Odd Bu.No.

[mike furline]

Anyone know the significance of the "V" on this FG-1D?

[The Inspector]

It's B/N is missing on Baughers listings but it falls in the middle of a block of FG-1D's contracted to New Zealand so maybe it was a servicing or maintenace key since it looks to be in a post war reserve squadron and may have had different instrumentation.

Which reserve squadron, based where, was 'U' ?

[jdvoss]

The "V" leading the BuNo is most mysterious. I checked the book "Navy Air Colors Vol.2 (1945-1985) by Thomas E. Doll and there is no mention of this code whatsoever. On page 17 of his book there is another photo of a similarly marked NAS St. Louis based FG-1D.

Anyone know how to reach Thomas Doll??

[Tailspin Turtle]

The "U" tail code was assigned to St. Louis. The V in front of the Bureau Number seems to be unique to St. Louis and the reason is unknown to the small group of Naval aviation historians that I commune with. (There were two immediate postwar prefixes ahead of the aircraft designation, not the Bureau Number, that have known meanings: A- meant a second-line (obsolescent?) aircraft; N- meant suitable only for training.) In Elliott's Volume 2, he says that the V is "an accounting code not intended for aircraft display." Unfortunately, he doesn't say what the accounting code meant. I've speculated that the V in front of the Bureau Number meant that aircraft would not be overhauled at the end of its current service tour but it was just that, speculation.

[shrike]

The Robertson hangar in the background corroborates St.Louis as the location

[k5083]

I have a few pics of reserve Corsairs from Keesler circa 1948 in which there appears to be some prefix to the BuNo and it could be a V. Example below. When I get a chance, I'll squint through a microscope to try to see better.



August

[The Inspector]

The "U" tail code was assigned to St. Louis. The V in front of the Bureau Number seems to be unique to St. Louis and the reason is unknown to the small group of Naval aviation historians that I commune with. (There were two immediate postwar prefixes ahead of the aircraft designation, not the Bureau Number, that have known meanings: A- meant a second-line (obsolescent?) aircraft; N- meant suitable only for training.) In Elliott's Volume 2, he says that the V is "an accounting code not intended for aircraft display." Unfortunately, he doesn't say what the accounting code meant. I've speculated that the V in front of the Bureau Number meant that aircraft would not be overhauled at the end of its current service tour but it was just that, speculation.

WOW!! you may have found the key-it could have been some sort of damage/cost limiter 'if damage appears to exceed $XXXXX.00 break airframe into spares' or some such limitations known to the bean counters.

[51fixer]

The "U" tail code was assigned to St. Louis. The V in front of the Bureau Number seems to be unique to St. Louis and the reason is unknown to the small group of Naval aviation historians that I commune with. (There were two immediate postwar prefixes ahead of the aircraft designation, not the Bureau Number, that have known meanings: A- meant a second-line (obsolescent?) aircraft; N- meant suitable only for training.) In Elliott's Volume 2, he says that the V is "an accounting code not intended for aircraft display." Unfortunately, he doesn't say what the accounting code meant. I've speculated that the V in front of the Bureau Number meant that aircraft would not be overhauled at the end of its current service tour but it was just that, speculation.

WOW!! you may have found the key-it could have been some sort of damage/cost limiter 'if damage appears to exceed $XXXXX.00 break airframe into spares' or some such limitations known to the bean counters.

I don't know if there was such cut and dried approach.
I worked on a FG-1D that had a gear failure on landing at Glenview NAS. Hyd system failed, CO2 Blow Down system failed so the MLG was not locked on landing and folded.
A/C paperwork had Navy Accident reports with it.
A/C was repaired. That was 1948 and the A/C went on to Philly NAF as an instructional airframe in 49 and was surplused in the mid 50s.

[aerovin]

I have no specific information but wonder if it may have denoted assignment within the Navy system, similar to the 1940s-1950s suffix to USAF serials with "Aircraft Component Assignment Letters". Regular USAF aircraft had an "A" suffix appended to the serial, with guard units using "N", reserve units "R", Army "G", etc.

Perhaps the Navy added a "V" prefix in a similar fashion to regular Navy aircraft, with some unknown letter assigned to reserve aircraft. This would have been a very short-lived practice as it remains very obscure.

Presumably, some obscure Bureau of Aeronautics directive has the answer.

(edited after more thought)

[catch 22]

I have 2 more photos showing BuNos with a V-prefix:
1. On a F6F-5 (see prefix N for training a/c). Another NAS St. Louis a/c.:

2. On an USCG "Mariner":

It might have no connection with the Corsairs with v-prefix posted in this thread. As far as I remember it was a part of the USCG numbering system and was discontinued on Dec. 28, 1945. The interesting part here is that 45414 is a Navy BuNo and this particular PBM-5 was in 1945 with VPB-208 in Kerama Retto. The v-prefix was obviously added later and changed the BuNo into an USCG serial.

[Cvairwerks]

Just to throw a kink in things, from Kilgrain's book on Navy schemes and colors, the tail code U was assigned to aircraft from the USS Hancock and VF was from the USS Valley Forge. Timeframe for this marking system was July 1945 thru Dec 1945. In 1946, for Reserve units, the markings changed again. Reserve aircraft had a V applied to the BuNo and what should have been a two letter tailcode. First letter is the Reserve station, with U being St Louis and V being Glenview. The second letter was to designate aircraft type. In Nov. 1946, a 20" wide yellow band was added just ahead of the tail. In Jan 1946, it became a 36" orange band and was centered with the National Insignia, so the VF code coupled with the wide orange band would indicate a Glenview based fighter from a reserve unit at that base.

With the Reserve band visable in the two photos, they were taken after Jan 1947, but prior to the movement of the Nation Insignia in late 1949.

[The Inspector]

You'd think something policy wise that convoluted and odd would have been more prominently documented.

[astixjr]

Nice to see some photos of NAS St. Louis planes! Thanks for posting! I have some friends here in St. Louis who might know more about these unusual prefix codes but I think you all have it pretty well figured out. Maybe this five part history of NAS St. Louis will show some other examples? Most area residents have long forgotten about NAS STL. Sorry in advance for the partial hijack.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/s ... n/navy.htm

[The Inspector]

Nice to see some photos of NAS St. Louis planes! Thanks for posting! I have some friends here in St. Louis who might know more about these unusual prefix codes but I think you all have it pretty well figured out. Maybe this five part history of NAS St. Louis will show some other examples? Most area residents have long forgotten about NAS STL. Sorry in advance for the partial hijack.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/s ... n/navy.htm

Tucked into FAVS and will take a pot of coffee tomorrow morning to plow through-thanx!!