Message posted by Andreas Parsch on July 30, 2002 at 13:55:11 PST:

Hello,

At one time, the discussion of an "F-19" fighter would have been on-topic for an Area 51 forum, but in reality, it's not. Nevertheless, maybe some of you are interested in the fact that "F-19" was never allocated, reserved, or otherwise asociated with any secret fighter project.

The designation "F-19" was skipped at Northrop's request, when they wanted "F-20" for the Tigershark in 1982, because they preferred an even number. The Soviet competitors in the export fighter export market of the early 1980s all used odd numbers, and Northrop wanted to stand out from these. The F-20A designator was approved by DOD despite official recommendation by
the USAF Standards Branch (at that time responsible for nomenclature assignments) to follow the regulations, and use "F-19A".

I have official DOD and USAF letters which prove the preceding paragraph. If interested, e-mail me for details.

Regards
Andreas

Replies:

• Re: OT(!): F-19 Magoo 08/01/2002, 18:30:37 PST (1)
  • Re: OT(!): F-19 Toms 08/02/2002, 12:45:35 PST (0)