page_title: RLM aircraft designation system
section_title: Factory Identification Codes
hierarchical_section_title: RLM aircraft designation system / Evolution of the designation system / Factory Identification Codes
caption_attribution_description: The second German pre-production Heinkel He 177A-02 Greif (DL+AQ) in flight.
context_page_description: The German Air Ministry had a system for aircraft designation which was an attempt by the aviation authorities of the Third Reich to standardize and produce an identifier for each aircraft design's airframe type produced in Germany. It was in use from 1933 to 1945 though many pre-1933 aircraft were included and the system had changes over those years.
  As well as aircraft of the Luftwaffe, it covered civilian airliners and sport planes, due to the RLM handing all aviation-related matters in the Third Reich, both civilian and military in nature.
context_section_description: When a German military aircraft emerged from its production plant, it was given a four-letter Stammkennzeichen code (factory radio code), which was an individual aircraft's radio code before it entered service and staying with the aircraft throughout its entire existence. This format was also usually used for prototype aircraft if they did not bear a German national "D-xxxx" style civil registration. The entire Stammkennzeichen was usually on the fuselage sides, and also often repeated on the undersides of both wings, with the four letters spread out along the entire wing's under-surfaces. The code could also be placed on such things as the manufacturer's identification plate, and sometimes even the compass correction card for a particular aircraft.
caption: A He 177A-0 prototype with the all-letter Stammkennzeichen marking "DL+AQ"[3]
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