Some very odd markings!

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Is it not ferrying aircrafts back to San Diego ? I mean, are these not aircraft in need of servicing or being retired ? A number of them (F6F in front, row after the neatly aligned Avengers) have no engines, the F4F are (older) F4F-3 without folding wings, and it's a motley array of types, including the SNJ in the back.
Could this (if correct) explain the odd decorations ?
 
Umm, IMHO the F4Fs shown, and one might note that their wings are not folded, are F4F-3's, this you can tell by looking carefully for the pitot tube slightly more than half way out the leading edge of the left wing. An F4F-4 or any of the FMs you would not be able to see the pitot tube from the overhead angle as it would be under the tip of the left wing - they moved it there so you could fold the wings. If I were to guess, since these are headed back stateside circa 1943, the F4F-3s we see are actually F4F-3Ps formerly of VMO-251 based at Espiritu Santo, the only F4F-3 types in theater. Also note the black blotches where 251 affixed their rather garish squadron insignia. And, no, not fixed winged F4F-7's, wingspan too short.


 
Bet you didn't know they had their own personal carriers, did you?

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Hey an honest to goodness Rhino Raft! A fellow on the staff of my middle school rode ashore on one of those on D Day. He barely got off the beachhead before being taken prisoner along with all surviving members of his company. Because he had a German sounding name, he was sent to a special camp for German-American POWs and subjected to intense brainwashing.
 

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