Hobby Master Archive

First formed in 1942 as VMF-311 and in 1958 renamed VMA-311 “Tomcats” with a tail designator “WL” and a patch with “Sylvester the Pussycat” riding a missile. In July 1978 VMA-311 received 13 new A-4Ms plus 3 transferred from VMA-214 and the 11th aircraft was Bu No. 159473. The modex number painted on the nose is 460 until about 1981 when changed to 11. VMA-311 A-4Ms spent most of their time in Japan until June 1988 when they moved to Yuma and transitioned to the AV8B Harrier.