1919 United States Army Air Service aircraft designation system

From 1919 until 1924, the United States Army Air Service used a system to designate the types of aircraft it was operating, based on role and specific characteristics of the aircraft. When first instituted, Roman numerals were used to number the designations in use. These numerals were only applied to the first 15 types before being abandoned. Air-cooled and Water-cooled refer to the engines installed, while Pursuit was the name given to fighter aircraft in the US Army, at that time. The system was replaced by the 1924 United States Army Air Service aircraft designation system.

List of designations

Numeral	Code	Type of Aircraft	Dates in use
I	PW	Pursuit, Water-cooled	1921-1928
II	PN	Pursuit, Night	1921
III	PA	Pursuit, Air-cooled	1922
IV	PG	Pursuit, Ground Attack	1922
V	TP	Two-seat Pursuit	1922
VI	GA	Ground Attack	1920-1922
VII	IL	Infantry Liaison	1919
VIII	NO	Night Observation	1925
IX	AO	Artillery Observation	1924
X	CO	Corps Observation	1922-1924
XI	DB	Day Bombardment	1920-1923
XII	NBS	Night Bombardment, Short Distance	1921-1924
XIII	NBL	Night Bombardment, Long Distance	1923
XIV	TA	Trainer, Air-cooled	1921-1924
XV	TW	Trainer, Water-cooled	1920-1923
n/a	A	Ambulance	1919-1925
n/a	G	Glider
n/a	M	Messenger	1919-1921
n/a	PS	Alert Pursuit (Special)	1923
n/a	R	Racer	1921-1923
n/a	S	Seaplane
n/a	T	Transport	1919-1923

Source: Bridges

References

Bibliography

• John M. Andrade, U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909, Midland Counties Publications, England, 1979, ISBN 0-904597-22-9
• Derek Bridges (3 December 2006). "U.S. Military Aircraft Designation Systems". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.