VF-111 Sundowners

[Timvkampen]

and see this link for some very nice shots indeed!

Tim

http://www.usscoralsea.net/pages/lnr70s.html

[Timvkampen]

some more for the weekend:

Tim

[Fuji]

NICE! I like to see this thread kept going, thanks

[sundowner]

Here we are again with some SunDowner pix :

Cheers , Henk

[Fuji]

Thanks Henk

I'm just dying here. Seems those Hellcats are during their training days before deployment as they carry different markings than on the Hornet, which were VF-2s old aircraft incidentally, the markings were never changed.

[sundowner]

Thanks Henk

I'm just dying here. Seems those Hellcats are during their training days before deployment as they carry different markings than on the Hornet, which were VF-2s old aircraft incidentally, the markings were never changed.

Fuji , those Hellcats were stationed at NAAS Santa Rosa , right after the SunDowners came back from their last WWII cruise , VF-11 was stationed at Santa Rosa for a brief period ( July / august 1945 ) The SunDowners just used those Hellcats because they were at hand..................

HTH OMAR

[Fuji]

While I see that this is an F8F-1 - Did VF-11 ever fly the F8F-2?

[Darren Roberts]

Fuji and Henk. Which VF-11 are you referring to? For the Bearcat picture, VF-11 would have been the Red Rippers. They were flying Bearcats while designated as VF-1A and then VF-11. While flying Hellcats, the Rippers would have been designated as VF-4. Was there a VF-11 prior to the mass change in designations the Navy made in '47? It gets SO confusing! I'll check and see if VF-11 ever flew the -2.

[Fuji]

Fuji and Henk. Which VF-11 are you referring to? For the Bearcat picture, VF-11 would have been the Red Rippers. They were flying Bearcats while designated as VF-1A and then VF-11. While flying Hellcats, the Rippers would have been designated as VF-4. Was there a VF-11 prior to the mass change in designations the Navy made in '47? It gets SO confusing! I'll check and see if VF-11 ever flew the -2.

VF-11 (established in 1942) SunDowners was redesignated VF-111 in 1948. Therefor they flew the F8F as VF-11 SunDowners for a time. Not sure which aircraft they were flying when they changed over to the 111 designation The F8F or if they began transition to the F9F at that point. I do have a book at home that gives a pretty good detailed timeline for aircraft types and years flown, I'll check it and see later. I agree that the designation changes really mixed things up. The VF-11 from WW II had nothing to do with the Rippers, actually they had nothing to do really with the Later Sundowners of Vietnam and Tomcat fame. The original SunDowners (VF-11 - 111) was disestablished on January 19th, 1959. On the 20th of January 1959, VA-156 (Flying F11 Tigers at this point) was redesignated VF-111 and picked up the SunDowners legacy, but is not a true continuation of the lineage. This "blood line" continued until the squadron was decommissioned in March 1995 and of course was resurrected in 2006 as VFC-111 SunDowners

Edited November 9, 2007 by Fuji

[sundowner]

While I see that this is an F8F-1 - Did VF-11 ever fly the F8F-2?

Fuji , actually , the SunDowners were designated VF-11A ( 15 nov 1946 ) when they flew with the F8F-1 , they still retained 4 F6F-5P for recce missions .

They started to transitioning to the -2 in 1949 , but the SunDowners became VF-111 on 16 July 1948 , so they were still flying the Bearcat -1 when they became VF-111 .

They received the Panther F9F-2 in Dec 1949 .

Darren , I understand the confusion , when I was at the Washington Naval Aviation History Branch and going thru the SunDowner files , I found some VF-11 Red Ripper stuff in that file .................!!!

The Archivist corrected it at once . As you already wrote the Red Rippers were designated VF-1A which became VF-11 ..............!?

The "A" in the VF-11A designation came from , that they were on board a Attack carrier at that time , the "A" became the 1 in VF-111 .

HTH , Henk "Omar"

[Fuji]

Fuji , actually , the SunDowners were designated VF-11A ( 15 nov 1946 ) when they flew with the F8F-1 , they still retained 4 F6F-5P for recce missions .

They started to transitioning to the -2 in 1949 , but the SunDowners became VF-111 on 16 July 1948 , so they were still flying the Bearcat -1 when they became VF-111 .

They received the Panther F9F-2 in Dec 1949 .

Darren , I understand the confusion , when I was at the Washington Naval Aviation History Branch and going thru the SunDowner files , I found some VF-11 Red Ripper stuff in that file .................!!!

The Archivist corrected it at once . As you already wrote the Red Rippers were designated VF-1A which became VF-11 ..............!?

The "A" in the VF-11A designation came from , that they were on board a Attack carrier at that time , the "A" became the 1 in VF-111 .

HTH , Henk "Omar"

Aha! I figured they would have been designated 11A at some point due to the eventual number change, but none of the refs I have at home (or locked away in the grey matter) are that specific. Thanks for that added bit of info.... I see here in my files the dates for the aircraft you mentioned above, but nowhere is there a reference to VF-11A. Looks like I'm going to have to get on Barrett for that!

Edited November 9, 2007 by Fuji

[Fuji]

Bump!

