Brief Description: A-6 Intruder with my paint scheme.
I visited the Flying Leathernecks Aviation Museum in Miramar, CA during a business trip. This is a great museum with an indoor display area for smaller items and an outdoor display area for the aircraft. The museum is located on Marine Corps Air Station - Miramar property and had a pair of F-18's doing take off's and landing's while I was there. Several V-22 Osprey's also were flying in the area. Miramar used to be a Naval Air Station and is where Top Gun was held and is referenced in the movie.
After deciding on my paint scheme a few years ago, I found the Leathernecks museum website and saw the A-6 they had restored and painted in VMA - 242 colors. It is a scheme from a year or so after Captain Fickler and Robert Kuhlman went missing, but is very close except for the white nose. From the research I have done so far, the Fickler aircraft would have probably had a primarily black nose. I have some time to work out the details, but I was glad to find a full scale airplane with almost the exact markings. I'm sure the museum had access to all the records, etc so it is historically accurate. I took a bunch of pictures and detailed close-ups which will be helpful when it comes time to paint my airplane.
The squadron is still active today and dates back to WWII where they flew a variety of aircraft including the Hellcat and Corsair. The Batmen currently fly the F-18 Hornet based out of Japan.