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I'm perfecting my logbook and can't name the subtype of the aircraft I've flown. Some directories says it was built in 1946 and is a BCS-12D on floats. Others say it is a BCS-12D-4-85 which according to Wikipedia was built in 1949.

Is there a way to know which aircraft I was training in?

PIXP
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That airplane is registered as a 1946 BC12-D per the FAA's N number lookup service. This indicates that it came from the factory as a BC12-D but then may have been converted later. Conversions don't change the subtype.

As far as recognizing specific subtypes of old airplanes, good luck! Many old, popular planes have undergone all kinds of conversions. Bonanzas built as early as the 1940s can be converted to look like a late model V35B from 1981! There are even mods to remove the V tail and replace it with a "normal" tail. My point is that determining subtype from appearances alone may be impossible.

Link below...

https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N43459

acpilot
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  • So you're saying at least that when it was made it was a BC-12D and could have been converted later? also check this: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2011/december/01/challenges-river-dance – PIXP Mar 09 '19 at 21:49
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    I mean, sure...it now meets the form and function of a BCS-12D-4-85 and that's all that should count. Someone did, after all, spend considerable energy installing floats (BCS-12D), an extra side window (-4), and an 85hp engine (-85). It's not possible that it is a 1946 model and a BCS-12D-4-85 though, or at least that it is a factory built BCS-12D-4-85. I did my tailwheel in a 1946 7AC converted to a 85hp 7DC and I think I logged it as 7AC/DC but it really was, for all practical purposes, a 7DC. – acpilot Mar 09 '19 at 22:14