Re: [OT] USAF plane nomenclature

From: "Phillip Atcliffe" <Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk>

> And then there are the "sports", generally caused by some iggorant
> politician, e.g., the SR-71 which was given that designation after LBJ
> (I think) messed up the correct version in a national broadcast and
> no-one was game to contradict him... And it has to be said that the
> Pentagon is not as rigorous about this as it perhaps might be.

...and since adopted as scheme-breaking exceptions.

SR-71 - was supposed to be RS-71 till LBJ JBL'd it
U-2 - So black they called it a "utility" aircraft.
TR-1, TR-2 and rumoured TR-3 - SR became by common usage "Strategic
Recon",
so they used TR for "Tactical Recon" as far as I can remember.

Minor miffs:
F/A-18 should be AF-18
FB-111 should be BF-111
F-117 should probably be something like A-12. But since the F-105 and
F-111,
(both of which carried internal bomb bays...) F is used for anything
which
is
capable of air-to-air other than self-defence, even if it's not the
primary