Navy fighters are painted to disappear. VX-4’s were the exception. The Air Test and Evaluation Squadron at Point Mugu, California, flew its commander’s jet in gloss black with a white Playboy bunny on the fin, under the squadron call sign Vandy 1, short for Vanderbilt. Its F-4 Phantoms and later its F-14 Tomcats became some of the most photographed aircraft in naval aviation.

The Evaluators

VX-4 tested new fighters, missiles, radars and tactics before they reached the fleet. According to The Aviationist’s history of the scheme, the first rabbit appeared in 1969 on a black F-4 Phantom used for night testing. The bunny and the black stayed, and the commander’s jet became the squadron’s calling card.

A Letter From Playboy

In 1971, after photos of the F-4J spread, Playboy Enterprises wrote to the squadron warning of possible legal action over the use of its logo. The dispute ended amicably. Playboy agreed that the Navy could carry the bunny as long as it was the official design, and sent the squadron official stencils to paint it correctly. One F-4J and three F-4S Phantoms wore the scheme; the F-4 flew with VX-4 until January 1990. One of them, F-4S 155539, is now at the Castle Air Museum in California, where it is to be restored in Black Bunny colours.

The Tomcat Years

In 1985 two F-14A Tomcats assigned to VX-4 received the black scheme in water-based paint, and by about 1990 the squadron’s Tomcats wore it permanently. With its size, swing wings and gloss finish, the black F-14 became the jet everyone wanted to photograph at Point Mugu and at air shows.

VX-9 and the Last Tomcat

In September 1994 VX-4 was merged with VX-5 from China Lake to form VX-9, the “Vampires”. The bunny did not survive the merger at first, but the tradition of a black flagship did. F-14D BuNo 164604, the last Tomcat to roll off Grumman’s line at Calverton, New York, delivered on 10 July 1992, was painted gloss black and flew as Vandy 1 with VX-9, and the bunny was restored for its final flights. On 26 June 2004 it flew from Point Mugu to NAS Oceana, Virginia, where it is preserved as a memorial to everyone who built, flew and maintained the Tomcat. It no longer wears the black livery.

Vandy 1 Returns

The all-black tradition lay dormant after VX-9’s Tomcat operations ended, although a VX-9 F/A-18E carried black fins with the bunny on their inner faces. In 2023, for the 30th anniversary of the VX-4 and VX-5 merger, VX-9 painted F/A-18F Super Hornet 166673 overall gloss black as Vandy 1, with a white Vampires logo in place of the rabbit.

What the Popular Version Gets Right

The story as usually told is accurate: the 1969 F-4 origin, the 1971 Playboy letter and stencil, the two F-14As in 1985, the permanent scheme by 1990, the 1994 merger and the last Tomcat built flying as the Black Bunny before going on display. Two refinements. The bunny was not simply retired in 1994: the last Tomcat was delivered to VX-9 in black without it, and the bunny was put back for its final flights in 2004. And the Vandy 1 name lives on today on a black Super Hornet.

Sources: Darrick Leiker, “The Black Bunny Aircraft of the U.S. Navy’s VX-4”, The Aviationist (9 February 2025); The War Zone, “Retro Gloss Black F/A-18 Super Hornet Vandy 1 Emerges” (2023); F-14 Association, F-14D 164604 display record; Vintage Aviation News, F-4S Black Bunny restoration update.