Royal Thai Naval Air Division


The Royal Thai Naval Air Division or RTNAD is the Naval aviation of the Royal Thai Navy. The division was officially established on 7 December 1926. The RTNAD has two air wings and one Flying Unit of HTMS Chakri Naruebet, operating 23 fixed-wing aircraft and 26 helicopters from U-Tapao, Songkhla, and Phuket. The First Royal Thai Navy wing has three squadrons; the Second Royal Thai Navy wing has three squadrons and another wing for HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit.

History

The establishment Royal Thai Naval Air Division began in 1921, when the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse gave an opinion to the Naval Command Council of Ministry of the Navy on 23 November 1921. The Naval Aviation Division was expedient to set up an air fleet using Sattahip as a base with 2 seaplanes. The Naval Command Council approved this proposal on 7 December 1926.
Later, the Royal Thai Naval Air Division has more aircraft living with Royal Thai Air Force Place there are some inconveniences so in 1957, the Navy built the Airport coming up at Ban Utapao, Rayong Province by using the navy budget during construction, the United States offered construction assistance and requested to use some parts of U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in return.

Structure

The headquarters of Royal Thai Naval Air Division has 10 commanding units as follows;:
Royal Thai Naval Air Division is a combat unit under commissioned of Royal Thai Fleet. The aviation division is divided into 6 regiments, corresponding to one additional command unit namely; Wing 1 Regiment, Wing 2 Regiment, Air Operations Control Regiment, The Flight Station Regiment, Aircraft Maintenance and Repair Center Regiment, Security Regiment and one additional command unit of HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit.
The following squadrons are currently active with the Royal Thai Naval Division.
SquadronEquipmentWingRTAF BaseNotes
101 Naval Air SquadronDornier Do 228Naval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
102 Naval Air SquadronFokker F27Naval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
103 Naval Air SquadronCessna 337 Super SkymasterNaval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
104 Naval Air Squadron-Naval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
201 Naval Air SquadronFokker F27, Embraer ERJ-135LRNaval Air Wing 2U-Tapao
202 Naval Air SquadronBell 212, Eurocopter EC145Naval Air Wing 2U-Tapao
203 Naval Air SquadronSikorsky S-76, Super Lynx 300Naval Air Wing 2U-Tapao
1 HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Squadron-HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying UnitU-Tapao
2 HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying SquadronSH-70B Seahawk, MH-60S KnighthawkHTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying UnitU-Tapao

Aircraft

Active aircraft

Historic aircraft

AircraftOriginTypeServiceQuantityNotes
Avro 504N
Trainer1929-19482Built locally.
WS-103SReconnaissance1938-19466
Nakajima E8NReconnaissance1938-194627
Aichi E13AReconnaissance1939-1945+6Three aircraft ordered in 1939 and three in 1941.
Mitsubishi A6M ZeroFighter1942-19453
Beechcraft 35 BonanzaReconnaissance1948-19513
Piper Pa-11Reconnaissance1949-19512
Fairey FireflyFighter1951-19511210 F Mk. 1 and 2 T Mk. 2
Tiger MothTrainer1951-195130
Curtiss SB2C HelldiverBomber1951-19556
Grumman HU-16DSAR1962-19813
Grumman S-2 TrackerASW1966-199912
Cessna O-1GReconnaissance1968-19978
Cessna U-17Reconnaissance1974-19978
Bell 205 UH-1H Utility helicopter1975-??4
Douglas C-47 SkytrainMilitary transport1978-199913
Canadair CL-215SAR1978-20172
GAF N.24A NormadMilitary transport1984-20155
Bell 214STUtility helicopter1987-20105
A-7E Corsair IIAttacker1995-200721All airframes stored.
Lockheed P-3 OrionASW1996-20145Second-hand but modernized before delivery
AV-8S MatadorAttack1997-20069Used on HTMS Chakri Naruebet.

Rank structure