U.S. Navy Aircraft Designation System

[ccheese]

Up until 1962, you could always (well, almost) tell the manufacturer
of U.S. Navy planes by the last letter of their designation. It was
changed in 1962 so that all services used the same designation for
the same aircraft. The Navy also designated the mission of the
aircraft by the first letters A-Attack, F -Fighter, R-Transport, S-Scout,
SB-Scout Bomber, P-Patrol, PB-Patrol Bomber, O-Observation, etc.

Here‘s a breakdown:

Last Manufacturer Aircraft
Letter


A……. Brewster…………F2A (Buffalo), SB2A (Buccaneer)
B……..Boeing……………PB-1W (B-17), B2B-1S, (B-29)
C……..Curtiss……………NC-1, NC-4
D……..Douglas…………..R4D, (C-47), R5D (C-54), JD-1, AD, SBD, A3D (B-66)
F……..Grumman…………F3F, F4F, F6F, F7F, F8F, F9F, TF, S2F, TBF
G……..Goodyear…………FG-1 (Goodyear built Corsair)
H……..McDonnell………..F2H, FH-1 (Phantom)
J………North American….SNJ (AT-6) FJ-3 (Fury) PBJ-1 (B-25)
L………Bell………………FL-1 (P-39)
M……..Glenn L. Martin…..PBM, P5M, P6M, JM-1 (B-26)
N………Naval Acft Factory..N3N-1, N3N-2, N3N-3
Q………Fairchild…………..R4Q (C-119)
S……….Stearman………….N2S
U……….Chance-Vought…..F4U, OS2U,
Y………Consolidated………PBY, PB4Y-1 (B-24), PB4Y-2 (Privateer)
V………Lockheed…………PV-1 (Hudson) PV-2 (Ventura), P2V, P2V-2,
TV-2 (P-80), R7V-1 (Connie), P3V (Orion)


C was also used to designate Cessna : UC-35D Encore
B was also used to designate Beechcraft: SNB (C-45)
M was also used to designate General Motors. Their Eastern Aircraft
Division built some of the TBM’s. Martin also built some.

Stearman, Boeing and the Naval Aircraft Factory all made the Kaydet.

There were others: General Aviation, Budd, Hiller, Stinson, Piasecki,
Ryan, Waco, and the list goes from A to Z. I’ve tried to hit the most
popular, and the one’s most aviation buffs would recognize. A complete
list can be found at:

1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles

[FLYBOYJ]

Nice post Charles - I know we had several people asking about this over the years - here it is all spelled out!

[Maharg]

Great post Charles thanks M8.

[maxs75]

It's curious that Imperial Japanese Navy used a similar way of designation:
A: Aichi D3A, E13A
K: Kawanishi H6K, H8K
M: Mitsubishi A5M, A6M, F1M
N: Nakajima B5N, B6N
and so on.
The difference is that for the first model of the role IJN uses 1, while USN put nothing:
Grumman FF, then F2F, F3F
Curtiss SBC, then SB2C
but
Yokosuka P1Y,
Mitsubishi F1M.
Also, IJN numbers follows role, USN numbers follow builders.
So if you A6M zero/zeke, it is not possible to have A6N, While USN had F4F, F4U, F4B....

Max

[ccheese]

Perhaps I should have taken this a little further.

Maxs75: for you: There were additions to the designations for instance:
F4U-1A referred to the first modification (A) to the first major subtype (1)
of a Chance-Vought (U) fourth (4) fighter (F) design.

It went like this:
(Mission)(Design Number)(Manufacturer)-(Subtype)(Minor Modification)
F 4 U - 1 A

Charles

[evangilder]

Good info. I knew the designation had some meaning as it was described to me once. I just didn't know all of the manufacturer codes.

[timshatz]

Another good post Charles.

[ccheese]

When I started this post about US Navy aircraft designations, I started out
right from memory. And..... I did remember most of them. Then I got to
checking and.....egad..... there were 105 manufacturers of aircraft for
the US Navy. Some I've never heard of.....Canadian Car & Foundry, for
instance. Ford, Thomas Morse, Wilford (who's he ?), Cox-Klemin....
and the list goes on. And they literally went from A: Brewster, General
Aviation, Allied, Aeromarine to Z: Wilford and Pennsylvania. I thought I
had really opened up a pandora's box, but Joe egged me on, and there-in
lies the tale. I hope it was informative to our friends in other countries
who always wanted to know what an F4U-1A was.

