CDF aircraft
Certain aspects relating to aircraft in Sober Thought's Air Service follow a specific patter and it is easiest to discuss the commonalities together rather than piecemeal.
Contents
Aircraft nomenclature
Role indicators, airframe numbers and nicknames are assigned according to certain rules summarised on the chart to the right and explained in detail below. Airframe marks do not appear on the chart, but are occasionally encoutered in a meaningful way.
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Airframe numbers and marks
Unlike many real world armed forces, the Air Service first assigns numbers to aircraft airframes and then adds letters to designate the variant.
Numbers 1 through 39 are reserved for front-line combat aircraft (whether fixed or rotary wing, jet or propeller driven), 40 through 69 for front-line transport and 70 through 99 to others. No matter what purpose they are adapted to, all airframes will bear identical numbers. In the unlikely event they are exhausted any time soon, numbers can be recycled.
Improvements or changes within a variant are indicated by Roman numeral mark numbers at the end, with forms like T-40 III, T-40 Mk III, T-40 Mark III, T-40 Mk 3 and T-40 Mark 3 all having the same meaning (although the second and third examples are preferred in official correspondence). Marks apply only to the specific variant, so a TG-40 Mk I might incorporate the exact same airframe improvements as a T-40 Mk VI.
Aircraft variant letters
All the letter prefixes and the roles they indicate are follows: B for Bomber, E for Electronic Warfare and AWACS, F for Fighter, G for Ground attack, H for Helicopter, N for Naval, R for Reconnaissance, S for [[Air Service search and rescue|Search and Rescue, T for Transport (TP for Personnel transport, TC for Cargo and TL for Liquid fuel), and U for Utility.
If more than one letter is needed to adequately express the purpose of the aircraft, apply the letters in the following order:
- Helicopters always begin with H.
- Use the letter representing the original design (which is not always the main production line, cf. R-78 and RB-78).
- Prefer T to TP, TC or TL if two or three of the latter apply to the same aircraft manifestation.
- Use U if the aircraft was truly designed for different purposes in the same unit with little or no modification.
- Use N for aircraft normally based on land but with a sea-going naval variant (e.g., FN-1) but not for aircraft designed for use at sea (e.g., HU-77).
- Use addtional letter(s) as applicable to indicate an adaption from the original design, e.g., the TG-40 is a transport airplane adapted for ground attack, the FR-1 a fighter adapted for reconnaissance, an RB-78 a maritime reconnaissance airplane adapted for bombardment. Consult Rule 2 for clarification for what constitutes design and adaptation.
Aircraft variant nicknames
Mnemonic names based on a combination of model designations and personal names are also applied. The name should be short, auditorily distinctive, retain the order of letters in the model designation and avoid using letters or sounds which might be used in other names. Consider the largest family of variants based on the 1 airframe, in descending order of actual manifestations built:
- F-1 Faust is the original design and main production line. While both S and T are used to designate models, neither a fighter search-and-rescue nor a fighter transport variant are logically possible. It pays hommage to the German heritage of the country, and alludes to both Dr. Faustus and Panzerfaust.
- FN-1 Fenella is the main naval variant. It is distinctive and obscure in all languages.
- FG-1 Flaget (weakest link, try for something Slavic or Latin on this one) is the ground support variant.
- FB-1 Fabien is the fighter-bomber variant. While the it has an N for naval sound as well, it appears in the wrong order (FBN in the nickname but FNB in the hypothetical aircraft role) so it can't be confused. It can be spelled and pronounced the English way as well.
- FR-1 Frederic(k) is the reconnaissance variant. The double use of the R reinforces the meaning of reconnaissance, and the French-English duality appeals to both official language groups.
- FE-1 Felix is the electronic warfare variant. While the X or KS sound may be mistaken for an S, we have already established there can't be a SAR variant of a fighter. The name is short, distinctive and resonates in French as well.
- FNE-1 Fannie is the naval electronic warfare variant. The initialism veritably screams out for this nickname, created by adding two vowels and doubling a consonant. It also has currency in both English and French.
Aircraft currently in service
There are about three dozen or so models and variants of aircraft currently on active duty in the Community Defence Forces. They are variously under the operational command of the all-regular Air Service and Naval Service, or regular Land Service or militia Civil Guard.
The list is grouped first by role and then numerical order of the airframe number within that role. Helicopter and naval use (whether bearing an N indicator or not) are listed twice or three times as necessary.
Fighter
Ground support
- FG-1 Flaget, light fixed wing ground attack.
- G-8 "Gordon, medium fixed wing tankbuster.
- HG-9 Hogarth, medium rotary wing ground attack.
