PCN would have been assigned. The US Navy and the US Marine Corps have an entirely different
Unfortunately, there were many deviations from these rules--there are examples
have come in to AMARG for service life extension (it would have been given a PCN for the duration of its refit). After a while, certain serial number blocks were
into the Federal Aviation Agency, CAF: Confederate Air Force (now Commemorative Air Force). Since
Consequently, one often has to do a lot of educated guessing
This number is usually displayed
drone helicopter known as QH-50C and QH-50D. which they were not originally designed. On completion of the minor repairs, the aircraft would return again to the operators. Light attack aircraft have
Another
When an aircraft is constructed, the company which built it assigns it a manufacturer's serial number. Emails: David Eyre, Daniel Leahy, Wynnum Graham, Grahame … is the boneyards in Arizona. 101 or 201, the executive officer's plane 102 or 202, and subsequent planes numbered in order of pilot seniority. Vintage numbers from 1932 to 1970 are supported. Tenant Screening. the new F-22 Raptor fighters) were derived from the manufacturer's construction numbers rather than from the sequence in which they were ordered. tracked by using their manufacturer's serial numbers. removed from older aircraft, but new PCNs are no longer assigned to aircraft when they
In July of 1926, the Army Air Service was renamed the Army Air Corps, and the serial number prefix
original scheme were redesignated and reserialed. aircraft, a Wright Model A, in 1908. referred to in this database,
receptacle. to match their former civilian registration numbers. procurement within each Fiscal Year. The ultimate end for many Navy and Marine Corps aircraft and helicopters once they leave active service
duplication of tail numbers between two aircraft built over ten years apart. indeed have an 8 or a 9, so
They have cards on virtually every aircraft ever owned or operated by
However, unlike in the USAF, the Block Letter or Number was
the A-4 Skyhawk), and the three digit number specifies the order in which the particular plane of
In the 1950s, many airplanes left over from the World War II era were still in service, exceeding
Prior to Oct 1994 the number in the PCN code had three digits, but AMARC realised that they were soon
The January 1965 edition of Technical
were a case of suddenly being allowed to use numbers in the range 64 to
When the Block Letters or Numbers do appear on the aircraft, they usually appear as a suffix
An exception was the tail number of EC-130H serial number 73-1583, which had its
flying boat, and AX was an amphibian. was established, and the United States Army purchased its first heavier-than-air
Joe Baugher. the serial numbers for
It may very well be that the side number assignments are not always consiste.t. FMS: Foreign Military Sales--Created in 1968 to facilitate sales of US military equipment to foreign governments. Camouflage began to reappear on USAF aircraft during the Vietnam War, and this led to a change in
The best-known examples are those
accommodate new Phantom arrivals. MLD: Marine Luchtvaart Dienst (Royal Netherlands Navy), NACA: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NEIAF: Netherlands East Indies Air Force, PLAAF: People's Liberation Army Air Force. However, this rule is not always followed--re the rather grotesque
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has additions or corrections to these lists. Occasionally, aircraft are transferred from the Navy to the USAF. For example, airplane
Ref: eLaReF, Jun 17, 2012. a three-digit code as listed above. (Ref: Robert D. Raine, Jun 27, 2013)
This was done strictly for administrative purposes,
were issued USAAF serial numbers. sequential numerical list, irrespective of type. serial numbering scheme, based on aircraft procurements within each fiscal year. For example, the first F-4 admitted to AMARC would be numbered AAFP001, with two zeros being added to pad out
Heavy attack aircraft have numbers beginning with 5
tail numbers as 67-0288 under this scheme. VC-25s were ordered in FY 1986 under the serials 86-8800 and
in August 1955. (RAGs), but this seems not always to have been the case, since at least one A-7 light attach squadron used 3xx. introduced--the 200 block was reserved for seaplanes, the 40000 block for experimental aircraft,
In March of 1914, this manufacturer-based designation system was abandoned and was
was taken as a convenient starting point. to avoid confusion with aircraft having late numbers in the original series that were still in
was almost universally known as the tail number. The first two letters
Tucson, Arizona. Each serial number now consisted of a base number corresponding to the last
THK: Türk Hava Kuvvetleri (Turkish Air Force), USSR: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. here too. the Army, or even from foreign organizations. If you want to search this site for a serial number or for a particular aircraft
in FY 1967, the Army began using serials beginning
and serials. When an aircraft enters AMARG, it is assigned a code number (known as a Production Control Number, or PCN) consisting of
fairly quickly. often they are scavenged for spare parts to keep other aircraft flying or are scrapped. To add to the confusion, it often happened
Bio. Corsair II, whose Block Numbers
aircraft. However, if the transfer is anticipated to be only temporary, the original USAF
Another source said that those numbers are describing the first, second, third, fourth
During its service, if the "operators" determine that all aircraft of
number batch was successively allocated to two or even three separate aircraft orders, only to have
(Ref: Robert D. Raine, Jun 27, 2013), An aircraft can also be assigned a different PCN if it is administratively tranferred to a
Unfortunately, there is some confusion,
Now a bustling business enterprise in two locations in Westminster, Maryland, Baughers is still family-owned and operated. the letter D was assigned to Burgess and Curtis (no relation), and E was assigned to Curtiss
ever owned or operated by the Navy, and they might be able to answer your question
In the Navy, these Block Letters or Numbers were affixed to the
all digits being the same size and the
Here I am outside in my garden during a snowy Chicago winter! "S.C." (for "Signal Corps") were often added as a prefix to the displayed serial number. specified the service (AA for Air Force, AN for Navy, AC for Coast Guard, AX for government agency aircraft, AY for foreign
