U.S.

Military Aircraft and Missile Designations Army/Air Force 1919-23 System PW PN PA PG TP GA IL NO AO CO DB NBS NBL TA TW A COA GL M MAT PS R S T Pursuit, Water-cooled Pursuit, Night Pursuit, Air-cooled Pursuit, Ground Attack Two-seat Pursuit Ground Attack Infantry Liaison Night Observation Artillery Observation Corps Observation Day Bomber Night Bomber, Short Distance Night Bomber, Long Distance Trainer, Air-cooled Trainer, Water-cooled Ambulance Corps Observation, Amphibian Glider Messenger Messenger, Aerial Torpedo Pursuit, Special Alert Racer Seaplane Transport Type I Type II Type III Type IV Type V Type VI Type VII Type VIII Type IX Type X Type XI Type XII Type XIII Type XIV Type XV Highest number allotted 9 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 8 1 5 2 6 5 2 1 2 1 1 8 1 3

1924-1947 System A Attack Aerial Target AG Assault Glider AT Advanced Trainer B Bomber BC Basic Combat Trainer BG Bomb Glider BLR Bomber, Long-range BQ Guided Bomb BT Basic Trainer C Transport CG Transport Glider CQ Drone Control F Photographic Reconnaissance FG Fuel Glider 1926-1947 1940-1941 1942-1944 1925-1947 1925-date 1936-1940 1942-1944 1935-1936 1942-1945 1930-1947 1925-date 1941-1947 1942-1945 1930-1947 1944-1947 45 8 2 24 71 3 3 3 8 17 142 20 4 15 1

FM G GB GT HB JB L LB O OA OQ P PB PG PQ PT R S TG VB

Fighter, Multiplace Gyroplane Glide Bomb Glide Torpedo Heavy Bomber Jet-Propelled Bomb Liaison Light Bomber Observation Observation, Amphibian Target, Flying Model Pursuit Pursuit, Bi-place Powered Glider Manned Aerial Target Primary Trainer Rotorcraft Supersonic Research Training Glider Vertical Bomb

1936-1941 1935-1939 1941-1947 1942-1947 1925-1927 1943-1947 1942-1962 1925-1932 1924-1945 1925-1947 1942-1947 1925-1947 1935-1941 1943-1947 1941-1947 1925-1947 1941-1947 1946-1947 1921-1957 1943-1947

3 2 15 1 3 10 28 14 63 16 19 92 3 3 15 27 16 5 33 13

1948-62 System A B C F G H K L M Q R S T U V X Amphibian Bomber Transport Fighter Glider Helicopter Tanker Liaison Missile Aerial Target Reconnaissance Rocket Search & Rescue Sailplane Trainer Utility Convertiplane Experimental From OA Continued Continued From P From CG From R Added 8/15/55 Continued See below PQ redesignated New series From F See Below Dropped 8/15/55 Added 1960 From PT Added 3/14/55 Added 1953 From S 16

117 20 71 Not used

12? 16 Not used 2 49 27 3 50

USAF Missile System 1955-1962 GAM Guided airborne missile IM Interceptor missile RM Research missile SM Strategic missile 68-92 68-92 68-92 68-92 Single series Single series Single series Single series

TM Tactical missile GAR Guided Airborne rocket Interim USAF Rocket, Missile, and Spacecraft System 1961 Type G J M P R S

68-92 1-11

Single series Separate series

Booster Spacecraft Missile Probe Rocket Satellite

Missile Launch Method A Aircraft C Coffin G Ground Vehicle H Silo M Multiple P Soft Pad R Railroad Car S Space Mission B Communications C Cargo E Early Warning I Interceptor K Tanker N Test P Propulsion Q Target R Reconnaissance S Strategic W Weather X Research

1956-62 Army System AC AO AU HC HO HU VZ Airplane, Cargo Airplane, Observation Airplane, Utility Helicopter, Cargo Helicopter, Observation Helicopter, Utility VTOL Research 2 3 1 1 6 1 12

