British military aircraft designations 1945 to date

The first list I have decided to display is of British military designation applied from 1945. The contents are developed from an appendix to my book Aircraft in British Military Service - 1946 to date.

Significant changes in type development - whether through new construction or conversion - usually merited a new mark number which through the war was written in Roman numerals to XIX and Arabic numerals from 20 upwards. From 1942 designatory prefix letters were used to indicate role. Then from 1947 Arabic figures became standard for all designations, although they had been in widespread but informal use as such for some time. Suffix letters were used to indicate minor changes, usually in equipment but sometimes in role. There have been cases where the military designations have coincided with civil series numbers (DH Comet and Heron for example), presumably to avoid confusion. Indeed, in the case of the Comet the military designations alternated between the civil ones.

Naval and Army variants often had designations starting at 10, 11, 20, 21 or 31 leaving earlier mark numbers available for RAF use. The Chipmunk started at Mark 10 to leave earlier designations free for Canadian use. In the unusual case of the Harrier odd numbers are for single-seat aircraft while even numbers are reserved for trainer variants. The Firely appears to have been unique in having two sets of designations applied, one in Roman numerals and a later series in Arabic numerals. There have also been situations where a significantly new aircraft has been developed but designated within the existing name and sequence, such as the Harrier GR Mk 5 (in US service the Harrier II). In other instances significant model changes have been made but with no change to the mark number, only to the role prefix (Sea Prince C Mk 1, T Mk 1).

Note - those designatory letters in italics appear to have been in informal use

Prefixes

Suffixes

A, B, C, D Used to denote a minor modification not meriting a fresh designation. The Lynx seems to suffer from endless semi-formal suffix additions to denote systems additions or changes. Some designations are joined as in GMS.