page_title: U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft tail codes
section_title: Basic Principles
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft tail codes / Basic Principles
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Navy Vought RF-8A Crusader (BuNo 146861) of Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron VFP-63 Det.B "Eyes of the Fleet" landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14). VFP-63 Det.B was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW-5) aboard the Ticonderoga for a deployment to the Western Pacific from 3 January to 15 July 1963. 146861 later collided with an F-8J (BuNo 150299) of Fighter Squadron VF-24 over the Gulf of Tonkin while getting ready to refuel from a tanker on 5 September 1972. Th pilot ejected and was rescued.
context_page_description: Tail codes on the U.S. Navy aircraft are the markings that help to identify the aircraft's unit and/or base assignment. These codes comprise one or two letters or digits painted on both sides of the vertical stabilizer, on the top right and on the bottom left wings near the tip. Although located both on the vertical stabilizer and the wings from their inception in July 1945, these identification markings are commonly referred as tail codes. It is important to note that tail codes are meant to identify units and assignments, not individual aircraft. For all aircraft of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps unique identification is provided by bureau numbers.
context_section_description: When introduced in June 1945, tail codes were assigned to individual aircraft carriers. Thus all aircraft based on a particular ship were supposed to carry the ship's code. As of August 1948, tail codes were no longer assigned to aircraft carriers but rather to Carrier Air Groups, which in December 1963 were re-designated as Carrier Air Wings.
  U.S. Navy carrier-based squadrons that deploy as whole units, like fighter and attack squadrons, use their parent Carrier Air Wing tail codes; these types of squadrons are normally not issued individual tail codes.
  Other types of the Navy's carrier-based squadrons that normally send detachments to several carriers, like photo reconnaissance, early warning or electronic attack, have frequently received individual tail codes. When deployed, such squadrons usually adopted the tail code of the parent Carrier Air Wing. However, in recent years the practice of assigning individual tail codes to any of the carrier-capable squadrons seems to have been discontinued.
  Land-based squadrons of the U.S. Navy – e.g., patrol, transport, observation and other support squadrons – are assigned individual tail codes. The same has been applicable in the past to Naval Air Stations.
  Each U.S. Marine Corps squadron, regardless of its mission, is assigned its own tail code. When a carrier-capable Marine squadron deploys on an aircraft carrier as a part of the U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing, it typically adopts the tail code of this Air Wing for the period of deployment.
  A circular letter issued by the CNO in November 1946 specified that code letters on USMC planes were to be underscored. The underscoring of codes was a short-lived practice abandoned by 1949.
  Throughout the history of tail codes there have been a number of duplicates where the same code was used at the same time by more than one unit. This happened frequently during the first post-war decade when the Navy made several revamps of its tail code assignments within a short time frame. Most typically, duplicates resulted when the same letter was assigned to a regular Air Group and to a reserve facility: for example, in the early 1950s the tail code "A" was valid both for Carrier Air Group 15 aircraft and for all Naval Air Reserve units home-based at NAS Anacostia.
  In certain cases Navy or Marine aircraft do not carry tail codes. This happened with aircraft wearing special or experimental camouflage paint, particularly during the Vietnam War deployments. Aircraft of Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) employed for VIP transport are another example.
  The U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps do not seem to have any specific procedure for removing a tail code from use. If a unit that owned a particular tail code is disestablished, the respective tail code becomes extinct. Later, this code may be assigned to a different unit, or it may remain unused.
caption: This RF-8A Crusader from VFP-63 Det.B, although deployed with Carrier Air Wing 5, displays the unit's own "PP" tail code and not the Air Wing's "NF".
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