VFA-103
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Strike Fighter Squadron 103 (the Jolly Rogers) is a Strike Fighter Squadron flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet and is based at NAS Oceana.
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[edit] History of the Jolly Rogers
Three U.S. Naval Aviation squadrons have used the name and insignia of the Jolly Roger: VF-17/VF-5B/VF-61, VF-84 (est. 1955), and VFA-103, the subject of this article. While VFA-103 is not the lineal descendant of either of the prior squadrons, it has assumed their insignia and name and carries on their traditions.
The first incarnation of the Jolly Rogers was established on January 1, 1943, as VF-17. It was the second Navy fighter squadron to receive the F4U-1 Corsair and the most successful of them all. VF-17 wanted an insignia which would live up to the Corsair name; hence the skull and crossbones were born. The squadron helped during the development of the F4U Corsair resulting in some design changes, resulting in the F4U-1A. Unfortunately, the Navy still deemed the Corsair "unfit" for carrier service, and VF-17 became a land-based squadron during most of it's deployment to the South Pacific.On November 8, 1943, the squadron Executive Officer, Roger Hedrick, led a flight which intercepted 39 Japanese fighters over Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville. As the Japanese fighters fled back to their base, VF-17 was responsible for downing 3 fighters and damaging 4 others. Though outnumbered, the squadron survived the encounter with no losses. This action was typical of the squadron's land-based service in the Solomon Islands in 1943 and 1944, when it went up against the cream of Imperial Japanese Navy pilots then based at Rabaul. In its two tours of duty in the Solomon Islands, VF-17 had 152 aerial victories and produced 11 aces. VF-17 was disestablished on May 10, 1944.
A new squadron with different personnel but bearing the same number and logo was soon established and was issued the F6F-5 Hellcat. Based on the USS Hornet (CV-12) in 1945, the squadron had 161 victories, and produced 12 aces. Overall, the two "editions" of VF-17 were credited with 313 victories, the most of any US Navy squadron.
Former pilots of VF-17, with Hedreck as commanding officer, formed a new squadron around the F4U-1D Corsair, VF-84. A formal request was made by Hedreck to allow VF-84 to carry the "Jolly Rogers" name, but was denied by the US Navy. VF-84 was stationed on the USS Bunker Hill when a Japanese Kamakaze struck the squadron's ready room off of Okinawa, killing several members of the squadron.
VF-17 was redesignated as VF-5B in 1946, and as VF-61 in 1948. In addition to the 'F4U-4 'Corsair and 'F6F-5P 'Hellcat, it flew the F8F-2 Bearcat, F9F-2 Panther and the F9F-8 Cougar. It was deactivated on April 15, 1959.
VF-84 Vagabonds, flying the FJ-3 Fury, was established on July 1, 1955, at NAS Oceana. After deactivation of VF-61, VF-84's new commanding officer, formerly with VF-61, requested to carry on the name and insignia of the Jolly Rogers. His request was approved on April 1, 1960. VF-84 F-8C Crusaders never carried the skull and crossbones, but they were introduced on the F-4B during 1964.
In 1964 VF-84 transitioned to the F-4 Phantom and flew the F-4B, F-4J and the F-4N until they transitioned to the F-14 Tomcat in early 1976. In 1965 the squadron deployed for 7 months onboard USS Independence (CV-62) in the Gulf of Tonkin and flew 1507 combat sorties, logging 2200 flight hours over both North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
After its transition to the F-14 was completed, the squadron embarked on its first cruise on USS Nimitz (CVN-68) in December 1977. In 1979 the unit was the first TARPS capable squadron of the fleet. In 1980 it participated in the motion picture The Final Countdown which propelled the skull and crossbones and the F-14 to international stardom. The movie featured a memorable scene involving two VF-84 Tomcats engaging two Japanese A6M Zeros.
In January 1980, the USS Nimitz diverted from the Mediterranean to take up station in the Arabian Sea in response to the Iranian hostage crisis and in April participated in the failed hostage rescue attempt. In November 1983, the squadron embarked on an extended deployment off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon, in support of a multinational peacekeeping force. During 1985, VF-84 spent 68 days off the coast of Lebanon in response to the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
The squadron's last cruise with USS Nimitz lasted from December 1986 until June 1987, when the Nimitz was rebased to San Diego. In October that year, CVW-8 (the carrier wing of which VF-84 was a part) was deployed with USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), beginning in the North Atlantic for Exercise Teamwork'88 which involved operations with the Royal Norwegian Air Force. The Roosevelt's first Mediterranean deployment was in December.
In December 1990 the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) was joined USS Ranger (CVA-61) and USS Midway (CV-41) in the Persian Gulf. Throughout the Gulf War, VF-84 flew combat air patrols for the fleet, escorting the air wing’s strike aircraft and performing TARPS missions to collect bomb damage assessments. In total, squadron members flew 468 combat sorties. After the war, VF-84 flew an additional 111 sorties in support of Operation Provide Comfort before the Roosevelt was relieved by USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in June 1991.
Due to the downsizing of the Navy after the Cold War, the Navy disestablished several squadrons, and VF-84 was one of them. The squadron spent its last eighteen months of existence participating in several joint service operations, honing its skills in air-to-air combat, strike and TARPS. The squadron also made another memorable appearance in another motion picture, Executive Decision. VF-84 was disestablished on October 1, 1995, but VF-103 Sluggers adopted the name and insignia of the Jolly Rogers. From its transition to the F-14 until its disestablishment, VF-84 had been a part of CVW-8.
