List of United States Navy aircraft designations (pre-1962)

[3] The aircraft classes and sub-types were as follows:[4] This second system was abandoned in May 1917 without immediate replacement; until March 1922, the navy used manufacturers' model designations.

[5] On 29 March 1922, a new designation system was introduced with a reorganization of U.S. naval aviation under the Bureau of Aeronautics.

[4] The system conveyed its information in the form: For example, F4U-1A referred to a minor modification (A) to the first major subtype (1) of Chance-Vought's (U) fourth (4) fighter (F) design.

Prior to 1954, lighter-than-air craft used separate designation systems from those used for fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft, or were undesignated.

[6] Rigid airships were designated as ZR-class—"R" for rigid—with a suffixed number identifying the individual aircraft, and unlike all other lighter-than-air craft were commissioned no differently that surface ships; therefore, the ZR code was included as a hull classification symbol with those of surface ships.

When subsequent airships were ordered into series production for World War I (WWI), alphabetical class letters were adopted starting with the B-class blimp, with individual aircraft identified by a suffixed number; DN-1 was retroactively considered A-class by implication.

The 1947 system took the following form:[8] For example, the ZP2N-1W referred to the airborne early warning modification (W) of the first subtype (1) of the N-class' (N) second (2) patrol (P) airship (Z).

[11] In 1952, the Navy and Air Force agreed to standardize some flight training curricula and equipment.

[12] Accordingly, the T-28 Trojan and T-34 Mentor trainers were adopted and operated by the Navy under their Air Force designations.