first letter (first two depending on the role of the aircraft) is aircraft type, number designates model of aircraft type from that manufacturer in increasing increments (which starts at zero with no number in the designation, so it will always be +1 in actuality), and the last letter indicates manufacturer >F : Fighter >4 : Fourth (Fifth) fighter model from Vought >U : Vought
all USN aircraft were prefixed this way until 1962
God forbid you take 10 minutes out of your malaise life to answer a simple question. I hate you "just Google it" brownoids. Some people want more than to receive a canned answer, they also like engage with others.
Not him but no really
The Navy's designation system was autistic.
Role, # Design from Manufacturer
(only SOME of the) Roles
A Attack
B Bomber
F Fighter
J Utility (also transport)
M Marine expeditionary
N Trainer
O Observation
P Patrol (also pursuit)
PTB Patrol torpedo bomber
R Racer (also transport)
S Antisubmarine warfare (also scout)
SB Scout bomber
T Torpedo (also trainer)
TB Torpedo bomber
TD Target drone
W Special electronic search (airborne early warning)
Manufacturers:
B Boeing Aircraft Company
C Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company
D Douglas Aircraft Corporation
F Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
M Glenn L. Martin Company
S Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
T Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
U Chance Vought Corporation
and then additional numbers and letters on the end to stand for the variant, to further confused you.
This results is some very confusing and moronic possible mixups, like people confusing the Catalina (PBY-4) with Consolidated's naval derivative version of Liberator (PB4Y-1), or the Privateer (PB4Y-2) when talking about them.
>U Chance Vought
V already used vor Canadian Vickers, Vultee, Vickers >N Trainer
T used for Torpedo and Transport, got changed to Trainer after 1946 >S Antisubmarine warfare (also scout)
antiSubmarine, logic >F Grumman
G used for Great Lakes
I get it, yet I don't get it. It makes as much as it lacks any.
all I can say is that you now know why we moved to the Tri-service designation system.
>different branches used different designations for the same plane
Aahhhhhh
10 months ago
Anonymous
and like
>moronic possible mixups
Also different designation for essentially the same plane because it was made by different manufacturers, like the FM-1 which was a F4F-4 made by GM.
pointed out, sometimes different designations for the same plane under one service.
I don't even think the Navy system is the worst, but it was clearly an administrative system more meant for people doing paperwork than anyone else (which honestly makes sense, it's the USN).
Interwar USN is really something too. Using colors to display what carrier the aircraft is from. Looks cool but also gives the enemy a lot of info. Same reason they stopped putting CV numbers on planes pretty early into the war.
https://i.imgur.com/Jn1hAoI.jpg
>history channel tier
Zero >low tier
Navy Type 0 carrier fighter >mid tier
Zeke >upper tier
Reisen >top tier
A6M2 Mod.21
https://i.imgur.com/r1JmvXQ.jpg
despite "Zero" being the trite name I can see why it stuck. its quite evocative for a fighter and rolls off the tongue well
Calling it a Zero doesn't me because in Japanese it's Type 0. Rei-sen, but that sounds like raisin, so I'd rather just say the number. "Zeke" never really sounded right to me.
https://i.imgur.com/r1JmvXQ.jpg
despite "Zero" being the trite name I can see why it stuck. its quite evocative for a fighter and rolls off the tongue well
Possibly B5Ns. The planes in the background were definitely using T-6 Texan mockups as references.
>Using colors to display what carrier the aircraft is from.
What possible use could that have for your own side? I understand naval operations were fricking hell, but if you land on the wrong carrier, surely you'd notice the second your mechanic team are some dudes you'd never seen before?
The markings were for keeping track of your own squadrons and sections. When used in full, looking at a plane would tell you everything you (or the enemy) could want to know. >Carrier origin >Squadron number and role >Section >Who the of the section is
In addition to being very noticeable, it would have become a real clusterfrick once the Navy began pumping out carriers and shuffling squadrons around.
>Interwar USN is really something too. Using colors to display what carrier the aircraft is from. Looks cool but also gives the enemy a lot of info. Same reason they stopped putting CV numbers on planes pretty early into the war.
Behold, Austrian army color identification!
