Absolutely they would if called upon. These are C-models, combat capable, as are the pilots. It is a point of pride for them to be a combat-capable squadron.
There are very few mods. By far the biggest mod is the paint job:
Thunderbird Modifications
• Dogfight switch rewired to accommodate smoke oil on/off switch
• Smoke oil safe switch added to right console
• Smoke oil plumbing
• Ammunition drum and cannon removed to accommodate smoke oil drum
• The jet-fuel starter doors were removed
• Thunderbird paint scheme and motif
What is a dogfight switch??
Incorrect. You obviously don’t know what happens to a bird that is withdrawn from the fleet and sent to the Blues. The amount of gear that is removed from the aircraft to lighten it up and render it a noncombat capable bird. Not to mention the requalifying that the pilots would have to undergo at Fallon to be cleared to deliver ordinance along with day and night carrier traps, etc. As only one example check into what happened in 1990 when then Major Chase Moseley USMC requested orders back to the FMF so he could participate in Desert Shield/Desert Storm.