To check an aircraft variant in an artwork caption, match three things: the full variant name, the individual aircraft identifier and the period being depicted. A matching serial alone is not enough. An aircraft can retain its identity while being converted to a different standard.
One Sea Harrier, two stages of its history
Tangmere Military Aviation Museum provides a useful real example. Its record for Sea Harrier XZ459 identifies the aircraft as an FRS1 during the 1982 Falklands War and records its conversion to FA2 standard in January 1994.
The museum's page includes captions for both periods: FRS1 photographs from the early 1980s and FA2 photographs from 2020. The serial is the same, but the variant label changes. That is why copying the current exhibit heading onto an older photograph would lose an important part of the story.
Build a three-part caption check
Copy the complete designation from the caption, including its letters and numbers. Keep a family name separate from a specific version.
Record the serial or registration if one is given. Do not substitute a squadron marking or a large display number without checking what it represents.
Look for a photograph date, stated scheme or documented period. The date an article was published may not be the date its aircraft image represents.
This is an original editorial checking aid. It helps organise evidence; it cannot establish a variant from a label alone.
Read our artwork with the same care
The FGR4 product visual above carries “SEA HARRIER FA2” and “ZH796” in its upper-right label. Those are the details visible in this artwork. They are not the identity of Tangmere's XZ459, and the museum's history should not be transferred to them.
If a caption makes a historical claim about the aircraft shown, look for a source covering that exact aircraft and period. A general account of the aircraft family may explain the background without proving the individual depiction. Where the period is unstated, describe what the artwork names rather than inventing a date.
What to do when two sources disagree
First check whether they describe different dates. Next, check whether one discusses the aircraft family and the other an individual airframe. Keep an unresolved note if neither explains the mismatch; changing the caption to whichever sounds more familiar is not verification.
The general arrangement drawing guide applies a similar discipline to document versions. For a different visual question, the 747 and A380 guide focuses on recognising silhouettes. Our aircraft gift guide explains why an exact subject can matter to the person receiving it.
Try it: open Tangmere's XZ459 record and compare one early caption with one 2020 caption. Write the variant, serial and date on separate lines. You will have a small, traceable comparison instead of an assumed match.