Service colors make sense but not when a bunch are so close to each other. I hope there's not huge gap in role but a tiny difference in color. >Oh thank god, a medic! >Are you blind, dummkopf? They wear ponceau, this is clearly krebsrot! I'm a farrier!
10 months ago
Anonymous
Facings were used to identify regiments.
10 months ago
Anonymous
That's slightly less troublesome.
10 months ago
Anonymous
>>Are you blind, dummkopf? They wear ponceau, this is clearly krebsrot! I'm a farrier!
keeeeek
more irl armies need to be based on the potential hijinks they can get up to
>moronic possible mixups
Also different designation for essentially the same plane because it was made by different manufacturers, like the FM-1 which was a F4F-4 made by GM.
Not him but no really
The Navy's designation system was autistic.
Role, # Design from Manufacturer
(only SOME of the) Roles
A Attack
B Bomber
F Fighter
J Utility (also transport)
M Marine expeditionary
N Trainer
O Observation
P Patrol (also pursuit)
PTB Patrol torpedo bomber
R Racer (also transport)
S Antisubmarine warfare (also scout)
SB Scout bomber
T Torpedo (also trainer)
TB Torpedo bomber
TD Target drone
W Special electronic search (airborne early warning)
Manufacturers:
B Boeing Aircraft Company
C Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company
D Douglas Aircraft Corporation
F Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
M Glenn L. Martin Company
S Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
T Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
U Chance Vought Corporation
and then additional numbers and letters on the end to stand for the variant, to further confused you.
This results is some very confusing and moronic possible mixups, like people confusing the Catalina (PBY-4) with Consolidated's naval derivative version of Liberator (PB4Y-1), or the Privateer (PB4Y-2) when talking about them.
I think Vultee had the letter V but I couldn't find confirmation of that. Letter was done on first come/first serve basis. eg. Goodyear was first and got the letter G, Grumman came later and so got the letter F. F2G was a Corsair built under license by Goodyear. Most early model Corsairs that are still flying are actually made by Goodyear.
Why did you tell him? Lazy bastard could have internet searched for it.
I don't understand why someone would trust 4 chan before just doing the research.
Most Goodyear built Corsairs were FG. No number, F2G was substantially upgraded variant of Corsair that was axed at the end of the war with 11 prototypes built. Brewster also built Corsairs, their designation was F3A.
>Brewster also built Corsairs, their designation was F3A.
I find it astounding that even when given a working design, Brewsters' planes were still shit.
Brewster Buffalo was fine, pilot quality and tactics just sucked with most operators. That being said, Brewster was arms manufacturer that managed to go bankrupt during largest war in the history.
10 months ago
Anonymous
Reminder that Brewster built a couple hundred Corsairs that were so shit they were rejected, and at the same time went on strike over utterly inane bullshit, while the strike leaders proclaimed that the deaths of American servicemen denied the equipment they were refusing to build was a worthy sacrifice.
Brewster Buffalo was fine, pilot quality and tactics just sucked with most operators. That being said, Brewster was arms manufacturer that managed to go bankrupt during largest war in the history.
First and second Buffalo were good, especially the number F2A-2 which was quite fast at the time too. The problem came with F2A-3 as USN overloaded the light construction of the plane with additional guns, self sealing fuel tanks and armor to the point where it lost most of its nimbleness and a good portion of its speed. Original buffalos had wing loading similar to the Zero with a better power to weight.
Similar problem happened with the Wilcat. F4F-3 on paper could keep up with zero at nearly every altitude without issue but when they weighted it down with folding wings, additional guns and other stuff it led to the criticism of the plane that gave it a bad rep.
As a matter of fact, Finnish air force received the F2A-1s only and not the better performing version that USN got later and it was their most successful aircraft and possibly claimed the highest k:d ratio during ww2.
10 months ago
Anonymous
The fact that the Finns were up against early war Russian planes probably helped a lot.
10 months ago
Anonymous
Well yes, russians have been the freeest way to ramp kill count in the world at the time, followed by the chinese and the late war jap pilots.
It was still slightly better than the P-36 Hawk, another successful plane of the finnish air force that also performed well in France.
