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Scout Decom Sneak Peak


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I was over at VS-24 this morning. I had to give them an 80's VS-24 S-3 DVD called The Cutting Edge (in which I make a very brief appearance) that they want to possibly use at the ceremony next Thursday.

I took 110 pics of their jets and a couple of others parked in the hanger there at NAS Jax.

The Scouts have already transferred all of their planes except the ones to be used for the ceremony. As of right now, Scout 700 is in their standard TPS scheme with CAG trim and nose art. I talked to the MMCPO(Maint Master Chief Petty Officer) while I was there and he said that the CO had reviewed all of the nose art design ideas for 700, but was non-committal. As time was dragging on, the MMCPO decided for him and had the CC bubbas paint his design concept (the MMCPO's) on the side of 700. Kind of like, "Look what I did. Whadya think?" The skipper was not pleased, has ordered it removed, and is now favoring just painting a big duty cat zapper on left side of the nose.

The other plane, 701, has been painted retro gull gray over white and is a beaut. It was the one that was on the JFK in Boston last week. They flew it from Jax over to Mayport last week, towed it out to the pier, and craned it aboard the JFK. The JFK also stopped in Norfolk to crane aboard those two hornets that were on the cats.

Anyway, The Scouts have decided to put the squadron emblem of VB-17, the original squadron that became VS-24, on the right side of the nose. 700 will be presenting the left side, and 701 will presenting the right. Because of this facing arrangement, the CO's name on 701 is going to have to be switched from the left side to the right.

I also asked why the duty cat was no longer on the tail, as it been squadron tradition fro a very long time. I was told that once the enlisted sensor operator was taken out of the plane, some felt the duty cat had become an "officer exclusive" thing (you have to CQ in the jet in VS-24 to get the patch). So some CO ordered it taken off the planes a while back. Not a good decision if you ask me, but whatever. Things are changing so rapidly.

I was also told that after the decom ceremony, these last two aircraft will be transferred to VS-22. 700 will be painted immediately in VS-22 markings, but VS-22 crews will continue to fly 701 as is, in Scout markings for a year or more, and possibly until the Checkmates decom. That, I think, is very cool. 701 will truly be the last Scout standing.

They Scouts have borrowed a Stoof from some heritage sqaudron, and are looking for an Avenger for the ceremony as well. I guess they could steal the VS-27 example from the airplane park near the main gate!

Enjoy the pics! More to follow after the cermony.

Scout 700

700.jpg

This is the nose art that will be removed. The green part is a silouette of Florida.

700noseart.jpg

Scout 701

701.jpg

VB-17 emblem being applied to Scout 701:

701noseart.jpg

VB-17 squadron patch vb-17patch.jpg

I want one of these! ScoutCart.jpg

Edited by DutyCat
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The skipper was not pleased, has ordered it removed, and is now favoring just painting a big duty cat zapper on left side of the nose.

I also asked why the duty cat was no longer on the tail, as it been squadron tradition fro a very long time. I was told that once the enlisted sensor operator was taken out of the plane, some felt the duty cat had become an "officer exclusive" thing (you have to CQ in the jet in VS-24 to get the patch). So some CO ordered it taken off the planes a while back. Not a good decision if you ask me, but whatever. Things are changing so rapidly.

Thanks for the pics,

Sounds like this co is real fun! kiljoy. I really like that nose art, would be a shame if it were removed.

Nice job on the retro Grey/white however would have been better if they had hard edged it, not a real critisisum you understand, just my preference.

Love the scout car!

Julien

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Nice job on the retro Grey/white however would have been better if they had hard edged it, not a real critisisum you understand, just my preference.

The hard edged lines were fresh from the factory back in the 70's. Soft edge was always used in the fleet. They could have done a better job with the paint in this case, but these guys are not used to painting this scheme since Vikings have been overall dark ghost gray for a good while now.

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I should be there for this though right now its looking questionable. Good call by the CO on that nose art. AS for the Grey Over White scheme, they have pleanty of models over at the wing which could have been used as reference. That being said... I know they have a ton of other stuff they are juggling as well so we can't be too hard on them.

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AS for the Grey Over White scheme, they have pleanty of models over at the wing which could have been used as reference.

I think they know the scheme, its just that the feathering is not as tight as the paint job was done at the unit level. Back in the old days, when they went through NADEP, the paint gun pro's were doing it. But, even having said that, we have all seen beautiful paint jobs at the squadron level and marginal ones out of NADEP.

As far as the nose art, neu contacted me and suggested submitting something. So I did a couple of variations of a duty cat riding the back of the Scout Eagle and sent it to them. I felt that any decom emblem should feature the two primary symbols of VS-24, the duty cat and eagle. The first one I submitted was characterized as a little too "poofy." The second one I made a little more aggressive and thought for sure they would jump on, but nope. The one on 700 now is the MMCPO's design, which I did not like at all. How that beat out my Scout Sunset 2 design was beyond me until I showed up there today and found out the MMCPO had just taken the initiative and told his guys to do it. Here are my two rejected concepts:

The "poofy" one:

ScoutSunset.jpg

Version 2, more aggressive and I think quite good in concept.

ScoutSunsetv2small.jpg

I posted version two here once before. Not a lot of people commented, so I don't know....... In any case, the squadron CO looks like he is just going to go with the duty cat in its original squadron patch iteration.

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Wow! Can't believe these guys are going away. It seems like just yesterday I shot them working up at Fallon. What is our Navy thinking? Thanks for posting and I can't wait to see the rest of the images, all 110 please.

S-3B160149VS-24.jpg

S-3B160143VS-24.jpg

S-3B160142VS-24d.jpg

S-3B160142VS-24.jpg

Edited by Sig Saur & Son
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Those pics with the SLAM-ER are cool. Is the data link pod under the starboard side?

I believe you are looking at the bottom of the #2 engine nacelle. Or if you mean the pic before that, then it is the bottom of the right main mount door, which has not quite finished closing after takeoff.

Edited by DutyCat
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Those pics with the SLAM-ER are cool. Is the data link pod under the starboard side?

The data link pod is usually carried on station W6 IF they are doing a self guidence mission

Weren't the S-3's supposed to be using the old LANTIRN pods off F-14's?

Am I crazy for thinking I heard that?

Not Crazy at all. Check out the next issue of Combat Aircraft. :worship:

20060905-NASJax-0168.jpg

Edited by Fuji
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The hard edged lines were fresh from the factory back in the 70's. Soft edge was always used in the fleet. They could have done a better job with the paint in this case, but these guys are not used to painting this scheme since Vikings have been overall dark ghost gray for a good while now.

Dutycat, I was not being critical just my point of view, overall I think they did a good job, it will certainly look the point, just sad they have done it for this occasion.

I would also like to say that both your designs are better than the one on the aircraft in my opion, I even like the "poofy" one, its no more poofy than the one on the aircraft.

Cheers,

Julien

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I would also like to say that both your designs are better than the one on the aircraft in my opion, I even like the "poofy" one, its no more poofy than the one on the aircraft.

Cheers,

Julien

Thanks. Too bad the CO didn't go for one of them! He doesn't like the one that is on the aircraft now, either. So it looks like they are just going to go with the dutycat emblem.

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