VS-31's donates memorial tailfin to T-Bar

This establishment, commonly known amongst the aviators that stop in to have a few refreshments and regale in aviation stories is the "World Famous" T-Bar. The T-Bar has several memorial tombstones on display of disestablished VS squadrons located behind the bar. The latest memorial is one that does not conform to other displays. This memorial is a 14-foot tall vertical stabilizer taken from an S-3B Viking.

This project started out as a joke by the VS-31 disestablishment committee, but after a call by the VS-31 maintenance officer (MO) to the VS Wing MO, a week later, we had a tailfin in our hangar at our disposal. This ended the joke and started the ball rolling on the squadron's unique tombstone.

You would think that placing and painting a 14-foot tall tailfin in the ground would be an easy undertaking, but it took the dedicated efforts of numerous professionals and artisans. In his true "pick me" fashion, Lt. Michael Escobar volunteered to oversee the task.

Members from the VS-31 'Topcats' and personnel from NAS Jax and Naval Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202 gather around the new tail fin on display outside the T-Bar. Photo by Genevieve Bustos

The easy part of the project was getting permission from the base commanding officer, who not only approved it but with help of the base executive officer, provided great ideas to make the project more visible at night. The project soon took off and was completed within a month.

Just a month . . . that seems like it was easy. Not when the squadron is only a fifth the size of a fully manned squadron and has given away all their tools.

Fortunately, the 'Topcats' had help from experts in the construction field. The Seabees from Naval Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 202 provided the tools and the squadron provided the manpower to dig the hole - a hole that had to be 14 feet long, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Luckily, the biggest guy in the squadron, AD3 Alexis Morales and AEANs Sohrab Mosinejad and Anesia Philio dug the hole in only two hours.

After the hole was dug, the Seabees showed up with a backhoe to lift the 800-pound tailfin and place it in the hole resting on concrete blocks, so it would rest at the proper angle. They also had to build a rebar cage around the tailfin to better stabilize it while in the concrete. All of the construction and the electrical wiring was finished in four days with the help of Escobar, AEC Michael Debord, AM1 Michael Sealy and AE2 Mark Barnhardt.

The tail fin created by VS-31, which recently disestablished, sits outside the T-Bar. Photo by Genevieve Bustos

The final part of the construction project of pouring the concrete was completed four days. AM3 Edward Peterson oversaw the project and ensured the concrete was poured and formed correctly.

The painting phase was the most time consuming and the most important. VS-31's two corrosion experts, AM3 Daniel Malone and AM3 Matt Anderson, were still in the squadron and jumped at the opportunity to contribute to this project knowing that they would have to put in extra time after normal working hours and on the weekends. They were so committed to the project, they continued to work on it after they transferred out of the command and started training on their new platform.

After a week and a half of painting, the tailfin was finally finished and a small dedication ceremony was held as VS-31 commanding officer Cmdr. Muzzafar Khan dedicated the tailfin to all Topcat members past and present.