10 months ago
Anonymous
>Finnish air force received the F2A-1s
They were de-navalized and lightened by removing the arresting hook, lightening the landing gear, and other removed naval equipment.
It doesn't start at zero, it starts at one but it's not used in the designation. >FU >F2U >F3U >F4U
The F4U was Vought's fourth fighter design for the Navy, not the fifth.
As an aside, it's hilarious how poorly defended the actual Pearl Harbor strike force was. A single wing of P-40s overhead would have complete fricked the entire thing
See [...]
As an aside, it's hilarious how poorly defended the actual Pearl Harbor strike force was. A single wing of P-40s overhead would have complete fricked the entire thing
Thanks. I got tricked by the perspective, thought they were fighter-size but close to the camera
Using both A6M2 and Model 21 makes little sense, but using just the former can lead up to confusion between certain subvariants. That's why Zero model 21 or just Zero 21 is the enlightened tier.
The Navy in the 1930s also had a whole color coding on turret tops for battleships. Someone really had a hardon for making things stand out and making people memorize useless combinations.
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/PearlHarborBatDivMarkings.html
>Someone really had a hardon for making things stand out and making people memorize useless combinations.
Now I finally know what the rank designations in Star Wars in that other thread are based on
Notice that in the Star Wars Rank Insignia thread nobody is complaining that the ranks are unrealistic. They're complaining that they make no sense and would be hard to use.
Bunch of naval aviation engineers got drunk during design; naturally, the word "frick" was used liberally in the proceedings even before intoxication began in earnest, as in "frick the japs" and "fricking jap prostitutes" and "penny FOR a FRICK"... this is shortly before memory goes from hazy to absolutely absent... and in the end, the first of the badly hung over, passed out brown shoes discovered a large knife he didn't recognize stuck in the table, into which was crudely carved in large font the following characters:
F4U
>inb4 apocryphal addendum to this story whereby the knife is stuck in the chest of a dead jap prostitute painted up like a geisha
Ask me how *these* motherfrickers (unrelated pic related) got *their* designation (or rather their seldom-uttered nick-name)... and maybe I'll be able to make up some decent bullshit for THAT, too.
>this entire post is fictional... but shouldn't be. XD
It means frick you... same as always
Then why isnt it called FU Corsair?
Haha checkm8
american junk
americans only became technologically advanced after kidnapping and using the nazi scientists after ww2
So America is technologically advanced nonetheless? Okay.
Cope harder.
>t. someone from a country that did not invent the airplane
first letter (first two depending on the role of the aircraft) is aircraft type, number designates model of aircraft type from that manufacturer in increasing increments (which starts at zero with no number in the designation, so it will always be +1 in actuality), and the last letter indicates manufacturer
>F : Fighter
>4 : Fourth (Fifth) fighter model from Vought
>U : Vought
all USN aircraft were prefixed this way until 1962
Why did you tell him? Lazy bastard could have internet searched for it.
Obviously he wants to show off how knowledgeble he is.
God forbid you take 10 minutes out of your malaise life to answer a simple question. I hate you "just Google it" brownoids. Some people want more than to receive a canned answer, they also like engage with others.
>b-but the socializings tho
lol it's always the mouthbreathers who say this
>Implying mouthbreathers socialize
Is this projection or just some form of cope? Perhaps both?
>U : Vought
>U
>V
Nice try.
Not him but no really
The Navy's designation system was autistic.
Role, # Design from Manufacturer
(only SOME of the) Roles
A Attack
B Bomber
F Fighter
J Utility (also transport)
M Marine expeditionary
N Trainer
O Observation
P Patrol (also pursuit)
PTB Patrol torpedo bomber
R Racer (also transport)
S Antisubmarine warfare (also scout)
SB Scout bomber
T Torpedo (also trainer)
TB Torpedo bomber
TD Target drone
W Special electronic search (airborne early warning)
Manufacturers:
B Boeing Aircraft Company
C Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company
D Douglas Aircraft Corporation
F Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
M Glenn L. Martin Company
S Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
T Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
U Chance Vought Corporation
and then additional numbers and letters on the end to stand for the variant, to further confused you.
