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Nimitz, Training Air Wing 1 Recognize Centennial of Naval Aviation

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS101111-03
11/11/2010

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW) Nichelle Noelle Whitfield, USS Nimitz Public Affairs

USS NIMITZ, At Sea (NNS) -- A unique aircraft landed aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68) for carrier qualifications Nov. 4. Training Air Wing 1 (TW-1) came aboard flying the T-45C Goshawk painted in honor of the Centennial of Naval Aviation.

The Goshawk, with TW-1 from Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., made its debut design presentation aboard the Nimitz. The jets themselves are only a few years old, but one from each training air wing will be featuring a commemorative paint scheme from the 1930's.

The Goshawk with the unique design aboard Nimitz is emulating the design of the "Yellow Wings" era of Naval Aviation.

The aircraft is painted silver overall, with the top of the wing in yellow, red section markings and a blue tail. In 1938, aircraft painted in this manner would have been assigned to the Air Group of USS Enterprise (CV-6).

The blue tail indicating what ship it was from (in this case, Enterprise), and the yellow wings were designed to make spotting the aircraft easier in the water from a distance in case of an emergency water landing.

"We have brought back this paint scheme as part of the Heritage Paint Project," said Capt. Richard Dann, Centennial of Naval Aviation director of history and outreach. "An aircraft painted like this hasn't been see conducting operations on an aircraft carrier for nearly 70 years, and we are using these aircraft to teach the fleet a little bit about aviation heritage."

Training Air Wing One comes to Nimitz with pilots who have never landed on a carrier before.

"The first carrier I landed on in the T-45A (as apposed to the current C model) was USS Nimitz back in 1995," said Lt. Cmdr. Steve Hazzard. "Now, 15 years later, I'm finishing up my career with my final carrier landings in the T-45C model. I love the new (paint) design. It's the first time we've done something like this."

Naval Aviation is celebrating its 100th birthday beginning January 2011 and will be continuing to recognize the achievement throughout the year.

"The new paint design will come into play this upcoming year for the centennial anniversary when all of the air wings get together and start doing air shows," said Hazzard.

A list of events and locations to view the new paint designs commemorating the centennial throughout the year can be found at www.navy.mil/flynavy.

For more news from USS Nimitz (CVN 68), visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn68/.