CDF maritime patrol aircraft

Air Service maritime patrol squadrons conduct aerial surveillance of coastal and semi-coastal areas of Sober Thought. When they discover suface ships, and especially submarines, they are capable of bombing the enemy vessels. They are one of the most important arrows in the sheaf of the tri-service coastal commands Community Defence Forces.

Maritime patrol squadrons form their own ordinal number sequence, e.g., 1st Maritime Patrol Squadron, 6th Maritime Patrol Squadron, 19th Maritime Patrol Squadron. These numerical designations co-exist with three letter squadron codes common to all aircraft in the Air Service, a fourth letter indicating the specific aircraft in the squadron. The CDF raises three squadrons of maritime patrol each wave of one hundred million national population to serve in Coastal Defence Command and such subordinate or superior formations that may be established in addition to it.

Command and air crew

Maritime patrol squadrons are the most populous units in the CDF Air Service, however, they still have a Chief Lieutenant as commanding officer, a Lieutenant as executive officer and a Warrant Officer as Squadron Sergeant. Unlike most squadrons except bombers, these three command staff are joined by five additional troops to make one complete extra crew.

The three airborne Flights of four maritime patrol airplanes are led by Lieutenants, with Vice Lieutenants piloting the nine other airplanes in the squadron. The squadrons always belong to coastal defence wings, so they are really airborne fighting units. The total air crew for these fighting squadrons is 104, twelve ordinary crew of eight and a thirteenth including the command staff.

Ground crew

There are 144 ground crew in the Air Maintenance Flight, commanded by a Lieutenant and assisted by three Vice Lieutenants. This ground-based Flight is responsible for fuelling, arming and maintaining the twelve aircraft in the Squadron. It becomes part of the wing's air maintenance squadron.

There are 72 ground crew in the Administration Flight, commanded by the Squadron XO and assisted (or practically replaced) by a Vice Lieutenant. This ground-based Flight is responsible for feeding, transporting, medically assisting, paying and pampering the 320 personnel (inclusive of the Flight) in the squadron. It becomes part of the wing's administration squadron.

Ground attack aircraft

The Community Defence Forces' RB-78 maritime patrol aircraft is similar in concept and execution to the real world P-3 Orion or Nimrod. It is powered by turbo-propellered engines since endurance rather than speed is the quality most prized in its role of long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping attack over the open ocean. It uses the same airframe as carrier-based AWACS propellered airplanes. A silhouette and additional technical details will follow.

It has eight flight crew: the pilot-commander (Chief Lieutenant, Lieutenant or Vice Lieutenant), the co-pilot/deputy commander (Lieutenant or Vice Lieutenant), the chief navigator (Leading Flier), the relief navigator (Master Flier), the bombardier (Leading Flier), the electronics chief (Vice Warrant Officer or Leading Flier), the electronics technician (Flier) and the air gunner (Flier).

Because it is designed to spend many hours on patrol, the crew is organised to permit two shifts of personnel: the pilot, relief navigator and electronics technician spelling off the co-pilot, chief navigator and electronics chief. The shifts alert the air gunner and bombardier as required, since radar, sonar and signals intelligence will give plenty of warning before ships or other aircraft come within range.