Info re the letters on FAA Aircraft.
Can any of you chaps help me establish the lettering system used by the Carriers to identify their aircraft, i know that one letter was for the Carrier and the other for the aircraft, but can't find the Letter for Illustrious aircraft. Can anyone help please as my Fulmars are waiting to be decaled.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
There wasn't a consistent system through the war - eg. Martlets on Illustrious usually just had a single letter. Fulmar photos seem to be annoyingly rare, but it seems both single and 2-letter were used at different times.
Last edited by Dom S; 07-28-2014 at 02:32.
From a further rummage for 806 squadron, at different times their Fulmars had side codes of 6X in white (with X being a different letter for each aircraft) or just a single letter in red, or in at least one case possibly black.
Last edited by Dom S; 07-28-2014 at 03:11.
Thanks Dom.
After 2 hours scouring FAA records this morning you have given me enough info to go on with.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
No problem - the Fleet Air Arm Archive site is a great starting point for this - because it has the full air groups listed for pretty much every carrier, it means you can hunt for the right squadron, rather than just having to use the carrier's name - makes life much easier.
That's where I found the 806 were on Illustrious at the right period for me, but I could not get any further with info than that, so I certainly owe you one.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
No worries - my Google-fu's pretty strong, and well honed on impossible challenges like finding more photos of Jasta 7 Fokkers - after chores like that, a WWII Fleet Air Arm squadron looks a lot easier....
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