Ok, here's a little intro:
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, before, during and after the Korean war, the fleet of B-29 Superfortress bombers were being converted into jet-powered B-50s and KB-29 tankers. After the Korean war, though, when it was realized that large lumbering piston powered aircraft were now useless against jet fighters, some B-50s and most KB-29s were converted to KB-50 jet tankers.
Now here's the strange part: Modern tankers like the KC-135 or KC-10 have the designation "KC" standing for "Kerosene Carrier" or "Kerosene Cargo" or something similar. Now these bombers which were converted into tankers got the designation "KB" which probably stands for "Kerosene Bomber"!
There are some more weird US designations like the A-12 Oxcarts "A". With the A-4, A-5, A-6, A-7 and A-10, the "A" stands for "Attack" which is correct as they are all ground-attack aircraft. However the A-12 got it's "A" because the project name which spawned the A-12, YF-12 and SR(Strategic Reconaissance)-71 was called "Archangel". So the pattern goes "Attack-4 Skyhawk", "Attack-5 Vigilante", "Attack 6 Intruder", "Attack-7 Corsair", "Attack-10 Thunderbolt 2", "Archangel-12 Oxcart".
If anyone knows any more strange designations which make no sense, they can post it here.
I still don't know what "U" in U-2 stands for.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, before, during and after the Korean war, the fleet of B-29 Superfortress bombers were being converted into jet-powered B-50s and KB-29 tankers. After the Korean war, though, when it was realized that large lumbering piston powered aircraft were now useless against jet fighters, some B-50s and most KB-29s were converted to KB-50 jet tankers.
Now here's the strange part: Modern tankers like the KC-135 or KC-10 have the designation "KC" standing for "Kerosene Carrier" or "Kerosene Cargo" or something similar. Now these bombers which were converted into tankers got the designation "KB" which probably stands for "Kerosene Bomber"!
There are some more weird US designations like the A-12 Oxcarts "A". With the A-4, A-5, A-6, A-7 and A-10, the "A" stands for "Attack" which is correct as they are all ground-attack aircraft. However the A-12 got it's "A" because the project name which spawned the A-12, YF-12 and SR(Strategic Reconaissance)-71 was called "Archangel". So the pattern goes "Attack-4 Skyhawk", "Attack-5 Vigilante", "Attack 6 Intruder", "Attack-7 Corsair", "Attack-10 Thunderbolt 2", "Archangel-12 Oxcart".
If anyone knows any more strange designations which make no sense, they can post it here.
I still don't know what "U" in U-2 stands for.
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