ltgbrown wrote:Why V for fixed wing, you got me
On 17 July 1920, the Secretary of the Navy prescribed a standard nomenclature for types and classes of naval vessels, including aircraft, in which lighter-than-air craft were identified by the type “Z” and heavier-than-air craft by the letter “V”. Class letters assigned within the Z type were R, N and K for rigid dirigibles, non-rigid dirigibles and kite balloons respectively, while F, O, S, P, T and G were established for fighter, observation, scouting, patrol, torpedo and bombing, and Fleet planes as classes within the V type. The use of the “V” designation with fix-wing heavier-than-air squadron designations has been a question of debate since the 1920s. However, no conclusive evidence has been found to identify why the letter “V” was chosen.
It is generally believed the “V” was in reference to the French word “volplane”. As a verb, the word means to glide or soar. As a noun, it described an aeronautical device sustained in the air by lifting surfaces (wings), as opposed to the bag of gas that the airships (denoted by “Z”) used, but there is no documentation from 1920 that verifies this assumption.
(Doesn't take anything on the ship's part to launch or recover a helo!)