ADF-SERIALS
Australian, New Zealand & Papua New Guinea Military Aircraft Serials & History
Aircraft of the Royal Australian Navy
|
Royal Australian Navy Fleet
Aircraft of World War One |
| Aircraft History Page | |
| RNAS and RAF
Aircraft carried on Royal Australian Navy
Ships 1917-1919
|
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Australian
Naval Aeroplanes.
1921
("ANA" Serials prior to the introduction of RAAF "A"
Numbers).
| Aircraft History Page | Image Gallery |
| ANA 1 to ANA-6 Fairey IIID |  |
Royal
Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm.
1947-1963
(Prior to the introduction of "N" Numbers).
| Aircraft History Page | Image Gallery | Aircraft History Page | Image Gallery |
| Airspeed AS.10 Oxford |
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Auster J5/G Autocar |
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| CAC CA-20 Wirraway |  |
De Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth |  |
| Hawker Sea Fury FB.10/FB.11 |  |
Supermarine Sea Otter |  |
| Supermarine Spitfire V/VIII |  |
Vultee Vengeance |  |
Royal
Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm.
1963
onwards.
(It is possible that a type could have A or N allocations and original country serials on the same page)
Other Aircraft of the Royal Australian Navy
| Aircraft History Page | Image Gallery | Operators | Aircraft History Page | Image Gallery | Operators |
| De Havilland Canada DHC-8-202Q Dash 8 |
|
RAN Hydrography Institute | Gates Learjet |
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Navy Support Flight |
| GAF Turana Target Drone |  |
HMA Ships | GAF Ikara ASM
Aircraft page to be added. |
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HMA Ships |
| Fokker 27 Friendship |
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RAN Hydrography Unit | Israeli Aircraft Industries IAI Westwind II |
 |
Navy Support Flight |
| Sikorsky HO3S-1 |  |
HMAS Sydney |
RAN Aircraft Codes Explained
By Jeff Chartier, 723 Squadron, RAN
The coding of the RAN
FAA's aircraft is basically a carry on from the old days
where we managed everything in line with the Royal Navy
standards of operation.
From 1946, all RN FAA aircraft, whether at home or
abroad, would carry a 3 digit fuselage code of which the
first digit would denote its layout or function.
Single seaters used 100 codes,
2 seaters used 200 codes,
3 seaters used 300 codes,
Multi engines used 400 codes,
Fleet Support (FRU) used 500 codes,
Multi engined light trainers used 600 codes,
700 codes were spare,
Communications aircraft used 800 codes,
Station flights used 900 codes,
Trials / development aircraft used 000 codes.
The RAN FAA adopted the same system when it stood up in
1948.
It continued to use a fairly similar system, changing to
900 series codes for all 2nd Line Units in 1955, and
then a whole of FAA change to 800 series codes for both
1st & 2nd Line Units in 1958.
By 1977 and into the 80's the RAN had used / were using
pretty much all available 800 codes:
HS-748: 800-801
Wessex: 810-836
Tracker (E): 840-853
Tracker (G): 844-859
Macchi: 860-869
Skyhawk: 870-889
Kiowa: 890, 891, 892, 896, 899
Iroquois: 893, 894, 895, 897, 898
Sea King: 901-910
Aircraft codes from, lets say 1990 to now were / are:
HS-748: 800-801
Squirrel (ex-Army): 801, 811, 819-824
Seasprite: 840-850
Squirrel (Navy): 860-865
Seahawk: 870-885
Kiowa: 890, 892, 896, 031, 032
Sea King: 902, 905, 907, 909, 910, 920, 921, 922
A-109E: 501, 505, 510
Bell 429: 047, 048, 049
MRH-90: Will operate any 6 numbered between 001-046
MH-60R: 901-924
The exceptions to the rule have been the contractor
supplied Agusta A-109E's & Bell 429's, which have
used their manufacturers numbers (A109: 501, 505, 510;
Bell 429: 047, 048, 049).
The MRH-90's do also use their manufacturer’s numbers as
their side numbers. But that has more to do with the
fact that all MRH-90's are pooled between Navy and Army,
making the process of repainting airframes a costly
undertaking to reflect who they may be operating with at
any given time. Similar to why they will ALL operate in
a camouflage scheme, instead of the Navy cabs being
painted grey.
MH-60R will be coded 901-924. Which is nice to see, as a
good proportion of those numbers were last used on the
last ASW Helo we had with a dipping sonar capability the
mighty Sea King!
Interesting to note that
2 Kiowas were operated towards the end of RAN
Kiowa OPS with their Army codes 031 & 032, and
operated at points in their Army Camo scheme. No
800 series codes were allocated.
Page Authors: Darren Crick, Brendan Cowan & Martin Edwards
Page Updated 07th December 2018
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