Thai Aircraft Designation System

[馮如]

Hello! I am suggesting a change to the names of Thai aircraft. Currently in game they are the standard names with a unicode in front of them that makes some of them indestinguishable from other nations, like France and Italy. In addition, it would just make the Thai sub tree feel more unique :)

Brief History/Context
Though the amount of indigenous aircraft designed by Thailand were few and far between, the RTAF has maintained a designation system for their military aircraft.

System Explanation
The designation system is based on abrieviations for the type of aircraft;
บ or B stands for “Bin” means “To Fly”, used for Planes

B.Kh. - Fighter Aircraft
B.Ch or B.J. - Strike Aircraft
B.Th. - Bomber Aircraft
B.T. - Observer or Scout
B.F. - Trainer Aircraft
B.Ph.Th. - Reconnaissance Aircraft
B.L. - Cargo Aircraft
B.R. is for Glider
B.H. - Helicopter

These acronyms can also be combined, for examble the L-39 is classified as both a Fighter and Trainer aircraft, and was given the designation of B.KhF1.

Currently in game, these are the names that would be changed:

F-84G-21-RE → B.Kh.16
Alpha Jet A → B.J.7
Alpha Jet TH → B.J.7 (2004)
AV-8S (Early) → B.KhL.1 (Early)
AV-8S (Late) → B.KhL.1 (Late)
F-5A → B.Kh.18
F-5T SCU → B.Kh.18Kh (2003)
F-5E FCU ->B.Kh.18Kh (1988)
F-16A OCU → B.Kh.19
A-7E → B.ChT.1K or B.JT.1K
*Sometimes mistranslated as B.HT.1K, but จ is not pronounced that way
JAS-39C → B.Kh.20

There are plenty more designations for aircraft that can come in the future, they can all be found in the book that I have linked below.

Credits
@war_Tinder - Designations for in-game aircraft (They run a Localization Mod on WT.Live: WT Live // war_Tinder)

@Nikolai_Kachorn - Translations and sources (Creator of the Thailand sub-tree:
Thailand sub-tree : Aviation tree)

Sources

1. พลานุภาพอากาศยานไทย : รวมเครื่องบินไทย เล่ม 1 - รัชต์ รัตนวิจารณ์

Spoiler

2.
National Aviation Museum of the Royal Thai Air Force - Don Mueang District, Bangkok, Thailand
*Images from this museum were used, however the official website for the Museum appears to be down at the time of writing this post.
https://museum.rtaf.mi.th/

3.
Report from the National Air Museum of the Thai Air Force (Including a link to organized photos and names.)

Spoiler

Link to the “Photo Page” Collection: RTAF Museum

[SidewaysCube946]

Would be great to see! Thanks for putting in the effort to bring this to us.

[馮如]

Thanks for showing your support! It helps a lot ^^

[war_Tinder]

Great to see this!

[JamesPond1200]

I totally agree with this, but you really ought to make this an actual suggestion post in the suggestions section. That way it is actually likely to be passed on to the devs!

[馮如]

Will do!

[Shrek_2_On_DVD]

Yep, it should essentially look like this:

(localization mod used: IFN1 Vehicle Re-Name Mod by InFerNos1)

[ARK_BOI]

It kinda weird designation
but sound unique I like it

[来如雷霆收震怒_罢如江海凝清光]

Good idea.

[馮如]

Yep pretty close, the rising sun symbol wouldn’t be needed though :)

[Just_Baron]

I hope Gaijin corrects more names in tech trees.

I’m looking at you Israeli Chapparal (Drakon)

[war_Tinder]

Well, almost. It should not be B.JT.1A because the actual Thai character used is ก, which would make it B.JT.1K. The same source that lists the A-7E as the B.JT.1K (that source being พลานุภาพอากาศยานไทย : รวมเครื่องบินไทย เล่ม 1 - รัชต์ รัตนวิจารณ์) also lists the AV-8S as the B.KhL.1K, not the B.KhL.1.

[war_Tinder]

Actually, Drakon was a nickname for the Israeli Chaparral, but it was never official.

[magikvfx]

Good suggestion overall but in gameplay it would be quite hard to identify the aircraft you’re facing unless you’re WVR.

[war_Tinder]

Not really. B.Kh.18Kh is no inherently less recognizable than P-51D-20-NA. They’re both a string of letters and numbers. The only difference is that B.Kh.18Kh is less familiar.

[war_Tinder]

Here is the historical report I made for this btw
https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/4zjrusYf9NHv

[Shrek_2_On_DVD]

Yeah, I’m not sure why the mod creator chose that specific symbol (I think to indicate that it is from the Japanese tree similar to the one used for the Japanese B-17E, Fw 190A-5 etc).

I think that a more modern Japanese Hiromatu roundel or even a Thailand-identifying symbol would have been better since it fits the vehicles’ era while also bringing out more representation and distinction at the same time.

[Shrek_2_On_DVD]

Interesting, I let the mod creator know immediately.

[Dianeces]

There’s not really any need for a symbol in this case, though. They’re typically only used to distinguish vehicles that have the same names in two or more separate tech trees. It’s why you see, for example, in the French tree a Yak-3 with the roundel while the Russian tech tree Yak-3 has no symbol in front of it.

[Ninetalis]

I support it. Bit strange they didn’t do this from the start to be honest.