Charles

[Micdrow]

Very cool, thanks ccheese

[Gnomey]

Good post Charles, thanks!

[Mike64]

A nice summary, ccheese.

One anecdote: it wasn't the Navy who made a decision, or agreed to, the present common system with the other services.

It was directed by the then-new Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Robert S. McNamara. It is reported that he really got P.O.d when the USAF started to talk about their plans for a new fighter, the F-110. Then the Navy started to talk about THEIR plans for THEIR new fighter, the F4J. Both of these were really the early designs for the Phantom II.

McNamara went nuts after figuring out there were two different systems and issued a DoD directive to "Fix It!"

For our foreign friends, "Mac the Knife" was the new SecDef under JFK. After JFK was assassinated, he stayed on through the Lyndon Johnson administration. He directed the management of the TFX (F-111) program, which eventually became the F-111, and a baseline for the F-14; both pretty good designs in the end, but TERRIBLE overruns in cost and time.

He was regarded as an efficiency expert; he applied statistical logic to WWII strategic bombing plans (he was then a USAAC officer), and was as later President of Ford Motors.

In the end, most civilians (AND military personnel), considered him an A-Hole who couldn't make up his mind when under pressure – especially Vietnam.

Again, a nice summary

Mike64
USN Retired

[Mike64]

OOPS! the early design for the Navy Phantom II was of course, the F4H. I am getting too old!

Also, you will note the the ultimate name Phantom II, came from the original NAVY name, for followup on the early FH-1, which got overtaken by the Banshee and was really only a prototype program.

[Mike64]

A nice summary, ccheese.

One anecdote: it wasn't the Navy who made a decision, or agreed to, the present common system with the other services.

It was directed by the then-new Secretary of Defense (SecDef) Robert S. McNamara. It is reported that he really got P.O.d when the USAF started to talk about their plans for a new fighter, the F-110. Then the Navy started to talk about THEIR plans for THEIR new fighter, the F4J. Both of these were really the early designs for the Phantom II.

McNamara went nuts after figuring out there were two different systems and issued a DoD directive to "Fix It!"

For our foreign friends, "Mac the Knife" was the new SecDef under JFK. After JFK was assassinated, he stayed on through the Lyndon Johnson administration. He directed the management of the TFX (F-111) program, which eventually became the F-111, and a baseline for the F-14; both pretty good designs in the end, but TERRIBLE overruns in cost and time.

He was regarded as an efficiency expert; he applied statistical logic to WWII strategic bombing plans (he was then a USAAC officer), and was as later President of Ford Motors.

In the end, most civilians (AND military personnel), considered him an A-Hole who couldn't make up his mind when under pressure – especially Vietnam.

Again, a nice summary

Mike64
USN Retired

[ccheese]

You are correct, Mike, it was changed by Mack The Knife. The paperwork I
got most of my information from starts out, "As is well known, the DOD
unified all military aircraft designations in 1962 under a common designation
system, based on the USAF's". The Navy (USCG and USMC) did not have a
choice in the matter.

One thing I meant to say in my post; I know for a fact that the Navy had
P-38's. Albeit, they were highly modified for photo-recon, but I am unable
to find any "unit" that flew them, or what the Navy called them. They
had a V in their designation, being made by Lockheed, but by 1962 they
were not flying them so it didn't matter.

Charles

[Cub Driver]

Originally Posted by maxs75

It's curious that Imperial Japanese Navy used a similar way of designation:

Max

Well, the JNAF pretty much adapted that particular nomenclature from the USN's.

What's always baffled me about the JNAF and JAAF formal nomenclature is that it was (and is) almost never used. A Japanese writer almost never says "A6M" or "Ki-43" but instead Type Zero or Type One, sometimes but by no means always followed by the type of aircraft. This can get excruciatingly difficult when a text involves a raid involving Ki-23s (Type 97), Ki-30s (Type 97), and Ki-21s (Type 97!).

Funnily enough, the Type This version is often called the "short" system. So Type Zero Carrier Fighter is short, while A6M is long.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Coming in September: Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942