10/30/2026
A Harrier in Costume? looks a little different today...
Halloween is tomorrow, and the National Museum of the Marine Corps would like to let you know that Marine aircraft sometimes wear their own costumes!
Normally, the Navy Department requires Navy and Marine aircraft to wear a very subdued tactical paint scheme of different shades of gray. But each squadron has permission to paint one of its aircraft with a little more color. Aboard carriers, this is known as the CAG bird as it is typically designated for use by the commander of the carrier’s air wing, should they desire. (CAG refers to an older title: Commander, Air Group.) For shore-based squadrons, it is typically the squadron commander’s designated aircraft. Aircraft numbers (MODEX numbers) as seen on the nose, tail, and wingtips, usually end in “00” or “01”.
These special paint schemes can occasionally be more colorful, especially for significant events. For the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday in 2025, Marine Attack Squadron (VMA-)223, the “Bulldogs”, gave Bureau Number 165427 a special paint job, full of significance to Marines. The MODEX is 250 in honor of the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday, with the zero in the number turned into the globe of the Marine Corps’ Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia. The tail bears crossed officer and enlisted dress swords above a red banner bearing the Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis. The rudder is painted blue with a red stripe down the middle, referencing the service’s dress blue trousers with the red blood stripe down the outside seam. The engine intakes, usually marked with a red safety chevron, also echo the dress blue trousers. In this case, the chevron is the blue color of the trousers, with red pinstripe outline.
The strakes on the bottom of the fuselage are painted red. Gold script letters spell out 10 NOVEMBER, 1775 (the date recognized as the Marine Corps’ founding) on one of them and TEUFEL HUNDEN (Devil Dogs - a nickname supposedly given during WWI by the first German soldiers to encounter Marines in combat) on the other. That same script font is used for all of the writing on the aircraft, including the standard ones such as MARINES on each side of the plane, the squadron identification, the Bureau Number and AV-8B identification, and the names of the aircraft’s pilot under the windshield on each side. The script is also used for UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS split across the trailing edge of the horizontal stabilizers and TUN TAVERN on the flaps – one word on each flap. Tun Tavern is the traditional birthplace of the Marine Corps: a Philadelphia, PA, tavern where the first Marines were recruited.
This airplane, with its very colorful paint job, has been accepted into the National Museum of the Marine Corps’ collection, and will be loaned to the City of Havelock, NC where it will soon be on display at the city’s Tourist and Event Center, not far from MCAS Cherry Point, where the airplane was based.
Courtesy Photos: BDS Aviation Photography and Digital Visual Information Distribution System
