Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military From: jfb@ihlpm.att.com (Joseph F Baugher) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: F-117 vs F-19 -- List of Army/Air Force Fighter Designations Summary: Fighter Designations---Some Clarifications Message-ID: <1990Aug18.182714.24676@cbnews.att.com> Date: 18 Aug 90 18:27:14 GMT References: <1990Aug16.030708.16047@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Indian Hill - Naperville, Illinois Lines: 58 Approved: military@att.att.com From: jfb@ihlpm.att.com (Joseph F Baugher) In article <1990Aug16.030708.16047@cbnews.att.com>, Will Martin writes: > > > From: Will Martin > Thank you VERY much for posting such a comprehensive and complete listing! > I have saved it, along with your later addenda, for future reference. > I'm sending printed copies to some friends who will also appreciate the > reference. Thanks. I've recently edited the fighter list to make some corrections and additions suggested by some readers of the group. I inadvertently omitted F-16 and F-17 from the list. > > If it is possible, and if it is in your area of interest, it would be > really helpful to see an equivalent list of all the B- series aircraft, > along with the same sort of historical background on the evolution of > the designations. There are many gaps in the series when we think of the > usual ones that come to mind: B-17, -24, -25, -29, -36, -47, -49 (I think > that was the Flying Wing), -52, -57, -58, -70, and now the B-1 & B-2. > Filling in those missing numbers would be most helpful and interesting. No sooner said than done. I'll send a list of bomber designations off to sci.military under a separate posting. Hope that you find it interesting. > I know your fighter list included quite a few with X > designations, but wasn't there a completely separate and distinct > "X-" series of eXperimental aircraft, including the rocket > planes for sound-barrier research? A list of those would also be > intriging. The X designation that appeared in the fighter list was a prefix. It usually designated the first prototype of a fighter. For example, the XF-104 was the first prototype of the Starfighter. In almost all cases, it was intended that the X-prefixed fighter would eventually enter military service as an operational aircraft. However, it often happened that the aircraft was never ordered by the military, or else was cancelled after only the prototype was built. The X-planes such as the Bell X-1, the Douglas X-3, or the North American X-15 belong to a completely different series. The X series of planes include aircraft that are intended from the beginning as strictly experimental and not explicitly intended for actual service with the military as an operational aircraft. Perhaps I will eventually post a listing of X-planes. By now, I think that it has reached X-31. > Regards, Will > wmartin@st-louis-emh2.army.mil OR wmartin@stl-06sima.army.mil > Joe Baugher ************************************** AT&T Bell Laboratories * "I'm shocked! Shocked to find * 200 Park Plaza * that gambling is going on here!" * Naperville, Illinois 60566-7050 ************************************** (708) 713 4548 ihlpm!jfb Who, me? Speak for AT&T? Surely you jest! jfb200@cbnewsd.att.com