CHAPTER 13
AIRCRAFT AND SHIP IDENTIFICATION
As you learned in previous chapters, lookout
duties are some of your most important duties. As a
part of your lookout duties you must be able to identify
aircraft, ships and, on occasion, submarines. This
chapter covers the basics in identification procedures.
AIRCRAFT IDENTIFICATION
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Explain the
procedures for the identification of aircraft,
including aircraft type, aircraft measurement,
and other identification aids.
Aircraft identification is a very important asset to
the Signalman on watch, so you must learn as much
as you can to assist in the identification of aircraft.
Although this chapter will familiarize you with the
most frequently used aircraft, you should guard
against making positive identification hastily. The
identity of every aircraft must be checked by even the
most knowledgeable interpreter. You should study
unidentified aircraft carefully, using all available
references on recognition and identification. The
dimensions and characteristics of all known aircraft
are available from many sources, including Aircraft of
the World,
Aircraft Armament Handbook
(Characteristics and Performance) Eurasian
Communist Countries, and probably the most popular,
Jane's All the World's Aircraft, just to name a few.
AIRCRAFT TYPES
When the scale or quality of imagery makes it
difficult to identify the type of aircraft (jet or prop),
you must rely on distinguishing characteristics to aid
in identification. A single-engine jet, as opposed to a
single-engine propeller-driven aircraft (fig. 13-1), has
one or more of the following recognition
characteristics:
The wings are farther back from the nose.
The widest part of the fuselage is near the center.
The wings are usually angled back, inboard to
outboard.
Figure 13-1.—Single-engine aircraft recognition
characteristics.
The wings usually have less surface area.
The distance from the wings to the horizontal
stabilizer is less than that from the wings to the
nose.
There are fewer visible differences between
multiengine jet aircraft and multiengine propeller
aircraft than between the single-engine types.
However, the twin and multiengine jets (fig. 13-2)
usually have one or more of the following
characteristics.
The wings are usually angled back, inboard to
outboard.
The engines are usually suspended from the
wings.
The wings have less surface area.
AIRCRAFT MEASUREMENTS
The two major characteristics in aircraft
interpretation are the size of the image and the shape
of various components. Accurate measurements are
vital because the general appearance of certain aircraft
often may be so similar that only the difference in
Figure 13-2.—Twin and multiengine aircraft recognition
characteristics.
13-1
