F-1 Rocket Engine Serial Numbers

According to the second edition of Alan Lawrie's Saturn ("the complete Saturn V manufacturing and test records") 98 production F-1 engines, 82 development engines, seven serialized mock-ups, and a shop floor engineering model were manufactured by Rocketdyne.

While rummaging around in the Young Collection in the UAH archives I came across a modern-looking computer print-out of F-1 rocket engine serial numbers. Handwritten notes on the sheet of paper indicated that it was dated "7-19-94" and that it was "from Bob Biggs computer database" (Bob Biggs was a Rocketdyne engineer who worked on F-1 and SSME, authoring the F-1 chapter of Remembering the Giants: Apollo Rocket Propulsion Development and "Space Shuttle Main Engine: The First Ten Years"). The handwriting also noted that there were a total of 183 engines.

F-1 Engines

F001 F2007 F025-2 F2057 F2085
F002 F2003 F030 F035 F2086
F001-0 F2009 F028-1 F2058 F108-2
F004 F024 F2030 F2059 F2087
F004-0 F2010 F031 F2060 F2088
F005 F020-1 F2031 F2061 F110-1
F002-0 F2011 F2032 F102-2 F2090
F005-0 F2012 F026-2 F2063 F109-4
F007 F2013 F2033 F2062 F2089
F008 F025 F2034 F2064 F2091
F006-1 F013-2 F027-2 F2065 F040
F003 F2014 F2035 F103-1 F2092
F009 F014-1 F2036 F2038-1 F2093
F010 F2015 F2037 F2009-1 F2094
F009-1 F2016 F2038 F2066 F112-1
F008-1 F023-1 F032 F036 F2095
F009-2 F2017 F2039 F2067 F2096
F011 F026 F2040 F2068 F111-3
F012 F027 F029-1 F104-4 F2097
F010-1 F2018 F2041 F2069 F2098
F006-2 F020-2 F033 F2070 F113-2
F010-2 F2019 F2042 F2071 F041
F013 F025-1 F025-3 F2072 F110.1
F1001 F2020 F2043 F2073
F011-1 F2021 F2044 F2074
F1002 F028 F2045 F2075
F014 F3T1 F030-1 F105-1
F018 F2022 F2046 F2076
F019 F2023 F2047 F2077
F020 F026-1 F2048 F2079
F012-1 F2024 F2049 F037
F021 F4T2 F2050 F2078
F011-2 F027-1 F2051 F2080
F022 F2025 F2052 F2081
F013-1 F029 F2053 F106-3
F2004 F2026 F034 F038
F023 F2027 F2054 F2082
F2005 F2028 F2055 F107-1
F2006 F020-3 F101-2 F2083
F2008 F2029 F2056 F2084

This list uses Rocketdyne's internal serial number scheme, which differed from the one used by NASA in that the first digit was not incremented to indicate different blocks of production engines (other than changing from the F1xxx series to the F2xxx series; the F1xxx configuration block consisted of only two engines which were built and delivered for ground test while the F2xxx series included engines intended for flight vehicles).

Engines other than those of the form "F1xxx" or "F2xxx" represent R&D engines. Lawrie notes that F3T1 and F4T2 were "manufactured by NASA as a learning exercise using spare parts."

Since the list is not strictly in either numeric or "ASCIIbetical order", it's possible that the serial numbers are listed in the order in which the engines were manufactured. However, this is pure speculation on my part.

It's hard to decipher how, exactly, engines are counted. Lawrie cites 180 engines (98 production plus 82 development engines) while the list above tallies 183 entries.

As Lawrie notes in his book, many engines were rebuilt at various stages, resulting in a dash number after the main serial number. This list contains 46 such engines (leaving 137 main engine serial numbers). However, there are also many engines (F006-1, F006-2, F101-2, F102-2, F103-1, F104-4, F105-1, F106-3, F107-1, F108-2, F109-4, F110-1, F110.1, F111-3, F112-1, F113-2) which have a dash number but no corresponding main serial number in this list. In several cases (F101-2, F102-2, F104-4, F106-3, F108-2, F109-4, F111-3, F113-2), not only is the main serial number missing, but so are the preceding dash numbers. For example, in the case of "F104-4" there is no F104, F104-1, F104-2, or F-104-3, leaving four engines accounted for. When removing any serial number modifiers (the dash number or, in the case of F110.1, the "dot number"), there are 150 distinct engines.

Lawrie's book also documents a number of surviving engines whose engines contain a dash number (F2038-2, F2045-1, F114-2) which do not appear in the list above. For the two production engines, F2038, F2038-1, and F2045 do appear in Biggs' list, but neither the base F114 nor F114-1 R&D engines appear above.

Sadly, a complete and accurate list of engine serial numbers and the criteria for what counts as an "engine" may be lost to history, but this is the most complete list of F-1 serial numbers I've seen.


Text-searchable PDF of the computer printout: F-1 Rocket Engine Serial Numbers