Post by potrero on Dec 18, 2019 22:24:09 GMT -6
I’ve noticed that the game does a decent job of following historical precedent for naming/designating aircraft. German planes get appropriate Me-/Ju-/He-/Bv- designations, Russians get MiG-/Su-/Tu-/etc, British get planes that more or less follow the old RAF/FAA conventions. American planes are a rather glaring exception. They get a manufacturer and a random name.
IRL, the US Navy had a relatively straightforward alphanumeric system for assigning designations to airplane types. The first letter(s) identified the plane’s role. The last letter signified the manufacturer. If another type from the same manufacturer had previously been in service in the same role, the new one would get a sequential number, starting with “2,” between the role and manufacturer ID letters. This was all followed by a hyphen and a number, with “1” signifying the first operational model, and later variants getting sequential numbers. For instance, the F4F-3 Wildcat’s designation indicated: F (fighter) 4 (4th type in this role from the same manufacturer) F (Grumman) -3 (3rd variant of this type to enter operational service). Note that the first type from that manufacturer would have letters only, hence “SBD-1 Dauntless” and “TBF-1 Avenger” instead of “SB1D” and “TB1F.”
The letter codes for different roles were:
F - Fighter
SB - Scout Bomber (Dive Bomber)
TB - Torpedo Bomber
O/OS - Observer/Observer-Scout (Floatplane Scout)
P/PB - Patrol/Patrol Bomber (Flying Boat; PB was also applied to medium bombers in the Navy, but those were mostly the domain of the Army Air Corps, more on that below)
The historical ID letters for manufacturers that appear in-game are:
A - Brewster
B - Boeing
C - Curtiss
D - Douglas
F - Grumman
H - McDonnell
J - North American
M - Martin
V - Lockheed
Y - Consolidated
Republic never built any planes for the Navy IRL, but would have probably used “R” if they did.
The Navy did have a few medium bombers, mostly B-25s, which were called PBJs in Navy service. Mediums and heavies were mostly an Army Air Corps thing, even when they were used for antiship missions. These would get a B-(sequential number) designation, with a sequential letter at the end to denote updated variants just like the Navy, except using letters instead of numbers.
Is it possible for the game to generate aircraft designations based on this system?
IRL, the US Navy had a relatively straightforward alphanumeric system for assigning designations to airplane types. The first letter(s) identified the plane’s role. The last letter signified the manufacturer. If another type from the same manufacturer had previously been in service in the same role, the new one would get a sequential number, starting with “2,” between the role and manufacturer ID letters. This was all followed by a hyphen and a number, with “1” signifying the first operational model, and later variants getting sequential numbers. For instance, the F4F-3 Wildcat’s designation indicated: F (fighter) 4 (4th type in this role from the same manufacturer) F (Grumman) -3 (3rd variant of this type to enter operational service). Note that the first type from that manufacturer would have letters only, hence “SBD-1 Dauntless” and “TBF-1 Avenger” instead of “SB1D” and “TB1F.”
The letter codes for different roles were:
F - Fighter
SB - Scout Bomber (Dive Bomber)
TB - Torpedo Bomber
O/OS - Observer/Observer-Scout (Floatplane Scout)
P/PB - Patrol/Patrol Bomber (Flying Boat; PB was also applied to medium bombers in the Navy, but those were mostly the domain of the Army Air Corps, more on that below)
The historical ID letters for manufacturers that appear in-game are:
A - Brewster
B - Boeing
C - Curtiss
D - Douglas
F - Grumman
H - McDonnell
J - North American
M - Martin
V - Lockheed
Y - Consolidated
Republic never built any planes for the Navy IRL, but would have probably used “R” if they did.
The Navy did have a few medium bombers, mostly B-25s, which were called PBJs in Navy service. Mediums and heavies were mostly an Army Air Corps thing, even when they were used for antiship missions. These would get a B-(sequential number) designation, with a sequential letter at the end to denote updated variants just like the Navy, except using letters instead of numbers.
Is it possible for the game to generate aircraft designations based on this system?
