VAQ-129 throws its hat in the ring for the Centennial of Naval Aviation:
Honoring 100 years of naval aviation, Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 129 unveiled an EA-6B Prowler and an EA-18G Growler painted in the World War II paint schemes of a Douglas TBD-1 Devastator and a Grumman TBF-1 Avenger, respectively, Jan. 20.
Cmdr. Tim Murphy, VAQ-129 commanding officer, was excited when learned about the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) committee’s plan to paint a limited number of aircraft to represent significant periods in naval aviation history.
“We sat down with the Corrosion Control Team, and we told them we would like to paint an EA-6B and an EA-16G. We did some research and found two paint schemes we thought captured the nuances of both airplanes, and represented WWII naval aviation,” said Murphy.
Pretty snazzy.
PLANE PRoN….Awesome….
Just what we need to distract us from craziness overseas and the impending “Snowmageddon ” coming to the Northeast…..10-20 inches of Snow forecast in Boston between Tuesday & Wednesday. This makes 7 major storms in the last 5 weeks…..
F&*king Groundhog better get it right on Wednesday. No Mas….
“we would like to paint an EA-6B and an EA-16G.”
Hopefully a misquote from the CO.
Snazzy paint jobs. I’m looking forward to the P3 version.
I’m pretty sure there’s already a retro P-3..
Two are scheduled: one in VP-44 of Midway and one in Seaplane white & gray.
Here’s the VP-44 bird: http://www.mprfcona.org/throwbackp3b.html
Here’s the other in progress: http://www.mprfcona.org/throwbackp3.html
Go to Tailhook Daily, picture of one up…Still waiting on a Hawkeye
…Still waiting on a Hawkeye
tell me about it…
w/r, SJS
Given the age of our Prowlers, that’s probably the paint job it had when it came off the assembly line. OK, well, almost the same.
I remember the day the first one arrived at Whidbey for the newly formed VAQ-129 RAG. It wasn’t WW2, but it was half way between then and now!
Tailspin, Jan 29th was the 40th anniversary of the Prowler’s fleet introduction. I happened to be at Whidbey, standing in ranks, as we welcomed the Prowler and said farewell to the Whale (at least at Whidbey) that day. Hard to believe that most air crew and sailors (yes, I used the politically incorrect term sailor and not “Sea Warrior) are flying/maintaining aircraft older than they are.
I think all the CONA paint jobs have been great. I’ve said before, I’d love to see them go to the exploitation range just for fun to see if any of the WWII paint jobs had an equally low E/O viz signature as the current low-viz gray.
[snark] That being said, these are NON-STANDARDIZED paint jobs people!! We can’t possibly have that, nosiree, if all the flight suits and t-shirts must be identical, then I DEMAND these aircraft be returned for a standardized paint job right this very minut!. No, we can’t have this. Next thing you know, people will demand they they have a brief, individual tactical callsign for radio usage. Why the very foundation of our Navy will be shaken to its core! [/snark]
Of course the counter-argument is that these are “aircraft of color” and thus celebrate Naval aviation’s “diversity.”
Comjam.
Well played, sir. “Aircraft of color”. Snort. Please post this on Diversity Thursday over at CDR Salamanders.
Personally, I don’t see why we can’t keep them in these schemes. Seems to me we have air superiority pretty much wherever we go these days.
So much so that we (or at least our civilian masters) have taken that for granted Tim.
It will be a Bad Time in Black Rock when it ain’t so.
Less than 2 weeks until us civilian types get on base to drool over these babies in person. The Nikon will be getting a serious workout.
Ever the proud Pedantic-Pecker Wood…but didn’t the order go out to paint over the so-called ” red meatball” as located in the center of the white star on the EA-6B in the picture, almost immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor…the start of WWII ?…the EA-18G appears to comply with this order. Best
Just read the caption to the photo above on the link…where they included pre-WWII paint sachemes for the aircraft in the celebration…ergo I answered my own question…something sightly troubling about that. Best
Talking to yourself again, Snake? You really should crawl in out of the bush from time to time.
Joe, I’ll take that sound recommendation under advisement. Best
There were about six months of delay before the “meatball” was deleted from the national insignia (May 15, 1942). As a result, aircraft fought at the Coral Sea with meatballs intact.
Many thanks for the clarification RJL… Best
They look fine. When I first looked at the picture I wondered if they were scale models.
Snazzy indeed. I wish the-powers-that-were had never retired the old roundel with the red ball center, even though I understand the reasoning behind the move. I can’t HELP but think confusing the old roundel with the big-ass meatball on the other team’s planes was more a figment of the imagination than anything else. I’m pretty sure the Brits didn’t change THEIR insignia, no? (with full realization the Brits have more than one)
British and Commonwealth Aircraft (ANZACs, mostly) in the Pacific Theater did in some cases remove the red center from the center of the roundel. I remember seeing a picture of an Aussie Tomahawk sporting a white-centered roundel. I’ll see if I can dig it up.
Now THAT is a cool paint job……
Subsunk
Hope these birds and their sisters are the ones chosen for the airshow circuit this year. Be nice to see them all together more than once.
Personally, I would have given the Prowler the TB scheme, both being Grummans, and all that.
I like these photos. Anyone know if I place this pic on USB drive and take to a photo kiosk, if they will print it?
Realize copyright issues involved. Have an inkjet printer, it does not do justice to a quality photo such as this.
I’ll give it a try.
Also, didn’t the Air Force sometime in the 80′s try to make an EW version of the F-16 called an F-16J or F-16CJ? Forerunner to the EF-111? Odd that F-111 never received an official name, yet EF-111A was named Raven.
Airplane freak and I love all this stuff.
F-16CJ/DJ have the wiring and computers for carrying AGM-88 HARMs and HARM targeting pod to replace the F-4G Wild Weasel . The USAF has never replaced the Spark ‘Vark’s EW role, though I think the AF did split crew some Prowlers with the Navy and Marines.
Yes, the AF did have some former EF-111 aircrew do a split crew in Prowlers. I met a ex-EF-111 EWO two years ago and we spoke of this. He told me he had five traps from his time in a Prowler as an “ECMO”.
Wal Mart has machines that will take just about any data source. I bring a thumb drive. Takes an hour or so to get the prints but doesn’t cost much.
ALL RIGHT! Thirteen red and white stripes on the rudder, now that’s an American airplane! And the red disk inside the white star, well, we licked the Nips years ago so we can have that back!
My comment is awaiting moderation, prolly ’cause I wrote “Nips”? What is the world coming to? Nips Nips Nips Nips Nips Nips. There.