1921–1945: seaplanes for Sattahip

Thai naval flying began as a proposal on paper. According to English Wikipedia, Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse put the idea of a naval air fleet, based at Sattahip with two seaplanes, to the navy’s command council on 23 November 1921; Thai Wikipedia dates the council’s approval to 7 December 1921 (B.E. 2464), while English Wikipedia gives 7 December 1926, a disagreement this page leaves open. A survey of Gulf of Thailand sites followed on 24 November 1933, and in 1938 a seaplane squadron formed at Chuk Samet, Sattahip, with six Watanabe WS-103S floatplanes from Japan. Thailand then bought 27 Nakajima E8N and six Aichi E13A reconnaissance floatplanes, and two locally built Avro 504Ns served from 1929 to 1948. The unit was raised to a naval air squadron in 1942. What it did in the Franco-Thai War of 1940–1941 and the Pacific War is not recorded in the sources reached.

1951: the coup that cost the navy its aircraft

After the war the navy rebuilt with Western aircraft: three Beechcraft Bonanzas, two Piper PA-11s, 30 Tiger Moths, 12 Fairey Fireflies (ten fighters and two trainers) and six Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, according to English Wikipedia. On 17 September 1948, Thai Wikipedia says, naval aviation was separated from the combat fleet as an independent unit. Three years later it lost almost everything. In the Manhattan Rebellion of 29–30 June 1951 a group of naval officers seized Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram aboard the US dredger Manhattan; the army and air force crushed the revolt, and air force AT-6 trainers bombed the flagship HTMS Sri Ayudhya, which sank on 1 July. Official Thai figures give 17 military personnel, eight police and 103 civilians killed. The penalty for the navy was severe: in Wikipedia’s words, all naval combat aircraft were handed over to the air force.

1957–1990: U-Tapao, Trackers and a division of its own

The navy’s way back into the air ran through U-Tapao. English Wikipedia says the navy built an airfield at Ban U-Tapao in Rayong in 1957; the United States then built the long runway there between 15 October 1965 and 2 June 1966 and used the base for B-52 bombers until it was returned to Thailand on 13 June 1976. The navy, meanwhile, rebuilt a maritime air arm without strike aircraft: three Grumman HU-16D Albatross amphibians from 1962, twelve S-2 Trackers for anti-submarine work (English Wikipedia gives 1966–1999), eight O-1G Bird Dogs and eight U-17s for the marines, thirteen C-47s and, from 1978, two Canadair CL-215 amphibians that served until 2017. The air arm was raised to a naval air wing on 28 July 1971 and to the Naval Air Division on 14 May 1990, according to Thai Wikipedia.

1997–2006: the Harrier years on Chakri Naruebet

The boldest step was a carrier. Thailand ordered HTMS Chakri Naruebet from Bazán of Ferrol, Spain, on 27 March 1992 and commissioned her on 27 March 1997, and with her came nine second-hand Spanish AV-8S Matador Harriers, seven single-seaters and two TAV-8S trainers. English Wikipedia dates the transfer to 1997 for the division and to 1998 in its Harrier article. It went badly. Wikipedia, citing Nordeen, says only one airframe was airworthy by 1999, for lack of spares, training and money; a purchase of former Royal Navy Sea Harriers was considered around 2003 but did not happen, and the last Harriers were retired in 2006. Since then the carrier has flown only helicopters. David Axe wrote in Forbes in 2021 that she sailed about one day a month and that fuelling her cost almost 50,000 dollars.

1995–2014: Corsairs, Orions and the end of the strike role

The late 1990s also gave the navy its only post-1951 strike jets. Twenty-one LTV A-7E and TA-7C Corsair IIs, designated B.HT.1 in Thai service, flew from 1995 to 2007 by English Wikipedia’s count, which includes airframes that were stored. Ex-US Navy P-3 Orions arrived in 1996: Wikipedia’s variants article lists two P-3Ts and one VP-3T converted from P-3As, while its division article counts five and retires them in 2014. Fokker F27 Maritime patrol aircraft served from 1984 until 2023, five GAF Nomads until 2015 and five Bell 214STs until 2010. None of the strike or long-range patrol types was replaced like for like: when the Corsairs and Orions went, the division became a force of patrol aircraft, transports and helicopters.

2026: helicopters, patrol aircraft and a C295 order

In 2026 the division has about 1,200 people and some 49 aircraft — 23 fixed-wing aircraft and 26 helicopters, according to English Wikipedia. Wing 1 flies Dornier 228s for search and rescue, F27s for patrol, Cessna 337s for forward air control and drones; Wing 2 flies F27 and Embraer ERJ-135 transports, Bell UH-1N and H145 helicopters, Sikorsky S-76Bs and Super Lynx 300s; and the Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit has six S-70B Seahawks and two MH-60S Knighthawks. On 27 May 2026 Airbus announced an order for two C295s with electro-optical sensors for surveillance, search and rescue and logistics, the first due by the end of 2028, to be based at U-Tapao. What is missing is long-range anti-submarine patrol, a gap left open since the Orions went in 2014, and the published record of what the division did in the 2025 border fighting with Cambodia.

Current fleet and orders

Sikorsky, Aeronautics Ltd, Airbus, Airbus Helicopters, Bell, Cessna, Dornier, Elbit Systems, Embraer, Fokker, Schiebel, Westland

Former fleet

Grumman, Aichi, Avro, Beechcraft, Canadair, Curtiss, Douglas, Fairey, Government Aircraft Factories, Hawker Siddeley, LTV, Lockheed, Nakajima, Piper, Watanabe, de Havilland