F-19

"F-19" is a designation for a United States fighter aircraft that has never been officially used, and has engendered much speculation that it might refer to a type of aircraft whose existence is still classified.

Since the unification of the numbering system in 1962, US fighters have been designated by consecutive numbers, beginning with the F-1 Fury[?]. F-13 was never assigned (presumably due to triskaidekaphobia among pilots, who are notoriously superstitious), but after the F/A-18 Hornet, the next announced aircraft was the F-20 Tigershark[?].

There have been several theories put forth to explain the omission.

The most prevalent theory in the 1980s was that it was the designation of the stealth fighter[?] whose development was an open secret in the aerospace community. In 1986, the Testor Corporation[?] released a model aircraft kit, calling it the "F-19 Stealth Fighter", and in the same year, the Tom Clancy novel Red Storm Rising mentioned an "F-19 Ghostrider".

When the actual aircraft was publicly revealed in 1988, it was called the F-117 Nighthawk (an odd designation, although Joe Baugher asserts that the first manuals had the meaningless number "F-117" on the cover, and the designation stuck, despite the apparent connection to the old series of fighter numbers). There seems not to be any evidence that "F-19" was ever used to designate the Nighthawk, although the USAF Museum[?] website (as of 2003) does include the cryptic entry "Lockheed F-19 CSIRS (see F-117)".

At one point, a USAF spokesman claimed that it was to avoid confusion with the MiG-19, but this seems never to have interfered with the use of 17, 21, and 23 for instance.

Another theory is that Northrop requested "F-20" for their new design, (similar to the World War II-era skip over "P-74" to allow General Motors to use "P-75" for a new fighter), but this is most likely an urban legend.

It is possible that the "F-19" exists, but is still classified - a number of projects have been kept secret for many years - or simply that the designation was left open to confuse foreign intelligence agencies.

External links

• Joe Baugher post to sci.military.moderated, 1995 (http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22f-19%22+%22f-117%22+clancy&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=DCuuoI.2AJ%40ranger.daytonoh.attgis.com&rnum=1)
• USAF Museum Fighter Aircraft Virtual Gallery (http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/fighter/fighter.htm) (F-19 mention is near the bottom)