Michael Wise wrote:
My guess is that since maritime camouflage s not an issue and they are
on a world stage (I've seen interviews and video/still images of several
HS-2 squadron members in the last week) that they want or were directed
to colorize the flag and squadron logo.

Michael, all of the USN HSL squadrons have one aircraft with at least
some color paint (some are more artistic than others), all the other
aircraft are all gray. My guess is the HS squadrons (and probably
all the helo squadrons) do the same thing.

And speaking of the airlift effort, I saw an SH-60B in one of the
pictures. Those have almost zero cargo capability- to give you an
idea, removing the sono launcher pretty much doubles the useful
internal cargo room. I guess any added capability in the overall
effort is a good thing though.