Naval Aircraft Identification System
The IJN had, at the beginning of the Pacific War, three aircraft designation systems: The Experimental Shi numbers, the Type numbering system and an aircraft designation system broadly similar to that used by the U.S. Navy from 1922 until 1962.
Each new design was first given an experimental Shi number, based upon the current Japanese imperial year of reign. The Mitsubishi Zero so started its career as Navy Experimental 12-Shi Carrier Fighter.
Upon entering production the aircraft was given a Type number. The 'Zero' was so fully known as Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter, as the Zero was accepted in 1940, or 2600 in the Japanese calendar.
The aircraft was also given a "short designation" consisting of a group of Roman letters and numbers.
- The first letter (sometimes two) indicated the basic type or purpose of the aircraft.
- Second came a series number indicating the number of major sub-types produced for that type of aircraft. (Unlike USN practice, the digit "1" was not ignored in this system and was included.)
- Third was the second letter which was the manufacturer's code, and included some non-Japanese companies.
(G4M designated attack bomber (G), the fourth in the Navy's sequence, designed or produced by Mitsubishi, while G5N would be the next attack bomber in sequence, built by Nakajima.)
- Fourth was a number indicating the version of the aircraft.
The first production version of the 'Zero' thus became A6M1.
| Letter | Type | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|
| A | Carrier Fighter | Aichi (Aichi Tokei Denki and Aichi Kokuki)/North American Aviation (US) |
| B | Carrier Attack Bomber (Torpedo or Level Bomber) | Boeing Aircraft (US) |
| C | Carrier Reconnaissance | Consolidated Aircraft (US) |
| D | Carrier Bomber (Dive Bomber) | Douglas Aircraft (US) |
| E | Reconnaissance Seaplane | - |
| F | Observation Seaplane | - |
| G | Attack Bomber (land based) | Hitachi Kokuki/Grumman Aircraft Engineering (US) |
| H | Flying Boat (Reconnaissance) | Hiro (Dai-Juichi Kaigun Koskusho)/Hawker Aircraft (UK) |
| He | - | Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke (Germany) |
| J | Land-based Fighter | Nihon Kogata Hikoki/Junkers Flugzeug und Moterenwerke (Germany) |
| K | Trainer | Kawanishi Kokuki |
| L | Transport | - |
| M | Special Floatplane | Mitsubishi Jukogyo |
| MX | Special Purpose Aircraft | - |
| N | Float Fighter | Nakajima Hikoki |
| P | Bomber (land based) | Nihon Hikoki |
| Q | Patrol Plane (Anti-Submarine Warfare) | - |
| R | Land-based Reconnaissance | - |
| S | Night Fighter | Sasebo (Dai-Nijuichi Kaigun Kokusho) |
| Si | - | Showa Hikoki |
| V | - | Vought-Sikorsky (US) |
| W | - | Watanabe Tekkosho/Kyushu Hikoki |
| Y | - | Yokosuka (Dai-Ichi Kaigun Koku Gijitsusho) |
| Z | - | Mizuno Guraida Seisakusho |
Further minor changes were indicated by adding letters after the subtype number as in the Type/Model scheme above. The first two letters and the series number remained the same for the service life of each design.
In a few cases, when the designed role of an aircraft changed, the new use was indicated by adding a dash and a second type letter to the end of the existing short designation (e.g., the H6K4 was the sixth flying boat (H6) designed by Kawanishi (K), fourth version of that design (4). When the plane was equipped primarily as a troop or supply transport, its designation was H6K4-L.)
Read more about this topic: Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service
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