This list of United States Air Force aircraft designations (1919–1962) includes prototype, pre-production and operational type designations under the 1919 and 1924 United States Army Air Service aircraft designation systems, which were used by the United States Air Force and its predecessors until the introduction of the unified United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system in 1962.

For aircraft designations after 1962, see List of United States Tri-Service aircraft designations. For aircraft that did not receive formal designations—including those procured before 1919 when no designation system was in force, and later aircraft that did not receive designations for other reasons—see List of undesignated military aircraft of the United States.

Prior to 1919

Prior to 1919, all aircraft flown by the Army Air Service were referred to by the designation given to them by their manufacturer. During this period, a variety of both domestic and foreign types were operated, with the latter being the primary front-line types during World War I.

Army Air Service designations (1919–1924)

In September 1919, the Army Air Service decided that it needed an organized designation sequence, and adopted fifteen classifications, designated by Roman numerals. Several other unnumbered designations were added later. Each designation was assigned an abbreviation, and each design a number within that abbreviation. Variants were designated by alphabetically appending letters to the design number.

Type O: Foreign-Built Pursuit Aircraft Fokker D.VII – Fokker Fokker D.VIII – Fokker

Type I: Pursuit, water-cooled PW-1 – Engineering Division PW-2 – Loening PW-3 – Orenco PW-4 – Gallaudet PW-5 – Fokker PW-6 – Fokker PW-7 – Fokker PW-8 – Curtiss PW-9 – Boeing

Type II: Pursuit, night PN-1 – Curtiss

Type III: Pursuit, air-cooled PA-1 – Loening

Type IV: Pursuit, ground attack, 1922 PG-1 – Aeromarine

Type V: Two-seat pursuit TP-1 – Engineering Division

Type VI: Ground attack, 1920–1922 GA-1 – Boeing GA-2 – Boeing

Type VII: Infantry liaison IL-1 – Orenco

Type VIII: Night observation NO-1 – Douglas (not built) NO-2 – Douglas (not built)

Type IX: Artillery observation AO-1 – Atlantic

Type X: Corps observation CO-1 – Engineering Division CO-2 – Engineering Division CO-3 – Engineering Division CO-4 – Atlantic CO-5 – Engineering Division CO-6 – Engineering Division CO-7 – Boeing CO-8 – Atlantic

Type XI: Day bombardment DB-1 – Gallaudet

Type XII: Night bombardment, short range NBS-1 – Martin NBS-2 – Lowe-Willard-Fowler NBS-3 – Elias NBS-4 – Curtiss

Type XIII: Night bombardment, long range NBL-1 – Witteman-Lewis NBL-2 – Martin (not built)

Type XIV: Trainer, air-cooled TA-1 – Elias TA-2 – Huff-Daland TA-3 – Dayton-Wright Aircraft TA-4 – Engineering Division TA-5 – Dayton-Wright Aircraft TA-6 – Huff-Daland

Type XV: Trainer, water-cooled TW-1 – Engineering Division TW-2 – Cox-Klemin TW-3 – Dayton-Wright Aircraft TW-4 – Fokker TW-5 – Huff-Daland

Ambulance, 1919–1924 A-1 – Cox-Klemin A-2 – Fokker

Messenger M-1 – Engineering Division/Sperry

Pursuit, special PS-1 – Dayton-Wright

Racer

R-1 – Alfred V. Verville R-2 – Thomas-Morse R-3 – Verville-Sperry R-4 – Loening R-5 – Thomas-Morse R-6 – Curtiss R-7 – Engineering Division R-8 – Curtiss

Seaplane S-1 – Loening

Transport T-1 – Martin T-2 – Fokker T-3 – Lowe-Willard-Fowler

Lighter-than-air craft AC-1 — designed for "long flights and cross-country work", this was a 169 foot long, 180,000 cubic foot buoyancy craft which had one of its earliest long flights in May 1923. RN-1 — designated "Zodiac", this was a semi-rigid dirigible, 262.5 feet long with a 360,000 cubic foot buoyancy volume.

