I thought the dark lower and vertical stab was pre 80's livery. In 1978 I flew on a P-3 on a recruiting tour that was grey and white.
I cheated and looked it up…
“770 currently wears a special “retro” paint scheme, the white-and-engine-grey seen on patrol aircraft in the 1950s and 60s, as part of her duties touring the country to celebrate the Centennial of Naval Aviation in 2011. Despite the fact that she was with VP-9 at the time, she carries the markings of the Blue Sharks of VP-6, the squadron which served the longest at NAS Barbers Point and which was disestablished in 1993. As she was flown in to Kalaeloa Airport for the retirement, she is still largely intact and in the condition in which she landed. Former P-3 crew are met at the door with a familiar smell that never fails to bring smiles to faces.
770 was accepted on 28 February 1979 and first assigned to VP-23, who were at Keflavik, Iceland at the time. She spent much of her early years rotating through foreign deployments in Iceland, Spain, Italy, and Bermuda. After over a decade with VP-23, she went through a series of short-lived assignments: to VP-30 in 1991, VQ-2 in 1993, back to VP-30 in 1995, to VPU-1 later that year, VP-8 in 1997, VP-26 in 1999, VP-10 in 2000, VP-45 in 2002, VP-16 in 2004, back to VP-45 late that year, and back to VP-16 again in 2005. She finally found another long-term home with VP-5 from 2006 until 2011, when she came to MCBH Kaneohe for service with VP-9.”
Never on a stick…but at the museum.
