This livery represents a special version of the Chippy Ho High Visibility paint scheme that included "25 years in Atsugi" artwork on the left side of the aircraft. It comes in both CAG (BORT 400) and CO versions (BORT 401). Every effort has been made to meticulously replicate the livery as accurately as possible using a variety of model kit instruction sheets as well as reference photos where possible.
Strike Fighter Squadron 195 (VFA-195), also known as the "Dambusters", is a United States Navy F/A-18C Hornet fighter squadron (now F/A-18E Super Hornet) stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi. They are a part of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) and their tail code is NF. Carrier Air Wing FIVE - the nation's only "911" air wing - is a critical combat strike element of Battle Force Seventh Fleet, the only forward-deployed carrier strike group in the U.S. Navy.
Squadron insignia and nickname
The squadron, originally known as the Tigers, had its first insignia approved by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on 4 March 1944, consisting of a lion cub riding a torpedo. Bob Burns gave the squadron a lion cub. On the patch the cub is holding the musical "bazooka" that Burns used in his act, while riding a torpedo. The lion went to the Los Angeles Zoo. A new design replaced the cub with a tiger and parrot on the torpedo, and was approved on 18 April 1949.
Sometime in the 1950s, the squadron adopted a shield insignia that featured an eagle's head and a torpedo. On 1 May 1951, squadron aircraft disabled the heavily defended Hwacheon Dam in North Korea, earning them the nickname Dambusters,[1] echoing the original Dam Busters of No. 617 Squadron RAF. Destruction of the dam had been previously attempted by other units many times.
In August 1985, the squadron adopted the stylized eagle on green background insignia in use today.
The 2000's
From 1998 to 2008 VFA-195 was assigned with CVW-5 to USS Kitty Hawk. VFA-195 flew in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, striking targets deep in Afghanistan. Called on for duty in the Persian Gulf in 2003, the squadron flew 278 combat sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, delivered 179,000 pounds of precision guided munitions against military targets over the course of a single month.
When USS Kitty Hawk was retired, CVW-5 and VFA-195 moved to USS George Washington in August 2008.
