Ex-USMC TAV-8B Harrier Sporting Spanish Navy Markings And Marine Corps Paint Scheme Flies For The First Time

The new airframe is a TAV-8B Harrier II of the Spanish Navy (Spanish: Armada Española) that still wears the U.S. Marine Corps paint scheme.

An interesting TAV-8B Harrier II aircraft of the Spanish Navy was photographed by our contributor David Parody at NAS (Naval Air Station) Rota, in southwestern Spain, on Mar. 3, 2021.

Indeed, the aircraft is a two-seater Harrier previously serving with the U.S. Marine Corps, that the Spanish Navy will use to replace another TAV-8B that got to a point which was beyond repair.

As the images show, the TAV-8 01-999 still features the dark grey paint scheme used by the USMC jump jets that is darker than the traditional Spanish Navy light grey.

The new airframe was transported to Spain by sea some months ago and the one on Mar. 3, 2021, was the first flight in Armada markings.

The Escuadrilla 009 at NAS  of the Spanish Navy operates both the single-seater EAV-8B and the two-seater TAV-8B Harrier II at NAS Rota, located southwest of Sevilla.

About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.