Warbird Information Exchange

This likely has been answered before.....thx in advance:
During the 1950s, some ANG Mustangs displayed their tail serial numbers begining with the numeral zero, ex: 0-473656. What did the zero imply? Were the remaining numbers then the correct aircraft serial number?
Thx again,
VL

I know I've read it on here someplace, but since I can't find it this site has a pretty good description of it a bit more than half way down.

http://www.oldwings.nl/content/o0/not_oh.htm

Vlado, they used a 0 to signify that the aircraft in question was over 10 years old. I don't know when they stopped doing it.

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I do recall part of the reason they stopped doing it was because it was often confused as being an "O" vice a "0"

And worse, depending upon what reference you use, even they aren't sure whether it's an "O" or a "0"! Theoretically it's supposedly an "O" for "obsolete".

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was a O for "obsolete". Didn't the Mustangs get a W for "war weary" too?

BTW, Vlado, I sent you a pm.

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"O" for obsolete or "0"for "more than 10 years old" remains the question. Here is a photo of a C-124 taken in 1963 and it has the subject code. Was it obsolete (?).Well, yes (technically) but at the time it was the only one of its type in the USAF inventory and was backbone for heavy lift. Seems strange that they would have identifed it as 'obsolete' when the C-141 successor had not even flown yet. My vote is for "over 10 years of age".


[img][img]http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr240/jdvoss/hrC124.jpg[/img]

[/img]

JD
That pix looks like the ramp at Kwaj and I saw some come thru there in '72

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I've been told that it is a zero for over ten years old.

S

I thought it should have been an H on the mustang denoting hair dresser convention.

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Part of the dropping of the 'O' or '0' would be to do with the extending length of front line type service these days. In the 1950s, 'ten years old' was a couple of generations old, not viable front like equipment in certain roles, today, there's a lot of ten your old aircraft in front line service; and they are no longer an exception type on the ramp, so their Bu year remains an important differentiator.

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Stoney:

You have a good eye and an tremendous memory as well!! If you go the Photo Gallery porton of this website you'll see my collection of NAS Kwajalein Flight Ramp Photos 1963-64.

I remember that it is a Zero pertaining to 10 years old or more for age.
W was WW and as far as I know was in the European operations area only. I never learned why something would earn the distinction as many of the same type were still operational at the end of the war.
Rich

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And probably most of you know/assume this, but the reason the "0" for "over 10 years old" was needed was so that the serial number could be interpreted correctly. USAF serials start with the last two digits of the year the plane was ordered, but only the last digit was written on the fin as the first digit of the code as presented. Thus, the C-124 shown above was serial 51-0106, originally written 10106 when the plane was new. After 1961, an observer might have mistakenly decoded it as 61-0106. To clear up the ambiguity, the "0" signaled that the first digit of the serial number was not in the most recent decade.

Later in the 60s the USAF began presenting both digits of the year at the front of the serial number, eliminating the need for the "0". This recognized the fact that many planes in the inventory were by then over 10 years old and quite a few over 20 years old. In such cases the "0" was inadequate because although it told you the plane wasn't from the current decade, it didn't tell you how many decades back to go.

August