Army Air Corps/Army Air Forces/Air Force designations (1924–1962)

Amphibian OA: Observation Amphibian (1925–1948) OA-1 – Loening OA-2 – Loening OA-3 Dolphin – Douglas (redesignated from C-21) OA-4 Dolphin – Douglas (redesignated from C-26) OA-5 – Douglas OA-6 – Consolidated (not built) OA-7 – Douglas OA-8 – Sikorsky OA-9 Goose – Grumman (redesignated A-9 in 1948) OA-10 Catalina – Consolidated (redesignated A-10 in 1948) OA-11 – Sikorsky OA-12 Duck – Grumman (redesignated A-12 in 1948) OA-13 Goose – Grumman OA-14 Widgeon – Grumman OA-15 Seabee – Republic OA-16 Albatross – Grumman (redesignated A-16 in 1948)

A: Amphibian (1948–1962) A-9 Goose – Grumman (redesignated from OA-9) A-10 Catalina – Consolidated (redesignated from OA-10) A-12 Duck – Grumman (redesignated from OA-12) A-16 Albatross – Grumman (redesignated from OA-16)

Attack

A: Attack (1924–1948) A-1 – skipped to avoid confusion with the Cox-Klemin XA-1 A-2 – Douglas A-3 Falcon – Curtiss A-4 Falcon – Curtiss A-5 Falcon – Curtiss (not built) A-6 Falcon – Curtiss (not built) A-7 – Fokker-America A-8 – Curtiss A-9 – Lockheed A-10 Shrike – Curtiss A-11 – Consolidated A-12 Shrike – Curtiss A-13 – Northrop A-14 – Curtiss A-15 – Martin (not built) A-16 – Northrop A-17 Nomad – Northrop A-18 Shrike – Curtiss A-19 – Vultee A-20 Havoc – Douglas (redesignated B-20 in 1948) A-21 – Stearman A-22 – Martin A-23 – Martin A-24 Banshee – Douglas (Air Force variant of Navy SBD Dauntless, redesignated F-24 in 1948) A-25 Shrike – Curtiss (Air Force variant of Navy SB2C Helldiver) A-26 Invader – Douglas (redesignated B-26 in 1948) A-27 – North American A-28 Hudson – Lockheed A-29 Hudson – Lockheed A-30 – Martin (contract designation for Lend-Lease aircraft) A-31 Vengeance – Vultee A-32 – Brewster A-33 – Douglas A-34 – Brewster (Air Force variant of Navy SB2A Buccaneer, issued for Lend-lease) A-35 Vengeance – Vultee A-36 – North American (ground attack variant of the P-51 Mustang) A-37 – Hughes (unofficial designation created for contract purposes) A-38 Grizzly – Beechcraft A-39 – Kaiser-Fleetwings (not built) A-40 – Curtiss (Air Force variant of Navy BTC, not built) A-41 – Vultee A-42 Mixmaster – Douglas (ground attack variant of the B-42, not built) A-43 Blackhawk – Curtiss-Wright (ground attack variant of the F-87, not built) A-44 – Convair (redesignated B-53 in 1948, not built) A-45 – Martin (redesignated B-51 in 1948)

Bomber

Until 1926, the Army Air Service had three sequences for bombers. Light bombers were indicated by the LB- prefix, medium bombers by the B- prefix, and heavy bombers by the HB- prefix. In 1926, the three-category system was scrapped and all bombers subsequently built were placed in the B- sequence.

LB: Light Bomber (1924–1926) LB-1 – Huff-Daland (later Keystone) LB-2 – Atlantic/Fokker LB-3 – Keystone LB-4 – Martin (not built) LB-5 – Keystone LB-6 – Keystone LB-7 – Keystone LB-8 – Keystone LB-9 – Keystone LB-10 – Keystone (redesignated B-3 in 1930) LB-11 – Keystone LB-12 – Keystone LB-13 – Keystone (redesignated B-4 in 1930) LB-14 – Keystone (redesignated B-5 in 1930)

B: Medium Bomber (1924–1926) B-1 – Huff-Daland B-2 Condor – Curtiss

HB: Heavy Bomber (1924–1926) HB-1 – Huff-Daland HB-2 – Atlantic/Fokker (not built) HB-3 – Huff-Daland (not built)

B: Bomber (1926–1962)

