Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: wlvrn on May 01, 2002, 11:56:33 AM
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Simple question, but what does the "P" stand for in P-38, P-47, etc...
It obviosly was the fighter designation prior to "F", but what did it actually stand for? My assumption was "production", but that's just a guess.
Thanks!
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Pursuit
[edit] Nowadays its Patrol (eg: P-3)
-Sikboy
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AH HA!
I should've known that.
Thanks SB.
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P = *ussy,
as in P-51, P-47, P-40 etc etc etc
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Fw= F*kin Weenie
Me= Mammory Entrails
Bf= B*tchy F*k
-SW
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LW = Idiots.
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Originally posted by Animal
LW = Idiots.
that's mature :rolleyes:
Would you please not refer to a whole Group as idiots, I fly LW planes and I highly respect Allied planes, particularly the P-47 and P-51 so please don't generalize a whole group as a bunch of idiots to reply to one person.
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FW = Ford Wagon :) Country Squire or Country Sedan ;)
"Iv got an A8"
"Roger... 88 Ford Wagon" ;)
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Originally posted by Soviet
that's mature :rolleyes:
Would you please not refer to a whole Group as idiots, I fly LW planes and I highly respect Allied planes, particularly the P-47 and P-51 so please don't generalize a whole group as a bunch of idiots to reply to one person.
Somebody is feeling tender. :D
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Originally posted by wlvrn
AH HA!
I should've known that.
Thanks SB.
NP :) And good thing I got in here with usefull information before the flames started flying lol.
-Sikboy
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Originally the Army Air Corps and later the Army Air Force, had completely different designations from the Navy. The Navy used a setup with letters standing for the function of the aircraft followed by the number of aircraft of that type it was from that company, and then a letter that stood for the company that produced the plane. For example:
F-4f = Fighter, 4th model from Grumman, f=Grumman
F-4U-1 Fighter, 4th model from Chance Vought, U=Chance Vought, 1st variant of this aircraft
TBF = Torpedo Bomber, made by Grumman
The Army Air Corps simply numbered their planes starting at 1, no matter who the manufacturer was, and prefaced the designation with a letter standing for the function or aircraft type, then a letter for the mark, or variation within the model:
P-51b = Pursuit, 51st type, 2d model of
B-17f = Bomber, 17th, 5th model of
Later the newly created Air Force changed all P designations to F thus the P-51 Mustang became the F-51 Mustang for the Korean War, and in one of the more confusing shifts, they started calling A-26 the B-26 (not to be confused with the WW2 B-26 which we have in AH).
Then, somewhere around the Vietnam war, the Army, Navy, and USMC decided to standardize designations between the services, resetting the number count to 1. Since then, no matter what the branch the numbers have gone up from there. The missing numbers like F-17 are actually prototypes that didnt see production due to losing in competition with another type. The F-17 was a competitor to the F-16 for the AF lightweight fighter contract which it lost. Later of course it became the F-18 for the USN and USMC.
The current alphabet soup as it stands now is as follows:
A= attack
B= bomber
C= cargo
E= electronic warfare
F= fighter
H= helicoptor
K= tanker
L=liaison, also used for special Antarctic types
M= special operations
O= observation
P= patrol
Q= drone
R= reconnaissance
S= spyplane, also antisubmarine
T= trainer
U= utility
V= VIP transport, formerly used to designate a spotter or liaison
W= weather tracking
X= experimental
Y= prototype
There are always exceptions to this, for example, the F-117 was just randomly numbered at 117 and was designated a fighter as something of a deception. The old fighter numbers had stopped at 111 before they reset them to standardize between the services.
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Originally posted by Animal
LW = Idiots.
I see someone needs to work on his spelling...there are no L:s or W:s in "Idiots".
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The F-117 wasn't just randomly numbered, it was a ruse to divert attention while everyone focused on identifying the missing F-19 designation...
After the F-111, century series designations were being used for captured/borrowed foreign military aircraft such as the MiG-21. The USAF chose F-117 to disguise the nature of the aircraft since it was quite normal for these captured aircraft to be kept hush-hush and operate from secure bases.
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Like I said, it was a deception effort :)
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You're right Hortlund, but there's a lotta idiots in the LW.
I've lost count of how many message boards I've gone to where the oh-so-mighty LostWaffle planes are being protested as "neutered" or "under-modelled" or... well whatever... but never have I seen it "they perform just as I thought they would", or "wow the 109x or 190x sure are great"... replace x with any model number except G10, K4 or D9.
If you can find one of those posts, lemme know.
-SW
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Originally posted by AKSWulfe
You're right Hortlund, but there's a lotta idiots in the LW.
I've lost count of how many message boards I've gone to where the oh-so-mighty LostWaffle planes are being protested as "neutered" or "under-modelled" or... well whatever... but never have I seen it "they perform just as I thought they would", or "wow the 109x or 190x sure are great"... replace x with any model number except G10, K4 or D9.
If you can find one of those posts, lemme know.
-SW
Well, have you ever heard me whine over that?
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Nope, that's why I said "a lotta".
Not all of 'em are annoying, sniveling, whining babies when they get shot down because their planes were so devilishly neutered by a company who "has a bias" or "underlying motive". :)
-SW
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Yeah, but then again, I think all nations have those. I mean its not as if the P38 crowd doesnt have their expert whiners too...