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Military Aircraft Designations and Systems

3^rd Edition

    The first edition of Military Aircraft Designations and Systems was published in March 1995, followed by a revised and expanded second edition in October 2002. Since then, I have been working diligently to update and upgrade my work. The result is the Expanded and Updated 2nd Edition, which was published July 2009, and which features more information in a much easier to access format.

    I first became interested in aircraft designations in the 1980s when I began to take notice of the numerous "gaps" in the United States aircraft designation system, first implemented in 1925 and subsequently updated in 1962. For example, the sequence of current fighter aircraft at the time was as follows: F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18 and F-21; F-17, F-19 and F-20 being conspicuously absent. As the designations were numerically sequential, it became obvious that these "gap" aircraft were prototypes or research aircraft of some kind. Being as prototype and experimental aircraft are one of my areas of fascination, I began to investigate the aircraft that occupied these "gaps". As I did, more "gaps" began to materialize, until it became apparent that these "gaps" were more prevalent than the known aircraft. As more and more information was acquired over the years on each designation, I was able to piece together this information to form the lists contained in this collection.

    The origin of the listings included in Military Aircraft Designations and Systems date back to 1988 when I began to put them on paper, or, in fact, computer disc. Over the years I expanded my research to include designation systems used by other air forces and countries of the world, starting with my native Canada, whose system parallels the U.S. system. Eventually I included Germany, Russia, Japan and Sweden, as well as the U.S. Navy, which used a totally different system to that used by the USAF prior to 1962. However, as I began organizing more and more of these lists, I realized that I had the opportunity not only to list these designations, but to explain them as well. Thus, in 1995, the first edition of Military Aircraft Designations and Systems was published. The first edition was a good start but I realized later that the format of the information could be better arranged and I set to work on a more efficient version. Of course, as the years rolled by I updated the listings where necessary and changed erroneous or inaccurate data where required.

    The latest edition features the same layout of listings as before, however, with a number of changes and improvements. More countries and more designation systems are now included, and this volume is 50% larger than the 2002 Edition.

    Admittedly, this collection is not complete, as there are many systems from smaller countries I have not yet catalogued, and due to some designations still being classified. In fact, many of these lists will never be fully complete, as aircraft will constantly be retired and newer aircraft brought into service to replace them. It is my desire, however, to update these lists periodically as newer and more accurate information is acquired.

David R Townend

July 2009

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Have a look at a sample designation listing

Pricing information for the 2009 Edition

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