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What secrets lurk in the filecards?
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05-21-2011, 05:53 PM
zuludelta
EQ-Viper
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,343
Just going by the final designation though (F-117), I think it was just another case of the Air Force using the "century series" numbering for an aircraft whose purpose doesn't cleanly fall within the fighter/bomber dichotomy.
They did the same thing with the F-105 and F-111... both were aircraft whose initial design requirements called for the ability serve both as air-to-air interceptors and light tactical bombers, but in practice, the F-105 and F-111 almost exclusively served in the light tactical bomber role.
The Air Force has some idiosyncrasies with its aircraft designation system. Besides using the "century-series fighter" designation for light tactical bombers, they seem pretty averse to using the "A" designation for ground attack aircraft, partially because of a long-standing inter-service rivalry with the Navy's "little Air Force." Most of the early "A" designated ground attack aircraft were carrier-borne aircraft (the A-1 Skyraider, the A-6 Intruder, the A-7 Corsair II, etc.) used primarily by the Navy. The sole exception, of course, is the Air Force's A-10 Thunderbolt II (I guess calling it a fighter was too much even for the AF brass, although on official documents, USAF A-10 pilots are still given the "fighter pilot" specialty shredout). A perfect example of the Air Force refusing to use the "A" designation, even when it's the most appropriate designator, is for the F-15E Strike Eagle (the SEAD/"Wild Weasel" variant of the F-15). They didn't even bother with a split "F/A" nomenclature like the Navy and the Marine Corps use for the F/A-18 Hornet, to indicate that it's an air-to-air intercept-capable ground attack aircraft.
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Last edited by zuludelta; 05-21-2011 at
06:05 PM
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