Warbird Information Exchange

Robbie, the first two numbers (Air Force) were the contract date, and the following digits are contract numbers and actually have nothing to do with their production from the manufacturer.

A sample would be a fictious (sp?) such as 45-12345 but it may not of actually been accepted or built until 1946.

Navy/Marine/USCG Bureau Numbers are a whole different monster in themselves.

For some insight, visit Joseph Baughers excellent site at: http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html

_________________
Roger Cain
www.sfahistory.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stearman/


We must limit politicians to two terms:
one in office and one in jail.

The system I related is the current one- that was the official explanation of the tail number.

RR

The Army still use the '0' prefix on helicopters over 10 years old.

"One of these things is not the same..."

These photos are the odd men out in the 44-72990/N6322T discussion.

Those look like 90MM Recoilless rifles on the wingtips- was this some type of test bed?

Robbie

Yes, it was a US Marine Corps test of 106mm recoilless rifles. They were mounted on the Army's two Cavalier F-51Ds.

They were also apparently tested on an OV-10, too.

Feel sorry for the pilot when he had to reload in flight...

RR