- TG-40 Tiger, heavy fixed wing gunship.
Bomber
- FB-1 Fabien, light dual purpose fighter-bomber.
- B-10 Bob, heavy single purpose bomber.
- HUBR-77 Hubert, light anti-submarine warfare naval rotary wing aircraft.
- RB-78 Robert, carrier and coastal based maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare.
Reconnaissance
- FR-1 Frederic(k), tactical aerial reconnaissance.
- R-78 Romeo, carrier and coastal based unarmed maritime reconnaissance.
- R-99 "Richard, strategic aerial reconnaissance.
Helicopter
- HG-9 Hogarth, medium rotary wing ground attack.
- HT-55, rotary wing medium transport
- HTN-55 Hortense, rotary wing naval transport
- HU-70, rotary wing ground-based general purpose.
- HU-77, rotary wing naval general purpose.
- HUS-77 Hudson, rotary wing search and rescue.
- HUBR-77 Hubert, light anti-submarine warfare naval rotary wing aircraft.
Electronic warfare
- FE-1 Felix, light ground-based electronic warfare
- FNE-1 Fannie, light naval electronic warfare.
- BE-10 Bessie, strategic EW variant, can shoot chafe and dummy jets from bomb bay
Warning and control
- RE-78 Remy, carrier and coastal based AWCAS.
- TE-61 Theo", theatre AWCAS.
- TE-62 Teddy, strategic AWCAS.
Transport
- T-40 Tammy, fixed wing tactical transport.
- HT-55, rotary wing medium transport
- HTN-55 Hortense, rotary wing naval transport
- T-60, executive jet similar in size to Challenger but Airbus in style, VIP transport
- T-61, regional jet similar in size to Bombardier but Airbus in style, small but fast medium-range transport
- T-62, twin-engined jumbo jet similar to Airbus, strategic transport
- T-63, quad-engined jumbo jet similar to Airbus, strategic transport.
Tanker
- TLN-61 "Toulon, small tanker adapted to carrier
- TL-62 "Toulouse, medium tanker
- TL-63 Tuillieres, large tanker
'Miscellaneous
- HU-70, rotary wing ground-based general purpose.
- HU-77, rotary wing naval general purpose.
- HUS-77 Hudson, rotary wing search and rescue.
Naval
- FN-1 Fenella, carrier and coastal based basic fighter.
- FNE-1 Fannie, light naval electronic warfare.
- HTN-55 Hortense, rotary wing naval transport
- TLN-61 "Toulon, small tanker adapted to carrier
- HU-77, rotary wing naval general purpose.
- HUS-77 Hudson, rotary wing search and rescue.
- HUBR-77 Hubert, light anti-submarine warfare naval rotary wing aircraft.
- R-78 Romeo, carrier and coastal based unarmed maritime reconnaissance.
- RB-78 Robert, carrier and coastal based maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare.
- RE-78 Remy, carrier and coastal based AWCAS.
Inter-squadron codes
While squadrons may be numbered in a variety of separate sequences each generating identical ordinal numbers, the three letter squadron code assigned to each is always unique throughout the Air Service. Consequentally, the three letter code may be used informally or semi-formally instead of the concurrent ordinal and name designation.
The codes begin at AAA and end at ZZZ, with squadrons raised in each wave appearing in one sequential batch but the order within that batch being arbitrary. The letters I and O are omitted in all instances, since they look so similar to the numbers 1 and 0 as well as the letters J and Q. This gives enough for 13, 824 squadrons, which at the current rate of about 160 squadrons per wave should carry Sober Thought until it reaches the unlikely population of 8.5 billion.
After the three letter squadron code painted on the fuselage is a Community Defence Forces blue-and-white roundel. It is effectively a simplified version of the central portion of the national flag with the chainlinks of unity enclosing the scales of justice. In fact, it resembles the Community Defence Forces hieroglyphics symbol for the military police enclosed in a circle.
Intra-squadron codes
Following the roundel is a single letter which is unique to a single aircraft inside each squadron (and occasionaly among similar squadrons). The same prohibitions against I and O apply here, but within these strictures the aircraft pilot (as the sub-unit commanding officer) may express a preference for a particular letter and indirectly an individual name.
Like the real life Commonwealth air forces, the fourth letter may be used with a mnemonic, like "A for Apple," "B for Betty," "C for Community" or "D for Drewburgh." These need not be the same as the military alphabet (formerly Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, etc., and now Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.), and rarely are so because it is one of the few opportunities in the armed forces to personalise things. Certain classes of names are banned for use as mnemonics, being reserved for aircraft nicknames or in the interests of good taste.
