Re: [OT] USAF plane nomenclature

>Hi guys, 
>
>Drawing upon the collected wit of the body. 
>
>I see some USAF planes tagged with F (F-15, F-
>16, etc), some with F/A, some with VF, etc. 
>
>What do these mean? 

See http://www.driko.org/usdes2.html#1962
Other parts of the page explain pre-1962 designations.

See also http://www.hazegray.org/faq/designat.htm
for the Army-Navy (AN/) series of designations for electronic equipment
- which
explains names of equipment like BSY-2, SPS-40, UYK-44, PRC-32 etc.

The very best source for aircraft designation data is the
rec.military.aviation
FAQ, in particular
http://www.canit.se/~griffon/aviation/faq/ramfaq4.txt

The  AN/ designations for electronic equipment have been modified a bit
over
time, with certain obsolete meanings ( such as _B_ )dropped. The best
URL for
the old ones is
"http://www.armyradio.com/publish/Articles/power_up/The_Joint_Electronic
s_Type_Designation_System.htm"

So BBC-4 is a submarine pigeon communications device. Which seems
strangely
appropriate...