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Maj. Lenny Bucko, NSFTIP, US Marines, MCAS Miramar, California, USA, 1983
VFA-127 „Cylons“, Capt. Jerry B. Singleton, US Navy, NAS Fallon,
Nevada, USA, 1993
73-0897, 57th Fighter Weapons Wing, 65th Fighter Weapons Squadron,
US Air Force, Nellis AFB, USA, 1981
Naval Fighter Weapons School does not operate
any standard squadron for the purpose of
simulating adversary aircraft tactics. The aircraft
used there are part of the Naval Strike and Air
Warfare Center based at NAS Fallon. The aircraft
shown here, in desert camouflage, was flown
by Maj. Lenny “Toado” Bucko in 1981, one of the
combat instructors in the “Top Gun” program.
The vertical fin sported an emblem depicting
a MiG-21 in a gunsight pattern.
The original name of the VFA-127 was “Royal
Blues”. The unit used it until 1980, but with the
transition to the adversary role it was changed
to Cylons in 1981. The name comes from the
Battlestar Galactica series (broadcast from
1980), where the Cylons represented intelligent
robots hostile to human race, capable of taking
on human form. In June 1993, Capt. Jerry B. “Hook”
Singleton, took the command of Strike Fighter
Wing Pacific and it was the right of the holder of
this high post to choose the aircraft he would fly.
One of them was this F-5E, emblazoned under
the cockpit on both sides of the fuselage with the
inscription COMSTRKFIGHTWINGPAC. Singleton
died on August 13, 2014, at the age of 67 after
a 30-year long career as a naval aviator. He was
a true renaissance man, according to his memoirs.
The aircraft he chose bore a desert camouflage
scheme and Iraqi insignia, which was more than
a hot topic shortly after the first Gulf War.
The U.S. Air Force developed a number of
camouflage schemes during the use of the F-5E
aircraft, which were given their own names.
The aircraft shown here was the only one to carry
the color scheme named “Frog”. This scheme was
defined in an order dated February 27, 1980, and
was intended to resemble the coloring of the
Soviet frontline MiG-23s and MiG-27s. According
to official sources, this scheme was never
applied to any aircraft, but the 73-0897 was more
or less painted according to the aforementioned
order. We are not sure about when it received this
livery, but it was surely sporting these colors as
late as February 14, 1981.
KITS 03/2024
INFO Eduard44
March 2024