1963-Present Tri-Service System

Aircraft A Tactical support B Bomber C Transport E Electronic surveillance F Fighter G Glider H Helicopter L Laser O Observation P Patrol Q RPV R Reconnaissance S Anti-submarine T Trainer U Utility V V/STOL Z Airship Rockets, Missiles, Etc. B Booster M Missile N Probe R Rocket S Satellite Prefix letters A B C D E F G Calibration Tactical support Bomber Transport Drone director Exempt Electronics Photographic Fighter Glider Parasite/carrier Permanently grounded Search and rescue Temporary special test Ferret Tanker Liaison Winterized Medical evacuation Radio-controlled bomb

12 2 40 10 23,35 11 6 1 5 7 11 1 3 6 Continued 23 2

No 11 No 13,16 No 7 No 13,19 No 6

No 4 No 1,6

No 1 No 4,5 No 13,14,17,19,21

H J K L M

1948-1962 1962 to date 1948 (not used) 1962 to date 1943 to date 1948 to date 1946-1947 1948 to date 1945-1947 1948 1948 (not used) 1949-1956 1962 to date 1962 to date 1956 to date 1944-1947 1949 to date 1948-1962 1962 to date 1951-1962 1948-1949

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Y1 Z

Missile carrier Multi-mission Permanent special test Observation Passenger transport Radio-controlled drone Restricted from combat Reconnaissance Search and rescue Anti-submarine Trainer Utility Staff transport Weather reconnaissance Experimental Service test Procured with F1 funds Obsolete Project

1962 to date ? to date 1956 to date 1962 to date 1948-1962 1948 to date 1942-1947 1948 to date 1948-1962 1962 to date 1943 to date 1941 to date 1945 to date 1948 to date 1924-1962 1928 to date 1931-1936 1928-1962 1962 to date

Tri-Service missile prefix letters First letter (launch environment) A Air launched B Multiple C Coffin (semi-hard) launcher F Individual G Ground launched H Hard silo stored L Hard silo launched M Mobile launcher P Soft pad launch R Surface ship launched S Space U Underwater Second letter (basic mission) C Transport D Decoy E Electronics G Ground attack I Interception L Launch detection M Scientific calibration N Navigation Q Pilotless drone S Space operation support T Training U Underwater attack

Weather

Status Letters C Captive D Dummy J Temporary special test M Maintenance (now obsolete) N Permanent special test X Experimental Y Service test Z Project Miscellaneous Suffix Letters I G R -IT Instrument training Radio-controlled target Radio-controlled target Instrument training 1932-1941 1940 1940 1955

Manufacturer letters 1939-Date AB Army Ballistic Missile Agency AD Aerodesign/Aero Commander AE Aeronca AG Air Glider AH American Helicopter AJ Aerojet-General AL Atlantic Research AV AVRO Canada BA Bell BB Babcock BC Bell Aerosystems BD Bridgeport BE Bell BF Bell BH Beechcraft BL Bellanca BN Boeing BO Boeing BP Bureau of Naval Weapons BR Briegleb BS Bowlus BU Budd BW Boeing BX Bendix BY Bendix CA Chase CAN Canadair CC Canadian Commercial

Redstone Arsenal, AL Bethany, OK Middletown, OH Akron, OH Manhattan Beach, CA El Monte & Sacramento, CA Alexandria, VA Malton, CA Atlanta, GA Deland, FL Buffalo, NY Riverside, CA Buffalo, NY Fort Worth, TX Wichita, KS New Castle, DE Renton, WA Seattle, WA Washington, DC Beverly Hills, CA San Francisco, CA Philadelphia, PA Wichita, KS Detroit, MI Michawaha, IN West Trenton, NJ Montreal, Canada Toronto, Canada

