To the ARFCOM crowd,  I was at a recent airshow and a bunch of aircraft was on static display.  I noticed all the Air Force aircraft were pretty much subdued gray nothing too flashy.  Some Navy aircraft were painted up with bright squadron colors and such.

Do deployed Navy aircraft have a protocol as far what can be painted or do they have to be all subdued colors???  I've seen pics on the Navy site with painted up F-14s and F/A18s that look bada**.  

Quoted: To the ARFCOM crowd,  I was at a recent airshow and a bunch of aircraft was on static display.  I noticed all the Air Force aircraft were pretty much subdued gray nothing too flashy.  Some Navy aircraft were painted up with bright squadron colors and such. Do deployed Navy aircraft have a protocol as far what can be painted or do they have to be all subdued colors???  I've seen pics on the Navy site with painted up F-14s and F/A18s that look bada**.

Like any service the Navy has maintenance instructions and maintenance publications for aircraft paint systems.

The Navy's painting bible, the NA 01-1A-509 Corrosion Control Manual has a paragraph that deals with "squadron colors and markings".

The aircraft must be painted up with NAVAIR approved aircraft paint, (no custom Ditzler mixes) and it must be applied IAW the 509.

The squadron must ask for  and receive an "Aircraft Paint Deviation".
I can't remember how much of the aircraft surface can be painted, I think it's less than 25% of the total surface.

The deviation is approved by the Aircraft Type Commander (either the Wing or NADEP) and is sent to NAVAIR for review purposes.

The current instruction allows each squadron to paint one aircraft, usally the Skippers or the CAGs bird. These are the aircraft with with either the 000 or the 001 MODEX.

A squadron can ask for a further deviation to allow more than one bird to be painted in squadron colors.

The F-14 squadrons that decommissioned could pretty much do what they wanted to do.

One note, both Navy and Marine organizational level (squadron) maintenance is not allowed to strip and paint aircraft.
The 505 instruction has specific guidelines on how much of an aircraft surface can be painted.
Squadron level painting is kept to a minimum, and it is done for corrosion control purposes, not to make the airplane look "pretty".

That's why most Navy and Marine aircraft look like hammered dogshit.  

Ahh o.k.    At the airshow I saw a F/A-18 that was painted up and saw it was a CAG's plane.    Thanks!

My ship had the last two squadrons of F-4S and A-7s, VF-151, VF-161; VA-56 and VA-93. Just before I left, COMNAVAIRPAC made them paint over the shark's teeth on VA-93's A-7s. They also made them cover up all but the skippers' birds.

i get so jealous when i go to air museums and see WWII planes with the personalized nose art and stuff.

back in the day it was YOUR plane (pretty much like YOUR rifle)

now it's CLEARLY the USAF's jet that you get to borrow once and a while

The coolest has to be the VX squadrons, most notably VX-9 with Vandy 1.



VX-30 is also flying a 18 that is painted in brown camo complete with a star on the tail.

Quoted: The coolest has to be the VX squadrons, most notably VX-9 with Vandy 1. store1.yimg.com/I/mcmahanphoto_1869_45795407 VX-30 is also flying a 18 that is painted in brown camo complete with a star on the tail.

THATS NICE

Quoted: The coolest has to be the VX squadrons, most notably VX-9 with Vandy 1. store1.yimg.com/I/mcmahanphoto_1869_45795407 VX-30 is also flying a 18 that is painted in brown camo complete with a star on the tail.

What's the story with the VX squadrons?  I've never heard that term before.


-K

Quoted: Quoted: The coolest has to be the VX squadrons, most notably VX-9 with Vandy 1. store1.yimg.com/I/mcmahanphoto_1869_45795407 VX-30 is also flying a 18 that is painted in brown camo complete with a star on the tail. What's the story with the VX squadrons?  I've never heard that term before. -K

Air Test and Evaluation Squadrons

Not very functional today, but the most beautiful aircraft paintjobs were on USN aircraft prior to WWII.

See the movie "Dive Bomber" with Errol Flynn.