#let’s hear it for the CAG birds 👏👏

[thatsrightice]

What is a CAG bird??

CAG birds refer to specific aircraft within a squadron, often identified by the Modex number and/or the unique paint scheme. CAG birds are typically much more colorful than the rest of the squadron’s aircraft, but still have the same general design.

The Modex is a two or three-digit number located most prominently on the nose of an aircraft, serving an identifier among a squadron and carrier air wing (CVW). The first digit in the modex refers to the squadron number within the carrier air wing; for the F-14 Tomcat this would likely be 1XX, 2XX, 3XX, or 4XX where each number is assigned to a different squadron they are deployed with. The second and third digits are just the number of the aircraft within the squadron.

The first aircraft in the squadron is flown under the name of the CVW Commanding Officer, meaning their name is on the side of the jet. They will have Modex ending with x00 (i.e Modex will be 100, 200, 300, 400, etc.) Because there are multiple squadrons in a CVW, every first plane in every squadron will have this person’s name on it as seen in the image below.

The second aircraft in the squadron is flown under the name of the squadron’s Commanding Officer. They will have Modex ending with x01 (i.e Modex will be 101, 201, 301, 401, etc.).

The third aircraft in the squadron is flown under the name of the squadron’s Executive Officer aka the XO. They will have Modex ending with x02 (i.e Modex will be 102, 202, 302, 402, etc.).

Obviously this isn’t always the case, the modex tradition varies from squadron to squadron. In some squadrons, all three aircraft will have the CAG bird paint scheme and in others only the x00 will have the paint scheme. Squadrons have been known to skip modex x13 when numbering aircraft, and they may also skip particular numbers that have had a mishap in their squadron history where an aircraft or crew had been lost.

At this point I would like to remind you all that pilots do not and will not always fly the aircraft with their name on the side, meaning that these specially-colored aircraft are not exclusively flown by the commanding officers.

#let’s hear it for the CAG birds 👏👏 #who’s a pretty birdy???? #f-14 tomcat #aviation #aircraft #fighter jet #military #I like planes #research #information #fun facts #reference #top gun #just a little thing I wrote