Stump the Experts (was[Milsurplus] was: Pre-WW2 USAAF nomenclature

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Well, with that many seen there were probably more so whoever dreamed up the 
system intended it to mean something.  But I would guess that the presence of 
dissimilar 1st and 2nd letters makes "BB" and "CC" early violations of the 
original intent, especially as in at least two cases the earlier version of the 
same items carried "AA".

Since the second letter in some cases was clearly assigned chronologically 
(higher letter equals later date), the first letter wasn't the same thing.  
Given that there was already in place and not changed a partial equipment type 
indicating nomenclature (BC, GN, etc.) it probably wasn't that.  The only other 
use I can think of is contractor code.  But even in the mid 30's, the Signal 
Corps had far more than 26 existing contractors.

In a message dated 11/19/2005 2:44:39 PM Central Standard Time, 
aw288 at osfn.org writes: 
> >>Off the top of my head, I have seen "first letter middle codes" A, B, C,
> >>G, H, R, and W.
> 
> D, as well.
> 
> William Donzelli
> aw288 at osfn.org

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