CCF CE CF CH CK CL CM

Canadian Car & Foundry Cessna Consolidated (Convair) Christopher Curtiss Culver Commonwealth Aircraft Chrysler Missile CN Chase Chrysler Space CO Consolidated (Convair) CP Convair (General Dynamics) CR Cornelius CS Curtiss CU Curtiss CV Chance Vought DA Doak Aircraft DC Douglas DE Douglas DH Dehavilland Canada DJ Sud Aviation DK Douglas DL Douglas DM Doman DO Douglas DT Douglas FA Fairchild FB Fairchild FE Fleet FL Fleetwings FN Ford Aeronutronic FO Ford FR Frankfort FS Firestone FT Fletcher GA G & A Aircraft GC General Motors-Fisher Body GE General Aircraft GF Globe GK General Motors-Fisher Body GM General Motors-Fisher Body GN Gibson GO Goodyear GP General Electric GR Grumman GT Grand Central GY Gyrodyne HA Hughes Aircraft (missiles) HE Helio

Fort William, Canada Wichita, KS Fort Worth ,TX St. Louis, MO Louisville, KY Wichita, KS Kansas City, MO Detroit, MI Willow Run, MI New Orleans, LA San Diego, CA Pomona, CA Dayton, OH St. Louis, MO Buffalo, NY Dallas, TX Torrence, CA Chicago,IL El Segundo, CA Toronto, Canada Marignane, France Oklahoma City, OK Long Beach, CA Danbury, CT Santa Monica, CA Tulsa, OK Hagerstown, MD Burlington, NC Fort Erie, Canada Bristol, PA Newport Beach, CA Willow Run, MI Frankfort, IN Los Angeles, CA Pasadena, CA Willow Grove , PA Cleveland, OH Astoria, NY Fort Worth, TX Kansas City, MO Detroit, MI Greenville, MI Akron, OH Philadelphia, PA Bethpage, NY Tuscon, AZ St. James, NY Culver City, CA Norwood, MA

HI HO HP HS HU IN KA KE KH KM LD LK LM LO MA MC MD MF MG MH MM MO MP MS MX NA NC ND NF NH NI NK NL NO NT NV NW OM PA PH PI PL PP PR RA RD RE RI RL

Higgins Howard Handley Page Hawker Siddley Hughes Interstate Kaman Kellet Kawasaki Helicopters Kaiser Lockheed Missiles Laister-Kauffman Lockheed Lockheed Martin McDonnell/McDonnell Douglas Martin Martin Martin McCulloch McDonnell Martin Minneapolis-Honeywell Motorola Maxson Electronics North American North American Noorduyn North American North American North American Nash-Kelvinator Norris Thremador Northrop North American Northrop Ventura Northwestern On Mark Piper (unofficial) Piasecki Piper Platt-Lepage Philco Pratt-Read Republic Read-York Republic Ridgefield Ratheyon

New Orleans, LA Chicago, IL United Kingdom United Kingdom Culver City and San Diego, CA El Segundo, CA Windsor locks and Bloomfield, CT Philadelphia, PA Kobe, Japan Willow Run, MI Sunnyvale, CA St. Louis, MO Marietta, GA Burbank, CA Baltimore, MD St. Louis, MO Denver, CO Orlando, FL Marietta,GA Los Angeles, CA Memphis, TN Omaha, NB Hopkins, MN Scottsdale, AZ Great River, NY Inglewood, CA Kansas City, MO Montreal, Canada Fresno, CA Columbus, OH Downey, CA Detroit, MI Los Angeles,CA Hawthorne, CA Dallas, TX Van Nuys, CA St. Paul, MN Van Nuys, CA Lock Haven, PA Morton, PA Lock Haven,PA Eddystone, PA Philadelphia,PA Deep River, CT Evansville, IN Kenosha, WI Farmingdale, NY Ridgefield, NJ Lexington, MA

