Stp-British military aeronef classifications
'Aeronef' is a French word for 'aircraft' that has made its way into most of the Western-European languages of Earth-3. It is somewhat debatable whether it applies to all aerial vessels, or only to heavier-than-air craft, but the British military establishment uses it to refer to any vehicle designed to fly through the air while carrying people, that is not intended to go into space (the latter being an astronef).
British Army (Royal Regiment of Aviation)
A (Assault): Bombers
B (Balloon): Lighter-than-air vehicles
C (Charger): Fighters
F (Freight): Cargo vehicles
S (Scout): Reconnaissance/Observation aircraft
T (Test): Experimental aircraft
For example, the Hale F-4 Elephant, a biplane cargo-glider a few feet shorter than a B-17 Flying Fortress (making it the largest glider in mass production on Earth-3), with longer wings and a cluster of liquid-fuel rockets in the tail. From 1877(3) to 1879(3), the design was still experimental, and was thus designated TF-4.
Royal Navy (primarily the Glider Service)
B (Balloon): Lighter-than-air vehicles
C (Cargo): Freight carriers
E (Experiment): Experimental aircraft
H (Hunter): Fighters
S (Scout): Reconnaissance/Observation aircraft
T (Torpedo): Bombers
For example, the Saunders H-7 Tercel, the former interceptor of choice of the Glider Service, Royal Navy. A two-man glider with a gatling gun in the nose, and a series of solid rocket boosters along the wings. These boosters were designed to fire in pairs; firing errors resulted in a number of crashes, and the replacement of this craft in 1876(3) with the Congreve H-9 Gyrfalcon, which uses a pair of liquid-fuel rocket boosters.
While balloons and dirigibles operated by the British Army are part of the Army's Royal Regiment of Aviation by default, those owned by the Royal Navy are not automatically part of the Glider Service, unless used to launch gliders. Many battleships and cruisers are equipped with observation balloons, for example, or number
balloon tenders among their escorts.
Neither the British army nor the Royal Navy employ dedicated personnel transport ('passenger') gliders, preferring dirigibles for that role, though some glider/rocket companies are experimenting with such. The Army is debating adding a new letter to their designation system, however: the Testing Squadron is currently putting through its paces the new Hale T-13 Flying Ambulance, a modified F-4 Elephant with a reinforced and more insulated cargo bay, equipped with bunk beds and medical supplies, as well as assisted take-off rockets (smoother than a steam catapult at the expected range of take-off weights, and useful in areas where said catapult would be unavailable). The debate centres on whether the vehicle will be designated H for Hospital, or M for Medical.
Thoughts?