B-1 – Huff-Daland/Keystone B-2 Condor – Curtiss B-3 – Keystone B-4 – Keystone B-5 – Keystone B-6 – Keystone B-7 – Douglas B-8 – Fokker B-9 – Boeing B-10 – Martin B-11 – Douglas B-12 – Martin B-13 – Martin (not built) B-14 – Martin B-15 – Boeing (redesignated from BLR-1) B-16 – Martin (not built) B-17 Flying Fortress – Boeing B-18 Bolo – Douglas B-19 – Douglas (redesignated from BLR-2) B-20 – Boeing (not built) B-21 – North American B-22 – Douglas (not built) B-23 Dragon – Douglas B-24 Liberator – Consolidated B-25 Mitchell – North American B-26 Marauder – Martin B-27 – Martin (not built) B-28 Dragon – North American B-29 Superfortress – Boeing B-29D Superfortress – Boeing (redesignated B-50 in 1945) B-30 – Lockheed (not built) B-31 – Douglas (not built) B-32 Dominator – Consolidated B-33 Super Marauder – Martin (not built) B-34 Lexington – Lockheed B-35 – Northrop B-36 Peacemaker – Convair B-36G Peacemaker – Convair (redesignated B-60) B-37 – Lockheed (redesignated from B-34B) B-38 Flying Fortress – Boeing B-39 Superfortress – Boeing B-40 Flying Fortress – Boeing B-41 Liberator – Consolidated B-42 Mixmaster – Douglas B-43 Jetmaster – Douglas B-44 Superfortress – Boeing B-45 Tornado – North American B-46 – Convair B-47 Stratojet – Boeing B-47C Stratojet – Boeing (redesignated B-56, not built) B-48 – Martin B-49 – Northrop conversion of XB-35 to jet power B-50 Superfortress – Boeing (redesignated from B-29D) B-50C Superfortress – Boeing (redesignated B-54, not built) B-51 – Martin (redesignated from A-45) B-52 Stratofortress – Boeing B-53 – Convair (not built) B-54 – Boeing (redesignated from B-50C) B-55 – Boeing (not built) B-56 – Boeing (redesignated from B-47C not built) B-57 Canberra – Martin B-57D Canberra – Martin B-57F Canberra – Martin/General Dynamics B-58 Hustler – Convair B-59 – Boeing (not built) B-60 – Convair (redesignated from B-36G) B-61 Matador – Martin B-62 Snark – Northrop B-63 RASCAL – Bell B-64 Navaho – North American B-65 Atlas – Convair B-66 Destroyer – Douglas B-67 Crossbow – Radioplane B-68 – Martin (not built) B-68 Titan – Martin (conflicting designation, assigned after the original B-68 was canceled) B-69 Neptune – Lockheed (Air Force variant of the Navy P2V) B-70 Valkyrie – North American B-71 Blackbird – Lockheed (not built)

Beginning with #69, the "M-" (missile) and "B-" (bomber) series diverged. The missiles designated M-69 to M-92, some of which are incorrectly labeled as "formerly designated B-xx" in some sources, never used a "B-" series designation. Beginning with #70, another sequence diverged, the "RS-" (Reconnaissance/Strike) series, which was later changed to the "SR-" (Strategic Reconnaissance) series of the Tri-Service system.

Non-sequential Some bomber designations were assigned out of sequence.

B-20 Havoc – Douglas (redesignated from A-20 in 1948 after original B-20 was canceled) B-26 Invader – Douglas (redesignated from A-26 in 1948 after original B-26 was retired)

BLR: Bomber, long range (1935–1936) A short-lived designation used from 1935–1936 to refer to three long-range bomber projects commissioned by the Army Air Corps. Most of the bombers were night bombers.

BLR-1 – Boeing (redesignated to B-15) BLR-2 – Douglas (redesignated to B-19) BLR-3 – Sikorsky (not built)

Cargo

C: Cargo (1924–1962)

C-1 – Douglas C-2 – Fokker C-3 – Ford C-4 – Ford C-5 – Fokker C-6 – Sikorsky C-7 – Fokker C-8 – Fairchild C-9 – Ford C-10 Robin – Curtiss-Wright C-11 Fleetster – Consolidated C-12 Vega – Lockheed C-13 – skipped C-14 – Fokker C-15 – Fokker C-16 – Fokker C-17 Super Vega – Lockheed C-18 Monomail – Boeing C-19 Alpha – Northrop C-20 – Fokker C-21 Dolphin – Douglas (redesignated to OA-3) C-22 Fleetster – Consolidated C-23 Altair – Lockheed C-24 – Fairchild C-25 Altair – Lockheed C-26 Dolphin – Douglas (redesignated to OA-3) C-27 Airbus – Bellanca C-28 – Sikorsky C-29 Dolphin – Douglas C-30 Condor – Curtiss-Wright C-31 – Kreider-Reisner C-32 – Douglas C-33 – Douglas C-34 – Douglas C-35 – Lockheed C-36 Electra – Lockheed C-37 Electra – Lockheed C-38 – Douglas C-39 – Douglas C-40 Electra – Lockheed C-41 – Douglas C-41A – Douglas C-42 – Douglas C-43 Traveller – Beechcraft C-44 – Messerschmitt C-45 Expeditor – Beechcraft C-46 Commando – Curtiss-Wright C-47 Skytrain – Douglas C-47F Skytrain – Douglas (redesignated from C-129) AC-47 Spooky – Douglas C-48 Skytrain – Douglas C-49 Skytrain – Douglas C-50 Skytrain – Douglas C-51 Skytrain – Douglas C-52 Skytrain – Douglas C-53 Skytrooper – Douglas C-54 Skymaster – Douglas C-55 Commando – Curtiss-Wright C-56 Lodestar – Lockheed C-57 Lodestar – Lockheed C-58 Bolo – Douglas