RO RP RW RY SA SC SE SI SL SP ST SU SW TA TE TG TH TI TP TX UH UN VE VI VL VN VO VU VW WA WE WI WO

Robertson Radioplane Ratheyon Ryan Stroukoff Southern Aircraft Seibel Sikorsky St. Louis Spartan Space Technology Sperry Utah Schwiezer Taylorcraft Temco Texas Engineering Thiokol Timm Texas Engineering Texas Instruments Hiller (United Helicopters) Universal Lockheed-Vega Vickers Canada Vertol Vultee Chance Vought/ Vought Vultee Vultee Ward Western Electric Wichita Engineering Waco

St. Louis,MO Van Nuys,CA Waltham, MA San Diego, CA West Trenton, NJ Ontario, CA Witchata, KS Stratford, CT St. Louis,MO Tulsa, OK Redondo Beach, CA Salt Lake City, UT Elmira, NY Alliance, OH Dallas. TX Greenville, TX Bristol ,PA Van Nuys, CA Great Prarie, TX Dallas,TX Palo Alto, CA Bristol, VA Burbank, CA Montreal, Canada Morton ,PA Nashville, TN Dallas,TX Downey,CA Wayne, MI Fort Smith, AR New York, NY Wichita Falls, TX Troy, MI

Navy 1922-1962 System A B BD BF BT DS F G H HC Ambulance Attack Bomber Assault Drone Bomber-Fighter Bomber-Torpedo Anti-Submarine Drone Fighter Light Transport Tanker Ambulance Helicopter, Crane 1943 1946-1962 1931-1945 1944 1934-1937 1942-1945 1959-1962 1922-1962 1939-1945 1958-1962 1929-1931, 1942-1945 1952-1955

HJ HN HO HR HS HT HU J JR KA KD KG KS KU LB LN LR M N O OS P PB R RO S SB SN SO T

TB TD TS U W ZF ZH ZK ZN ZP ZR ZS

Helicopter, Utility Helicopter, Training Helicopter, Observation Helicopter, Transport Helicopter, Anti-Submarine Helicopter, Training Helicopter, Utility Transport Utility Utility Transport Anti-Aircraft Missile Target Drone Ground-Attack Missile Anti-Ship Missile Test Missile Glider, Bomb-Carrying Training Glider Transport Glider Marine Expeditionary Missile Trainer Observation Observation-Scout Patrol Patrol Bomber Racer Transport Rotocycle Scout Anti-Submarine Scout Bomber Scout Trainer Scout-Observation Torpedo Aircraft Transport Trainer Torpedo Bomber Target Drone Torpedo-Scout Unmanned Drone Utility Electronic Search Free balloon Airship, Search & Rescue Kite balloon Airship, Training Airship, Patrol Airship, Rigid Airship, Scout

1944-1949 1944-1948 1944-1962 1944-1962 1951-1962 1948-1962 1950-1962 1926-1931 1931-1955 1935-1962 1945-1947 1946-1962 1945-1946 1945-1946 1945-1962 1941-1945 1941-1945 1941-1945 1922-1923 1947-1962 1922-1962 1922-1962 1935-1946 1922-1962 1937-1948 1922-1931 1931-1962 1954-1959 1922-1946 1946-1962 1934-1946 1939-1953 1943-1946 1922-1935 1927-1930 1948-1962 1935-1946 1942-1946 1943 1946-1955 1955-1962 1952-1962 1922-1945? 1945-1954 1922-1945? 1941-1945 1941-1962 1922-1940 1941-1954

ZT ZU

Airship, Anti-submarine Airship, Training Airship, Utility

1954-1962 1948-1954 1948-1954

Navy manufacturer letters 1922-1962 A Aeromarine Atlantic (Fokker) General Aviation Brewster Allied Noorduyn B Bee Line (Booth) Boeing Beech Budd BS Blackburn C Curtiss Cessna Culver DeHavilland Canada CH Caspar-Werke D Douglas McDonnell Radioplane Frankfort DH DeHavilland DW Dayton-Wright E Elias Detroit Bellanca Piper Gould Pratt-Read Edo Hiller Cessna F Fokker Grumman Fairchild Canada G Gallaudet Eberhart Great Lakes AGA Aviation Goodyear Globe H Huff-Daland Hall Stearman-Hammond Howard

