VGF

[CJE]

Hello,

What does the "G" in VGF stand for?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[kalender1973]

Hello,

if you mean soviet civil air fleet G is гражданский grazhdanskij civil

[CJE]

Sorry, I forgot to mention it was a fighter unit of the US Navy.

[Alfred.MONZAT]

Hello,

VGF means Escort Fighting Squadron (and VGS Escort Scouting Squadron) so the G letter means the unit was used aboard an escort carrier (I think this designation was only applied in 1942/1943).

The G is probably the kind of designation that only the US Navy have the secret and do not stand for any word starting by G but I may be wrong

Regards

Alfred

[udf_00]

Wondering if related to Coast Guard.

[Larry deZeng]

During the early part of World War II many new squadron designations were established. The following new squadron designations became effective in 1942:

ZP for Blimp Squadron
VGS for Escort Scouting Squadrons
VGF for Escort Fighting Squadrons
VR for Transport Squadrons

Other squadron designation changes, effective 1 March 1943, included:

Inshore Patrol Squadrons redesignated VS (Scouting Squadrons),
Escort Fighting Squadrons (VGF) became Fighting Squadrons (VF),
Escort Scouting Squadrons (VGS) redesignated Composite Squadrons (VC),
Patrol Squadrons operating land-based aircraft became Bombing Squadrons (VB) with three-digit numbers.

L.

[Rainer]

Originally Posted by Alfred.MONZAT

VGF means Escort Fighting Squadron (and VGS Escort Scouting Squadron) so the G letter means the unit was used aboard an escort carrier (I think this designation was only applied in 1942/1943).

The G is probably the kind of designation that only the US Navy have the secret and do not stand for any word starting by G but I may be wrong

Escort carriers were a new class of warships and it seems the US Navy had troubles to find a suitable abbreviation in their hull designation system for them. Initially it was planned to classify them APV, but this was changed to AVG before the first ship of this type was commissioned. Presumably to prevent a mix up with the AVP class vessels (auxiliary aircraft tender, patrol). However, in August 1942 these ships were reclassified as ACV (auxiliary aircraft carrier) before they were eventually classified as CVE (aircraft carrier, escort) in July 1943.

So Squadrons assigned to these ships in 1941/42 got the "G" from the hull classification AVG and became VGF (Fighting) or VGS (Scouting). In March 1943 such Squadrons were reorganized into VC (Composite).

It is probably correct that the "G" in AVG does not stand for a certain word as the ships were called "auxiliary aircraft escort carriers" at that time, but nobody knows for sure why the US Navy choose the abbreviation CV for aircraft carriers anyway.

For those serving aboard they were "C"ombustible, "V"ulnerable, "E"xpendable

[Frank Olynyk]

Note also that the squadron numbers matched the carrier hull number. This was a prewar practice from the late 30s. The same is true for the fleet carriers, CV-2 to CV-8. This practice worked in peacetime, and continued in wartime until late in 1942, when the Japanese minimized the number of available hulls, and the Americans started to maximize the number of squadrons.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Graham Boak]

CV is surely an aircraft-carrying cruiser. Seems entirely sensible to me, given the state of the art at the time the designation was chosen.

[CJE]

Does not "V" stand for "heaVier than air" - opposite to "Z" (for Zeppelin), lighter than air?