The mystery McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-11-MC Hornet No. 161925 has been identified as the “D’Skunk”. See yesterday’s post. It is finished in a truly striking scheme of segmented black and white which was no doubt applied as a means of recording and thus comparing visual data collected during testing.
So from the left side it is black on top and white on the underside and from the right side it is white on top and black on the underside. This is a US Navy Test aircraft.
This F-18A Hornet that was flown by the Naval Air Test Centre at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, commonly called "Pax River".
The machine wears the unflattering name of “D'Skunk” on either side of her spine undoubtedly bought about by her black and white coloring as well as full color national insignia with a thin white outline to make it stand out from the black background. Another oddity is that is wears the designator 7T on its vertical stabilisers rather than the SD Air Wing designator worn by Naval Air Warfare Centre Naval Aircraft Division aircraft at Patuxent River.
The only remaining mystery is why I have photos of it from before it was assigned in 1986?
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