VFA-81 is Boeing F/A18E Super Hornet Squadron Based at Naval Air Station Oceana, in Virginia Beach, VA. They are currently based on the USS CARL VINSON which is a west coast based aircraft carrier. SUNLINERS use Colorado Springs as a refueling stop on occasion.
Very Kool! I caught them in Fallon last year. Nice catch. I did not know they are base in Oceana since CVW17 CVN70 carl vinson is a West coast Carrier
I was in (then) VA-81 in the late 60’s/early 70’s. We were attached to CVW-17 then and the squadron has continued to be attached to CVW-17 for the most part. I think it is more a matter that CVW-17 is deploying aboard 3rd fleet carriers of late and coincidentally VFA-81 is based at NAS Oceana. I do notice the aircraft are marked with “NA” instead of “AA” now so maybe a move to NAS Lemoore is in the works. Honestly I don’t think it matters much. Even 40 years ago we had to go to Arizona and California for live ordnance evolutions and VA-174 had a permanent detachment at MCAS Yuma. (We were at NAS Cecil Field in Jacksonville, FL then.)
As far as i know they are still based on the east coast Dave. I think that the navy just uses the transit time from coast to coast as training hours.