raymond%europa@uunet.UU.NET (Raymond Man) (07/30/90)
From: raymond%europa@uunet.UU.NET (Raymond Man) As have been pointed out, the services have different designations before 1963 when McNamara became secretary of defense and tried to put an end to this numbering madness. For the fighters, they started with the Phantom II, which is the real F-4; the bombers, the B-1 of course; attack aircraft, the A-3 Skywarrior (I am not so sure, anyone can name an A-1 or A-2 which is of the right vintage?); ASW, the S-2 Tracker(again?); Observation, OV-1 etc. The FB-111 was the USAF's last and probably they fought a lot to keep the designation. The missing numbers are just missing, eg F-6 and F-7, but F-8 is indeed F-8U because the Navy was still using it. So those older aircraft like F6F, F8F Bearcat and F11F Tiger(remember Grumman always name theirs after big cats?) has nothing to do with the new system. However, since the McNamara era has been over for so long, looks like those Air Force cowboys are going back to some nostalgic trip with the F-117. Just call me `Man'. "And why take ye thought for " -- Matt. 6:28 raymond@jupiter.ame.arizona.edu
Steve.Bridges@Dayton.NCR.COM (Steve Bridges) (08/01/90)
From: Steve.Bridges@Dayton.NCR.COM (Steve Bridges) In <1990Jul30.015753.8609@cbnews.att.com> raymond%europa@uunet.UU.NET (Raymond Man) writes: >From: raymond%europa@uunet.UU.NET (Raymond Man) >As have been pointed out, the services have different designations >before 1963 when McNamara became secretary of defense and tried >to put an end to this numbering madness. For the fighters, they >started with the Phantom II, which is the real F-4; the >bombers, the B-1 of course; attack aircraft, the A-3 Skywarrior (I >am not so sure, anyone can name an A-1 or A-2 which is of the right I can - The A-1 Skyraider. It had different designations in the late 40's early 50's for the Navy, and then the Air Force picked it up during Vietnam for CAS, SAR support. An excellent book about Skyraider flying in Vietnam is _My Secret War_ by Richard Drury. >vintage?); ASW, the S-2 Tracker(again?); Observation, OV-1 etc. >The FB-111 was the USAF's last and probably they fought a lot to keep >the designation. But the FB-111 was McNamara's baby. Would do a whole lot of missions (fighter, strategic bomber, etc..) real well. The Navy refused the airplane, and the Air Force was forced to buy it. Now, in retrospect, the FB-111 has done great service (e.g. the bombing raid in Libya, raids in Vietnam), but originally it was committed before it was ready for combat. >The missing numbers are just missing, eg F-6 and F-7, but F-8 is >indeed F-8U because the Navy was still using it. So those older >aircraft like F6F, F8F Bearcat and F11F Tiger(remember Grumman always >name theirs after big cats?) has nothing to do with the new system. If I remember right, the F-7 was used by Grumman as the F7F Tigercat, a twin-engine carrier based fighter. Also, they could have been used for prototypes (like the YF-17). -- Steve Bridges | NCR - USG Product Marketing and Support OLS Steve.Bridges@Dayton.NCR.COM | Phone:(513)-445-4182 622-4182 (Voice Plus) ..!ncrlnk!usglnk!uspm650!steve | AOPA #916233 ..!uunet!ncrlnk!usglnk!uspm650!steve| PP-ASEL, AMEL