Hobby Master Archive

USMC aviation can trace its beginning to 1912 with VMA-231 beginning as 1st Division, Squadron 1 February 8, 1919. 1921 they became the First Air Squadron “Ace of Spades”. The ace is the first card in a suit, the A in the top left stands for Air and the S in the bottom right stands for Squadron. AV-8B Harrier II 164562 first flew January 15, 1994 and was delivered to VMA-223 January 31, 1994 and transferred to VMA-231. In 2012 the aircraft was painted to celebrate “Marine Aviation Centennial”.