[Phantomologist]

Here is a double nuts Crusader

F-8H

Another Crusader

AJ-105

Edited November 11, 2007 by Phantomologist

[sundowner]

Another VF-111 Tomcat Toned down !!

Cheers , Henk "Omar"

[Fuji]

Hey Henk

What about these guys? From the Navy Historical site (Public Domain )

The have a 2xx modex but are from the Valley Forge in 1948 - My records indicate that the SunDowners were on this carrier that year. Can you confirm this as a SunDowner formation?

[Darren Roberts]

Fuji,

The formation that is pictured isn't that of VF-111. The 2XX series means that was VF-112. I've learned a lot about Navy designations lately for an FSM article I'm working on. After the Navy realized that the whole A - Attack and B - Battle suffixes wasn't going to work, they did a major redesignation in 1947-48. VF-11A (Sundowners) were redesignated as VF-111. The first two 1's in -111 were in reference to the airgroup they were assigned to (CVG-11/V tail code). The last 1 showed they were the first squadron in the airgroup and was also their series number (1XX). They would have also had red trim colors, being the first squadron. VF-112 would have carried the 2XX series with white trim, VF-113 would have carried the 3XX series with light blue trim (take a look at the Monogram F9F Panther for the markings), VF-114 would have carried the 4XX series and had orange trim (ever wonder why VF-114 had orange when they were a fighter squadron?), and VA-115 would have carried the 5XX series with green trim.

Any pictures that are right after WWII might be confusing, as right at the end of WWII they did away with the G symbols and used letters to designate carrier assignments. You'll also see a resurgence in the pre-war fuselage coding (3-F-1). But after 1947-48, everything was pretty standard. So if you see a 2XX series on a plane, it will be the second squadron in the airgroup.

Sorry if I gave too much info. It's been fun getting to learn the system.

Edited November 12, 2007 by Darren Roberts

[sundowner]

Fuji,

The formation that is pictured isn't that of VF-111. The 2XX series means that was VF-112. I've learned a lot about Navy designations lately for an FSM article I'm working on. After the Navy realized that the whole A - Attack and B - Battle suffixes wasn't going to work, they did a major redesignation in 1947-48. VF-11A (Sundowners) were redesignated as VF-111. The first two 1's in -111 were in reference to the airgroup they were assigned to (CVG-11/V tail code). The last 1 showed they were the first squadron in the airgroup and was also their series number (1XX). They would have also had red trim colors, being the first squadron. VF-112 would have carried the 2XX series with white trim, VF-113 would have carried the 3XX series with light blue trim (take a look at the Monogram F9F Panther for the markings), VF-114 would have carried the 4XX series and had orange trim (ever wonder why VF-114 had orange when they were a fighter squadron?), and VA-115 would have carried the 5XX series with green trim.

Any pictures that are right after WWII might be confusing, as right at the end of WWII they did away with the G symbols and used letters to designate carrier assignments. You'll also see a resurgence in the pre-war fuselage coding (3-F-1). But after 1947-48, everything was pretty standard. So if you see a 2XX series on a plane, it will be the second squadron in the airgroup.

Sorry if I gave too much info. It's been fun getting to learn the system.

I agree with Darren , I still try to figure out why VF-112 had a fuselage stripe , I know I have read it somewhere but my mind is failing me rightnow ....................

Cheers , Henk

[sundowner]

Hello everyone, I am making a 1989 VF-111 F-14A sundowners, what is the colour and style of the intake covers, as well as the design of engine covers?

Thanks!

I have checked my slides from 1989 , and the few I have with inlet covers , they show that the covers are red and standard .......

HTH Henk "Omar"

[revellmania]

Wow, it's interesting to note that F-8H 147048 had multi-colored sun rays, given that most, if not all high vis birds spotted red/white sun rays...... I've always thought that the Superscale decal sheet that depicted this bird had the wrong colors....

I'm really enjoying all the photos of the Sundowner's aircraft posted here!

Here is a double nuts Crusader

F-8H

Another Crusader

AJ-105

[phantom]

147048 was airframe 100. Which means its the CAGs bird.

CAG being Commander Air Group.

Being the guy in charge of the airwing not just the squadron.

Therefore there is a colour from each squadron.

Red from the 100 (or VF-111)

Yellow from the 200

Blue from the 300

Orange from the 400 and

Green from the 500.

[jinxx1]

VF-111's ramp (from a distance) in 1986. Always wanted a photo tour at Mirimar. Never got one. Oh well.

[tomthegrom]

cool I can see sundowners, screaming eagles, gunfighters and even a couple sneaky black knights in that photo.

[Fuji]

I think Henk and I are going to have to yell at those guys at Fallon. WOW

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1296050/L/

[sundowner]

I think Henk and I are going to have to yell at those guys at Fallon. WOW

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1296050/L/

Fuji ,

Last September when I was at Fallon , I saw this SunDowner F-8 ( that is ; if you can call it a SunDowner F-8 ) and I am already working on that with the Base PAO Zip Upham .

I told him that I will send some photo's of the original paint job , I have photo's that this F-8 was unveiled with the presence of Capt Dick Schaffert , the SunDowner who flew this depicted Crusader..

Henk "Omar"

[Trigger]

Henk, Fuji -

:D Wait...that's how they've repainted Dick Schaffert's Crusader???