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Here we see in this U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Nicholas Hall, Capt. Dan “Dozer” Dwyer, commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106, landing his F/A 18C Hornet, BuNo 163745, aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) on December 5, 2010.
Dwyer’s Hornet is painted in an overall Dark Sea blue in the scheme used by F6F-5 Hellcats of Bomber-Fighter Squadron Seventeen (VBF-17) on USS Hornet (CV-12) in the tail end of World War II in honor of the 100th Anniversary of Flight (Centennial of Naval Aviation or CONA). If you big up and look on the tail of the bird, you will see the USS Hornet markings in yellow.
Its a logical that the Dwyer’s bird carries the throwback markings as VFA-106 started off at VBF-16, founded at Agana Air Field, Guam on January 11, 1945 and shipped out immediately on USS Hornet for combat operations against Tokyo, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa as well as the first major air strikes against the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. The yellow on sea blue scheme was mandated for Allied aircraft used in Japanese home waters.
After the war the squadron switched to F4U Corsairs then F8F Bearcats before moving to F2H Banshees which they flew from the deck of USS Lake Champlain in Korea. A stint in F9F-8B Cougars lasted until they transitioned to Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawks in 1958 which they flew in Vietnam on Forrestal and Intrepid.
Shuttered in 1969, they were recommissioned in 1984 during the great 600-ship Navy buildup and has flown Hornets ever since.
Speaking of Hornets, CV-12 was decommissioned 26 June 1970 and after two decades in mothballs and became a museum ship in Alameda, California.
