Was The Grumman "Bearcat" Flown Off Carriers?

Nice Again wrote:
That's one of the points, you can tell the mfg. Doh!

I'd call it a bug, not a feature. If it told you the designer, it might be
of some value, but manufacturer names are often too fluid to be helpful. As
is, the system is potentially quite confusing, as the examples given before
can show (F4U, FG and F3B are the same plane!?!) It makes little sense to
use a system that requires different designations for the same aircraft just
because it was built by different companies or the factory changed
ownership.

Moreover, from an amateur's perspective, the Navy system makes it difficult
to instantly recognize which aircraft came first in production, or tell
which are contemporaries of each other. The F4U and F4D aren't even
remotely of the same era, for example, but you can't tell that from their
designations. OTOH, you can tell that the F-14, -15, and -16 came in that
order and probably realize that they are rough contemporaries.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)

"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
link.net...

I'd call it a bug, not a feature. If it told you the designer, it might
be
of some value, but manufacturer names are often too fluid to be helpful.
As
is, the system is potentially quite confusing, as the examples given
before
can show (F4U, FG and F3B are the same plane!?!)


Ah, but they're not the same plane! The F4U was, of course, the Vought
Corsair, and the FG was a Corsair built by Goodyear. But the F3B was a
Boeing biplane fighter of the late twenties. The Brewster-built Corsair was
the F3A.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
link.net...

I'd call it a bug, not a feature. If it told you the designer, it
might be of some value, but manufacturer names are often too fluid
to be helpful. As is, the system is potentially quite confusing, as
the examples given before can show (F4U, FG and F3B are the same
plane!?!)


Ah, but they're not the same plane! The F4U was, of course, the
Vought Corsair, and the FG was a Corsair built by Goodyear. But the
F3B was a Boeing biplane fighter of the late twenties. The
Brewster-built Corsair was the F3A.

Hmm, I think we just proved our collective point. :-)



--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)

You're obviously not a Navy aviator.

"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
link.net...
Nice Again wrote:
That's one of the points, you can tell the mfg. Doh!

I'd call it a bug, not a feature. If it told you the designer, it might
be
of some value, but manufacturer names are often too fluid to be helpful.
As
is, the system is potentially quite confusing, as the examples given
before
can show (F4U, FG and F3B are the same plane!?!) It makes little sense to
use a system that requires different designations for the same aircraft
just
because it was built by different companies or the factory changed
ownership.

Moreover, from an amateur's perspective, the Navy system makes it
difficult
to instantly recognize which aircraft came first in production, or tell
which are contemporaries of each other. The F4U and F4D aren't even
remotely of the same era, for example, but you can't tell that from their
designations. OTOH, you can tell that the F-14, -15, and -16 came in that
order and probably realize that they are rough contemporaries.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)