"Thomdenton" wrote in message
...

Actually only four. BuNos 01209-01212. Correct designation was FO.


It appears four is the correct number. Angelucci and Bowers state "10 F-5Bs
given by the USAAF to the U.S.Navy. New serial numbers: 01209/01212." I
assume the authors could count and it's a publisher's error.

But the correct designation was indeed FO-1. In the Navy's pre-1962
designation system all aircraft had a series number, -1 in this case, even
if there was only one series, as in this case. Note that that's not
consistent with the manufacturer's model number. The first model of a basic
mission type by a particular manufacturer had no model number. As an
example, the first Navy fighter built by Grumman was the FF-1, the second
was the F2F-1.