., and Rollason Engines, Ltd., it should have been made clear that the head office has beeil moved from Terminal House, Victoria, to Croydon Airport, Surrey. The telephone number is Croydon 5151/3.
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