1922 1927-1930 1930-1932 1935-1943 1941-1943 1946 1922 1923-1959 1937-1962 1942-1944 1922 1922-1946 1943 1943-1946 1955-1956 1922 1922-1962 1942-1946 1943 1945-1946 1927-1931 1923 1922-1924 1928 1931-1937 1941-1945 1942-1945 1942-1945 1943-1946 1948-1962 1951 1922 1931-1962 1942-1945 1922 1927-1928 1929-1935 1942 1942-1962 1946-1959 1922-1927 1928-1940 1937-1938 1941-1944

Ex-Atlantic

To H

HP J

JL K

N O

PL Q

RO S

Snead McDonnell Handley-Page Berliner-Joyce General Aviation North American Junkers-Larsen J.V. Martin Keystone Krieder-Reisner Kinner Fairchild Nash-Kelvinator Kaiser-Fleetwings Kaman LWF Loening Bell Langley Columbia Martin General Motors Eastern Aircraft McCulloch Naval Aircraft Factory Gyrodyne Viking Lockheed Piper Pitcarn Spartan Piper (gliders) Piasecki (Vertol) Parnall Ward Hall Stinson Fairchild Bristol Aeronautical Ford Maxson-Brewster Ryan Aeronca American Brunswick Interstate Radioplane Romeo (Italy) Stout Sikorsky Stearman

1942 1946-1962 1922 1929-1935 1935 1937 1922 1922-1924 1927-1930 1935-1936 1935-1936 1937-1942 1942 1943-1945 1950-1962 1922 1924-1933 1939-1962 1942-1943 1945 1922-1962 1942-1945 1953-1954 1922-1962 1960 1929-1936 1931-1950 1960 1931-1932 1940-1941 1942-1943 1946-1962 1922 1926 1934-1936 1928-1962 1941-1943 1927-1932 1939-1940 1941-1946 1942 1942 1942-1943 1942-1943 1943-1962 1928-? 1922 1928-1962 1934-1945

U V

VK W

X Y Z

Schweizer Supermarine Sperry Thomas-Morse New Standard Northrop Timm Taylorcraft Temco Vought Vultee Lockheed-Vega Vickers Canada Vickers Wright Waco Canadian Car & Foundry Willys-Overland Cox-Kleimen Consolidated (Convair) Vultee-Stinson Pennsylvania Aircraft Syndicate

1941 1943 1950 1922 1930-1934 1933-1944 1941-1943 1942 1956 1922-1962 1941 1942-1962 1943-1945 1922 1922-1926 1934-1945 1942-1945 1945-1947 1922-1924 1926-1962 1942-1945 1933-1934

Prefix letters N Naval Reserve X Experimental Y Experimental Suffix letters A Armed model Arrestor gear Amphibian Land-based Army contract Miscellaneous modification British contract Special armament Miscellaneous modification Catapult gear Carrier-based Cannon-armed Equivalent to Army C model Miscellaneous modification Drone director Drop tanks Equivalent to Army D model Miscellaneous modification

1945-1950? 1927-1954 1954-1962

E F G

J K L M N NA P Q R S T U W Z

Electronic Equipment Flagship Special Powerplant USCG model Search and rescue Armed model Equivalent to Army G model Ambulance Equivalent to Army H model Surface-search radar Cold-weather equipment Equivalent to Army J model Drone Cold-weather equipment Searchlight equipped Missile carrier Night version Night attack Photographic Electronic countermeasures Transport Staff transport Seaplane version Anti-Submarine Trainer Utility Search radar equipped Staff transport

Joint Missile System 1947-1962 Missiles AAM Air to air ASM Air to surface AUM Air to underwater SAM Surface to air SSM Surface to surface SUM Surface to underwater UAM Underwater to air USM Underwater to surface Test Vehicles CTV Control Guidance LTV Launch PTV Propulsion RTV Research SLV Satellite launch vehicle RMF 10/30/08