This results is some very confusing and moronic possible mixups, like people confusing the Catalina (PBY-4) with Consolidated's naval derivative version of Liberator (PB4Y-1), or the Privateer (PB4Y-2) when talking about them.
>J Utility (also transport)
>N Trainer
>S Antisubmarine warfare (also scout)
>W Special electronic search (airborne early warning)
>F Grumman
>M Glenn
>T Northrop
>U Chance Vought
America explain, explain america, explain.
>U Chance Vought
V already used vor Canadian Vickers, Vultee, Vickers
>N Trainer
T used for Torpedo and Transport, got changed to Trainer after 1946
>S Antisubmarine warfare (also scout)
antiSubmarine, logic
>F Grumman
G used for Great Lakes
I get it, yet I don't get it. It makes as much as it lacks any.
>different branches used different designations for the same plane
Aahhhhhh
and like
pointed out, sometimes different designations for the same plane under one service.
I don't even think the Navy system is the worst, but it was clearly an administrative system more meant for people doing paperwork than anyone else (which honestly makes sense, it's the USN).
all I can say is that you now know why we moved to the Tri-service designation system.
M is also General Motors
Interwar USN is really something too. Using colors to display what carrier the aircraft is from. Looks cool but also gives the enemy a lot of info. Same reason they stopped putting CV numbers on planes pretty early into the war.
Calling it a Zero doesn't me because in Japanese it's Type 0. Rei-sen, but that sounds like raisin, so I'd rather just say the number. "Zeke" never really sounded right to me.
Possibly B5Ns. The planes in the background were definitely using T-6 Texan mockups as references.
>Using colors to display what carrier the aircraft is from.
What possible use could that have for your own side? I understand naval operations were fricking hell, but if you land on the wrong carrier, surely you'd notice the second your mechanic team are some dudes you'd never seen before?
The markings were for keeping track of your own squadrons and sections. When used in full, looking at a plane would tell you everything you (or the enemy) could want to know.
>Carrier origin
>Squadron number and role
>Section
>Who the of the section is
In addition to being very noticeable, it would have become a real clusterfrick once the Navy began pumping out carriers and shuffling squadrons around.
>Interwar USN is really something too. Using colors to display what carrier the aircraft is from. Looks cool but also gives the enemy a lot of info. Same reason they stopped putting CV numbers on planes pretty early into the war.
Behold, Austrian army color identification!
Holy Benjamin-Moore
Service colors make sense but not when a bunch are so close to each other. I hope there's not huge gap in role but a tiny difference in color.
>Oh thank god, a medic!
>Are you blind, dummkopf? They wear ponceau, this is clearly krebsrot! I'm a farrier!
Facings were used to identify regiments.
That's slightly less troublesome.
>>Are you blind, dummkopf? They wear ponceau, this is clearly krebsrot! I'm a farrier!
keeeeek
more irl armies need to be based on the potential hijinks they can get up to
>IN FLANDERS FIELD WHERE PONCEAU GROW!
>moronic possible mixups
Also different designation for essentially the same plane because it was made by different manufacturers, like the FM-1 which was a F4F-4 made by GM.
The U is actually for United Aircraft Corporation. Which Vought was a subsidiary of along with Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky
I think Vultee had the letter V but I couldn't find confirmation of that. Letter was done on first come/first serve basis. eg. Goodyear was first and got the letter G, Grumman came later and so got the letter F. F2G was a Corsair built under license by Goodyear. Most early model Corsairs that are still flying are actually made by Goodyear.
I don't understand why someone would trust 4 chan before just doing the research.
Most Goodyear built Corsairs were FG. No number, F2G was substantially upgraded variant of Corsair that was axed at the end of the war with 11 prototypes built. Brewster also built Corsairs, their designation was F3A.
>Brewster also built Corsairs, their designation was F3A.
I find it astounding that even when given a working design, Brewsters' planes were still shit.
Brewster Buffalo was fine, pilot quality and tactics just sucked with most operators. That being said, Brewster was arms manufacturer that managed to go bankrupt during largest war in the history.
Reminder that Brewster built a couple hundred Corsairs that were so shit they were rejected, and at the same time went on strike over utterly inane bullshit, while the strike leaders proclaimed that the deaths of American servicemen denied the equipment they were refusing to build was a worthy sacrifice.