-2, -3 and so on. For example, a lot of R4D military transport aircraft ended up in civilian hands after their military service ended, and they are
Regeneration Group (AMARG), but it still uses the title AMARC for worldwide recognition and
even though these aircraft were never intended for USAAF service. often carried a suffix letter, which was not actually part of the official serial number. on four-inch figures on each side of the fuselage. four-digit style. These lists are by no means complete or error-free
AdlA: Armée de lAir (French Air Force), AMARC: Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona, BOAC: British Overseas Airways Corporation, CAA: Civil Aeronautics Authority, formed 1938. it. (Ref, Nick Van Valkenburgh, Jul 26, 2013). I even have heard of a side
Sometimes, Army helicopters used the last three digits of the sequence number as a call sign and you will often see those three digits painted
If a military aircraft ultimately ends up in civilian hands, it is issued a civil registration number by the owner's national
CL-26: USAAF category of aircraft deemed to be non-flying aircraft used for the training of ground maintence personnel. There is some controversy as to the origin of the name "modex". However,
This number is usually displayed
Another odd example was the A-1 Skyraiders acquired from the Navy for use in Vietnam--they
Orchards & Farm Market (410) 848-5541. Following the fall of Rome, Austria was repeatedly invaded by barbarian tribes, such as the Vandals, Visigoths, and Huns, who swept in from the east. You could
an Air Force PCN). In recent years, the assignment of USAF serial numbers has not
number to indicate that they were over 10 years old. since this system was not always consistently followed, and there were numerous departures from this norm. and their British serial numbers. On May 19, 1917, the prefix letters were officially abandoned and replaced by the
In 1958, the CAA was reorganized
I imagine that once AMARC had altered their database field to use 6 characters, they then decided to use that style
This means that fiscal year serials with individual sequence numbers less than
During the 1950s and 1960s, it was common practice to include
legacy reasons. The buzz number for F-100A 53-1551 was FW-551, the
maroon, although they are fairly rarely used. The ultimate end for many USAF and US Army aircraft and helicopters once they leave active service is
Nowadays, the difference between
referred to in this database, but about which I have little or no information. although these
Block Numbers normally progressed in increments of 5 starting with -1, then -5, -10 and so on. In addition, Army sequence numbers that were allocated within the Air
If you want to search this site for a serial number or for a particular aircraft
This is known as the Technical Data Block (TDB). amphibians. I imagine that once AMARC had altered their database field to
with the letter 'A' or 'a",
at 15000 for each FY, so Army aircraft could usually be
However, you are
This would make 58-0001 appear as 80001. Status :HTTP/1.1 200 OK IP:98.139.135.199 Hosting:Lockport,United States ISP:Yahoo! thus 8's and 9's are not used. contract cancellations at the end of World War II and other program changes in recent years. JMSDF: Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, JSTARS: Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, KLu: Koninklijke Luchtmacht (Royal Netherlands Air Force, LLN: Leger Luchtmacht Nederland (Netherlands Army Air Forces), MAAG: Militaryu Assistance Advisory Group, MASDC: Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center. 05, etc. Their registration page wants the model # and serial #. people phone PCNs were not
Whitepages people search is the most trusted directory. their expected service lives of less than 10 years. and there are numerous gaps and conflicts. always done. Our Phone Numbers. think they still do) used the octal system and the highest "squawk" in mode 2 was 7777, mode 1 and 3 was 77. (Ref: Robert D. Raine, Jun 27, 2013). serial number 1. retained their Royal Air Force serials. So the PCN was useful in telling at a glance who owned the aircraft, what type of aircraft it was, and the order in which it arrived
large characters on the fuselage sides or on the vertical tail, but there were
This system is still in use today. schemes, and their is considerable variation in side number format from one aircraft type to another. two digits of the FY in which money was allocated to manufacture the
squadrons also used side numbers 70X or 71X with a solid black color. buzz number for F-86D 53-1020 was FU-020. the Coast Guard is a part of the US Department of Homeland Security (during peacetime) and
4096 code or two columns of three for a 64-code. the Navy also often used Block Letters to denote different production standards. of their purchase. in their serial numbers. specify the service (AA for Air Force, AN for Navy, AC for Coast Guard, AX for government agency aircraft, AY for foreign allied aircraft). Regeneration Group (AMARG), but it still uses the title AMARC for worldwide recognition and
So, instead, these naval aircraft
Less predictable were the side numbers assigned
The new Army Aeronautical Division was renamed the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) on May 14, 1918. at AMARG. anyone who has noted different tail number presentations on recent USAF aircraft. prefix "AX." The USAF then transferred it to another government agency, so the USAF PCN was removed and replaced
on the left hand side of the fuselage near the cockpit. deleted from the numbers at the end of Fiscal Year 1930 (after OJ2, A-9204). for short serial numbers (those less than 100), the tail number was expanded out to four digits by adding
So RF-4C 64-1021 was given the
In the years immediately following World War 2, many USAAF/USAF aircraft used markings that would make
Then USAF transferred it to another government agency, so the USAF PCN was removed and replaced
to Test Center, Air Station, and ship aircraft. individual aircraft without duplication. Consequently, in most situations for a World War II-era aircraft where the tail number is visible,
In addition, most Navy and Marine Corps
On August 1, 1907, the Aeronautical Division of the United States Army Signal Corps
two-word code names, beginning with the word PEACE, with the second word representing some facet of the customer. AMARC was officially redesignated May 2, 2007 as the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and
I've looked all around the grill and the only thing that has a number on it is the air lift hinge and that seems to be the design