Wikipedia:Naming conventions (aircraft)
 | This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page. |
The naming of articles on aircraft types should normally follow a standard format of [MANUFACTURER]-[DESIGNATION]-[NAME], for example Morane-Saulnier MS.755 Fleuret. In some cases the type may not have a designation or name, or inclusion of all these elements would not meet the common name policy. Further clarification of the policy is available on Official names.
- Manufacturer
- This should be the main designer and manufacturer of the type. If the type has been produced by different companies or different company names then consensus should be reached on a case-by-case basis on which to use. For example, use Supermarine Spitfire rather than Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire — although either is correct, the former is used by consensus. Be wary of using non-contemporary names like Boeing DC-3 or British Aerospace Spitfire.
- Designation
- This can be either the manufacturer's designation or the military designation depending on which is more common. If an aircraft has multiple designations then use the most common or none if this would cause confusion. If the exact designation of a certified aircraft is unclear because official sources differ, the Type Certificate Data Sheet should take precedence. In cases where the TCDS official designation varies significantly from the name the aircraft is marketed under, then this should be explained in the article text. (i.e. Hughes 369 is marketed as the Hughes 500, LC41-550FG is marketed as the Cessna 400).
- Name
- This should be the official name either given by the manufacturer or the military. Do not use nicknames or foreign reporting names, (Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 not Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed) for example. If the type has multiple names then either use the most common or none if this would cause confusion.
- Child articles
- Articles that are split from, or are sub-articles, of the "parent article" should, as far as is practical, retain the manufacturer-designation-name as the first part of the title and the specific topic of the article after that. For instance the main article Bell UH-1 Iroquois has a sub article Bell UH-1 Iroquois variants. An exception to this would be List of Bell UH-1 Iroquois operators, which follows standard Wikipedia-wide nomenclature for list articles.
- Exceptions
- Any guideline can have exceptions as some aircraft are so well-known that it makes more sense to break the usual rules. In theory, the Anglo-French supersonic airliner should be the Aerospatiale–BAC Concorde, but it is so well known as simply Concorde that it is better to use the common name.
- Redirect
- Whatever format is agreed or used for an article, consideration should be given to create redirects from other variations of the name.
- Renaming
- These guidelines should be considered when proposing the renaming of an article or the name of the article is disputed. Consideration should be given to renaming current articles when needed but they should not be renamed en masse without agreement from other editors.