During Operation Desert Storm, there could have been up to four aircraft painted like these
These captivating pictures feature U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters sporting quite a sexy paint scheme.
If you look closely, you can discern the outline of a woman on both sides of the fuselage of the CH-53s, as John Faith describes in an interesting article for the Aircraft Resource Center.
Faith claims that although the pictures show two distinct aircraft, during Operation Desert Storm (ODS) there may have been up to four painted in this manner. Helicopter Marine Heavy Helicopter 466 (HMH-466) was the unit that flew these helicopters.
The reason the helicopters ended up that way, as Louis Lofton, the crew chief of one of the CH-53s, explained to Faith, was an immediate need for deployment to the Gulf. The Marines were allowed to paint their squadron aircraft in their own hangars before deployment since there were so many to be painted. Back then, HMH-466 was assigned to the Tustin, California, Marine Corps Air Station (MCCAS). Since 1996, the unit has been stationed at MCAS Miramar, CA.
HMH-466) flies CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopters. The squadron, known as the “Wolfpack”, falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 16 (MAG-16) and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).
Photo by John Faith via Aircraft Resource Center and U.S. Marine Corps
