A-6A BuNo 151792 SEA scheme

A-6A BuNo 151792/NH 813 of VA-85, USS Kitty
Hawk (CVA-63), 1965
CVW-11 and CVW-15 both experimented with
camouflaged aircraft during their 1965-66
deployments. A number of Intruders from the units
were involved, using various patterns of dark and
medium green, tan and dark blue. While they were
judged to be fairly effective in keeping aerial threats
from seeing the aircraft from above, it was a general
consensus that dark paint actually made them more
visible from the ground, which was the source of
their primary threat. The scheme also made them
harder to see on the flightdeck at night. These issues
brought an abrupt end to the experiment. No two
aircraft seemed to be exactly alike, with VA-85’s NH
813 featuring a scheme that was very similar to the
USAF’s ‘SEA’ paint of two-tone green and tan over
standard white undersides. The jet served for a period
with VA-42 upon its return to Oceana, before reverting
to the standard grey and white scheme. Eventually
converted into a KA-6D, BuNo 151792 was stricken in
October 1991.