Lyle wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 21:20:36 -0500, "Paul F Austin"
wrote:


"Cub Driver" wrote

I have seen articles and even books that include bombers such as the
B-17 under the rubric of "fighter."

To somebody utterly naive about warfare, "fighter" is just another
term for "warplane."

_Small_warplane, generally with a small crew and no facilities for getting
up to go to the bathroom.

there was the xb-40, and yb-40 armed escorts

Back in the good old days fighters had P designations (for Patrol or
Pursuit, depending on who you talk to)... but then someone decided to
strap some bombs onto the aircraft and then along came the
fighter-bombers, which today would simply be an attack aircraft.
The Germans really changed everything with the Fw 190 and Ju 88 which
were true multirole aircraft.
Post WW2 the new USAF started reclassifying aircraft for simplicity
sake:

F= Fighter
B= Bomber
A= Attack
C= Cargo
R= Recon
TR= Tactical Recon
SR= Strategic Recon
U= Utility (cover for U-2, which really was a jet sailplane)
and so on...

But as the dedicated air superiority fighters started having to double
as attack aircraft the now idiotic F/A designation is applied to
purpose-built multirole aircraft like the F/A 18 Hornet and F/A 22
Raptor while the multirole capable F-16 Falcon and F-15E Strike Eagle
remain under the F designation.
I think our designation system is in need of redefinition. Why not use
an MR designation for MultiRole aircraft? I suggest the following
changes:

AS= Air Superiority
B= Bomber
S= Strike
MR= MultiRole
C= Cargo
R= Recon
TR= Tactical Recon
SR= Strategic Recon
GR= Global Recon
FX= Field-Effects craft
NFX= Nuclear Field-Effects craft
UAV= Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
AAV= Autonomous Aerial Vehicle
UCAV= Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle
ACAV= Autonomous Combat Aerial Vehicle
MAV= Micro Aerial Vehicle

Rob