C-119 MODEL - 3 attachments (1/2)

On 4-Dec-2007, Jim John wrote:

The number on the tail is
0-33142

Which means that the USAF Serial No. is 50-33142. As I understand it, that
by no means implies that the USAF acquired 33142 A/C that year. It's simply
the number assigned this A/C.

Brian

wrote:
On 4-Dec-2007, Jim John wrote:

The number on the tail is
0-33142

Which means that the USAF Serial No. is 50-33142. As I understand
it, that by no means implies that the USAF acquired 33142 A/C that
year. It's simply the number assigned this A/C.

Brian



I for one find this system mildly confusing - maybe I'm just mildly
confused.


It could be - as you say - 50-33412, it's unlikely to be 40-xxxx, but the 0
could also be an O (oscar), meaning the aircraft is obsolete, but still on
the register.




--

Cheers

Dave Kearton

wrote in
g.com:


On 4-Dec-2007, Jim John wrote:

The number on the tail is
0-33142

Which means that the USAF Serial No. is 50-33142. As I understand it,
that by no means implies that the USAF acquired 33142 A/C that year.
It's simply
the number assigned this A/C.

Brian

Actually, that '0' in front is in reality an 'O' - the letter O, as in
'Obsolete'. The USAF and Army used this for many years in the '50s
through '70s to denote aircraft more than ten years old, since the serial
system normally used only the last digit of the fiscal year in which the
contract for the aircraft was awarded. This kept, for example, the serial
for your C-119 - in reality 53-3142 from being confused with 63-3142
(though visual inspection would quickly reveal that the latter was a
Martin AGM-12 Bullpup missile.)

A good source for USAF serials is Joe Baugher's site:

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html

Which gives the following for your C-119.

"Fairchild C-119G 53-3142 (c/n 11153) converted to YC-119K. To MASDC as
CJ0419 Mar 16, 1972. Declared excess Dec 26, 1973."

Joe also has a site for US Navy and Marines serials at:

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/navyserials.html

Bob ^,,^

Sounds to me like you're correct. My knowledge of Air Force serial numbers
comes from years studying WWII USAAF practice, where with rare exception
there wasn't a problem with what decade the damned thing was built in.

I also NEVER understood the rationale for dropping the first digit from the
serial no. when it was painted in the tail.

Brian

wrote:

Sounds to me like you're correct. My knowledge of Air Force serial numbers
comes from years studying WWII USAAF practice, where with rare exception
there wasn't a problem with what decade the damned thing was built in.

I also NEVER understood the rationale for dropping the first digit from the
serial no. when it was painted in the tail.

Brian

there's no reason for it, it's just policy.

redc1c4,
(it's the Air Force after all...... %-)
--
"Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear
considerable watching."

Army Officer's Guide