Living history on aircraft ‘CONA’

Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) is honoring Naval Aviation’s 100 years of flight in 2011 by participating in the Heritage Paint Project to create living history on Navy aircraft.

For the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CoNA) celebration, painters at the military maintenance depot are meticulously applying vintage paint schemes covering several eras of Naval Aviation to selected aircraft not scheduled for deployment.

CoNA not only celebrates the contributions and sacrifices of Navy aviators, past and present, but those of Marine Corps and Coast Guard aviators as well.

In October 2010, FRCSE painters completed their first heritage color scheme on an S-3B Viking during a major maintenance event.

The S-3 squadrons trace their early roots back to the carrier-based torpedo squadrons that fiercely fought in the Pacific theater during World War II, according to Centennial of Naval Aviation Project Director and Historian Capt. Richard Dann.
He worked closely with the Naval Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 30 “Bloodhounds” at Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif., to recreate a design that combined the torpedo bomber squadrons (VT) capabilities with the antisubmarine reconnaissance capabilities of the scouting squadrons (VS). It represents an early WWII tactical paint scheme, circa the 1942. (Source: www.navair.navy.mil)

On Jan. 28, Fleet Readiness Center Southeast in Jacksonville, Fla., completes a heritage paint scheme on a P-3C Orion for Patrol Squadron (VP) 9 attached to Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The squadron chose to honor the VP-6 “Blue Sharks” by using the defunct squadron’s insignia on the modern aircraft. (U.S. Navy photo by Vic Pitts/Released)

On Jan. 13, F/A-18 Hornet Pilot Cmdr. Mitch Conover prepares for takeoff at NAS Jacksonville, Fla., in a jet painted in a vintage WWII paint scheme used from late 1943 to late 1944. Painters at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast are applying heritage color schemes to several military aircraft for the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation. (Photo courtesy of NAS Jacksonville Air Operations)

VX-30 Commanding Officer Cmdr. John Rousseau and Lt. Christian Pedersen taxi down the NAS Jacksonville runway Nov. 4, 2010, headed home to Point Mugu, Calif. FRCSE artisans applied the WWII tactical paint scheme chosen by the squadron to commemorate the Battle of Midway for the 2011 Centennial of Naval Aviation celebration. (U.S. Navy photo by Vic Pitts/Released)