Hi all,
Just wanted to let you know that the plus sign (+) can now be included in German registrations. We've changed the scripts and inserting the "+" now will not cause any problems. We're in the process of updating all the aircraft that are in the database already and are about half way done. So keep that in mind for future uploads please.

Andreas,

This has been a hot topic of conversation in the military spotter community for many years, whether or not to include the + in German serials and there is probably no right or wrong answer to it to be honest?

Yes I agree with you that it is the national insignia, however, a lot of the official aircraft documention includes the + sign in the registration column, as do most databases and books available for spotters, granted not all but the vast majority do, out of all the books I ever bought when I was a serious spotter, all but one brand included the + and my current database (Aerodata) also includes them, as does the Scramble online database.

The vast majority of people who upload here also include the + in the registration field meaning we were having to remove them when screening images.

So here is my question.

If its not part of the reg, why has it been included in official documentation of German military aircraft??.

As I said at the top, I am not actually sure if there is a definitive right or wrong answer to this one.

Also it took a long time to change them over so it will take a while to change them all back, but the most time consuming thing was getting the scripts to work when the + was included for the search engine and autofill to work correctly.

Personally I think its looks better but you obviously do not?

Hi Andreas,
That had been my assumption all along that the '+' in books, magazines, etc. just represents the iron cross there and should not be included as part of the registration. But, John and Jorg were really hot about it as it is written that way in many, many spotter books and other databases, and this would be a good way for us to differentiate ourselves from the other sites who are not strictly military like we are. But I must admit that I have seen them represented that way in numerous books and magazines as well. Since it seems to be a common way of writing them, would it be completely wrong though?

Hi Ray,

the German reg. system consisting of four numbers, that´s correct.
In many books I saw the "plus" used between the tactical code, so in some technical books
I saw at Holloman AFB during my base visit in the year 2000.
So, I like the "plus" with the German reg. It looks better for me!

Rainer

Well, I can adapt myself :wink



Andreas

tried to do the [photoid]-thing, but it didn't work...

Andreas,

I appreciate what you are saying about the insignia but I think Ray has hit the mark with that last comment, it was done because that is the format that most of us see and relate to, its certainly makes you understand that its a German aircraft as soon as you see it that written in that style.

I have seen documentation both with and without the cross included, so I am still not sure there is a definitive answer to all this, but I really do believe that it looks better this way because for the main part thats how we see the registrations displayed on the aircraft.

Oh, and that F4 burner shot is rather nice fella., keep em coming

Good point, Tom!

And what shall I do with the Austrian ones? '-' or 'o' or nothing

EDIT:
To answer that question myself: without anything, so they will be like "7LWA" for the Eurofighters eg.
At least the website of the Bundesheer says so: http://www.bundesheer.at/cms/artikel.php?ID=3767



Similar approach to German markings I would say...

Bye

Andreas