First and second Buffalo were good, especially the number F2A-2 which was quite fast at the time too. The problem came with F2A-3 as USN overloaded the light construction of the plane with additional guns, self sealing fuel tanks and armor to the point where it lost most of its nimbleness and a good portion of its speed. Original buffalos had wing loading similar to the Zero with a better power to weight.
Similar problem happened with the Wilcat. F4F-3 on paper could keep up with zero at nearly every altitude without issue but when they weighted it down with folding wings, additional guns and other stuff it led to the criticism of the plane that gave it a bad rep.
As a matter of fact, Finnish air force received the F2A-1s only and not the better performing version that USN got later and it was their most successful aircraft and possibly claimed the highest k:d ratio during ww2.
The fact that the Finns were up against early war Russian planes probably helped a lot.
Well yes, russians have been the freeest way to ramp kill count in the world at the time, followed by the chinese and the late war jap pilots.
It was still slightly better than the P-36 Hawk, another successful plane of the finnish air force that also performed well in France.
>Finnish air force received the F2A-1s
They were de-navalized and lightened by removing the arresting hook, lightening the landing gear, and other removed naval equipment.
Vought -> Uought
Soul -> Sovl
Same thing
It doesn't start at zero, it starts at one but it's not used in the designation.
>FU
>F2U
>F3U
>F4U
The F4U was Vought's fourth fighter design for the Navy, not the fifth.
it indicates who the pilot is a big guy for
Free Masonry For You
It's a big fighter 4U.
Corsair was smol tho.
You can make it look big by surrounding it with smol dudes tho?
>they expect the pilot in the wreckage brother
>history channel tier
Zero
>low tier
Navy Type 0 carrier fighter
>mid tier
Zeke
>upper tier
Reisen
>top tier
A6M2 Mod.21
>Presidential tier
Probably a P-40
Forgot to mention:
>elder God tier
Messerschmitt type fighter
despite "Zero" being the trite name I can see why it stuck. its quite evocative for a fighter and rolls off the tongue well
What planes are those? Certainly not zeroes, since they're way too long and the wings are too narrow
Is it Ki-84s or something?
See
As an aside, it's hilarious how poorly defended the actual Pearl Harbor strike force was. A single wing of P-40s overhead would have complete fricked the entire thing
>foreground
B5N2
>background
A6M
Thanks. I got tricked by the perspective, thought they were fighter-size but close to the camera
Kates, I think
Using both A6M2 and Model 21 makes little sense, but using just the former can lead up to confusion between certain subvariants. That's why Zero model 21 or just Zero 21 is the enlightened tier.
>Jap : "You'ra Biggu Guya"
>US : "F4U"
Frick Frick Frick Frick You
simple
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Aircraft/YellowWings/index.html
The Navy in the 1930s also had a whole color coding on turret tops for battleships. Someone really had a hardon for making things stand out and making people memorize useless combinations.
http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/S19-7/PearlHarborBatDivMarkings.html
>Someone really had a hardon for making things stand out and making people memorize useless combinations.
Now I finally know what the rank designations in Star Wars in that other thread are based on
Notice that in the Star Wars Rank Insignia thread nobody is complaining that the ranks are unrealistic. They're complaining that they make no sense and would be hard to use.
Bunch of naval aviation engineers got drunk during design; naturally, the word "frick" was used liberally in the proceedings even before intoxication began in earnest, as in "frick the japs" and "fricking jap prostitutes" and "penny FOR a FRICK"... this is shortly before memory goes from hazy to absolutely absent... and in the end, the first of the badly hung over, passed out brown shoes discovered a large knife he didn't recognize stuck in the table, into which was crudely carved in large font the following characters:
F4U
>inb4 apocryphal addendum to this story whereby the knife is stuck in the chest of a dead jap prostitute painted up like a geisha
Ask me how *these* motherfrickers (unrelated pic related) got *their* designation (or rather their seldom-uttered nick-name)... and maybe I'll be able to make up some decent bullshit for THAT, too.
>this entire post is fictional... but shouldn't be. XD
Go back to sleep, gramp.