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Tail marking

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:18 am
by shawn
Hi guys..
Some F18s have distinctive tail marking like flight Leader of below URL link.
http://www.vfa32.navy.mil/
These fighters are flight leaders or package leaders. etc??
What are they called and how many fighters have these tail markings in just one VFA?

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:59 am
by Atlas
Shawn,

The reasoning behind the paint jobs like that are for "Show Planes" for example, VFA's have a CO/CAG and XO plane which are the only painted aircraft in the squadron. All others will be a all grey paint scheme. When the Navy was flying Tomcat's they had three painted aircraft in each squadron CO, CAG, and XO. Believe the Navy told the transitioning Tomcat (VF) Squadrons that they could only have two painted aircraft, CO/CAG and XO. As far as flight lead I am sure it varies as the CO or XO might not be flying that aircraft as others in the squadron do fly those aircraft as well. Also take a look into www.virtualnavairops.com as we are a Navy based squadron and we can help you with any further questions. :D

Thanks Sabertooth :)

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:55 pm
by shawn
thank you for replying, Sabertooth.
Its very suprising, CAG has his own flight.
CAG also lead flight in warfare? I mean CAG is the only one person in his air wing and he reports to the Commander of CSG(Carrier Strike Group). So it is restricted lead flight in air.
Is it possible to distinguish CO, CAG, XO birds due to their MODEX;Each plane in a squadron is assigned a unique number.
200 means CAG, 201 means XO like that??

Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 7:57 pm
by Tailhook
In the 'old days', squadrons were allowed to paint as many aircraft as they wanted.....then it got limited. Ask Rhino about it but I think they were only allowed 4-6 painted F-4's? With the Tomcat, they were limited to 2-4 painted aircraft, but then it got down to just 2. Now all squadrons flying the Super Hornet are limited to just 1 painted aircraft and that is most likely the CAG (Air Group Commander). Squadrons are allowed to have some color on their emblems but nothing painted whole.

That is a picture of VFA-32 Swordsmen's CAG and CO birds by the way. You can usually tell by the end number of the jet. Anything mostly ending with a 0 is the CAG, 1 is the CO, and 2 is the XO.