[edit] The Sluggers
Image:F-4J Phantom II VF-103.jpg VF-103 (the "Sluggers") was activated in 1952 as an F4U Corsair squadron. VF-103 shortly transitioned to the F9F Cougar. After a few years with the Cougar, VF-103 was one of the first squadrons to transition to the F-8 Crusader. Once the transition was completed they were teamed up with VF-102 onboard the USS Forrestal. Before the introduction to supersonic Crusader jets, American carrier battle groups were often embarrassed by British bombers during allied exercises as the RAF English Electric Canberras had always been able to make mock attacks on US Carriers with impunity. The carrier-based fighters at the time simply could not put up much resistance. During the 1958 Mediterranean cruise, British pilots were shocked when VF-103 tore through their formation of Canberras before they even had a chance to start their simulated attack.
The Sluggers became an F-4 Phantom squadron during the Vietnam War. When the war escalated in the summer of 1972, the USS Saratoga (CV-60) with CVW-3 (a carrier wing that included VF-103) rushed to the theatre in an attempt to thwart a North Vietnamese invasion. On August 10, Lieutenant Commander Robert Tucker and Lieutenant Junior Grade Stanley Edens shot down a MiG-21 with an AIM-7 Sparrow missile during a night interception. It was the first and only night MiG kill by the US Navy.
In January 1983, VF-103 was among the last fighter squadrons to transition to the F-14 Tomcat. The squadron conducted the first East Coast fighter squadron’s low altitude AIM-54 Phoenix missile shoot a month later. In October 1985, VF-103 and VF-74 participated in the interception of the Egyptian 737 carrying the Achille Lauro hijackers. The 737 was forced down to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella on Sicily. The terrorists were taken into custody by Italian authorities.
In 1989 VF-103 transitioned to the F-14A+ (now known as the F-14B), and along with VF-74 took the more powerful breed of the Tomcat to sea in August 1990. When Kuwait was invaded by Iraq the same month, the USS Saratoga was in the Mediterranean and soon joined the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in the Red Sea. VF-103 and VF-74 worked together to develop the tactics which was used in Operation Desert Storm. When the war started in January 1991, VF-103 conducted fighter escort for the air wing’s strike packages, reconnaissance and bomb damage assessment and combat air patrols. VF-103 lost an F-14 during the war, on the fourth day; an F-14 was shot down by what is believed to be an SA-2 surface-to-air missile while on an escort mission. After ejecting from his F-14B, the RIO, Lieutenant Larry Slade, was captured by Iraqi troops and held in Baghdad as a POW until the end of the war. The pilot, Lieutenant Devon Jones was able to evade being captured, and after eight long hours deep into enemy territory, he was eventually rescued by USAF Special Forces.
On October 1, 1995, VF-84 was disestablished. Not wanting the Jolly Rogers insignia to disappear or be picked up by an F/A-18 squadron, VF-103 requested to adopt the Jolly Rogers name and insignia. (Ironically, VFA-103 now is an F/A-18 squadron.) Also in 1995, VF-103 became the first Tomcat squadron to acquire the LANTIRN pod. The LANTIRN radically improved the F-14's strike capabilities, as it could now both aim and drop smart bombs, without having to rely on buddy lasing. In 1996 VF-103 deployed with the LANTIRN pod on a Mediterranean cruise with USS Enterprise (CVN-65). It participated on short joint-fleet exercise with the British Royal Navy, where they used their LANTIRN pods to designate targets for LGB-equipped Sea Harriers from the carrier HMS Illustrious. On August 30, the USS Enterprise went on heightened alert in response to Iraqi armor movements near the northern Kurdish territories; Enterprise redeployed to the Persian Gulf from her previous station in Bosnia as a reaction to a stepped-up military presence against Iraq following a US joint-service attack. In 1997 VF-103 transferred from Enterprise to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and set sail to former Yugoslavia in June 1998 in order to protect the province of Kosovo. In November the carrier moved to the Persian Gulf in response to aggressive Iraqi posturing.
Image:F-14D Tomcat VF-103 dubbed Christmas Bird.jpg In the spring of 2002, VF-103 and its carrier the USS George Washington (CVN-73) deployed to the Persian Gulf and participated in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Southern Watch. VF-103 supported Coalition forces in Afghanistan flying Close Air Support, Forward Air Controller and TARPS missions. In September 2002, some poor bombing by VF-103 almost resulted in the severing of an Iraqi oil pipeline north of Basrah; consequently, further bombing with the F-14 was banned until almost at the outbreak of the war in March 2003. VF-103 was already on their way home by the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
VF-103 returned to the Persian Gulf for its final Tomcat cruise with the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) on July 10, 2004 and just ten days later the squadron bombed an insurgent position. The unit saw more action then any other F-14 squadron deployed in the area after the end of the war. F-14s were usually paired with F/A-18s, and the unit participated in Operation Phantom Fury in October 2004 to provide aerial support over Falluja for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and 5000 Iraqi Army soldiers. During one mission an F-14 from VF-103 provided laser designation for an AH-1 Cobra helicopter’s AGM-114 Hellfire missile to destroy a building where insurgents had taken cover. This operation had never previously been attempted with a Hellfire, but the F-14 crew had been briefed on how to provide laser designation for AGM-65 Maverick missiles and believed it would be quite similar. The Hellfire missile successfully hit the building, which stopped the fire that the US troops were receiving. The Hellfire missile caused only minimal damage and soon the F-14 crew was ordered to two drop two GBU-12 laser guided bombs on the building, which levelled the structure. VF-103 had flown 384 sorties totalling 1913.4 hours and dropped 21 GBU-12 bombs in support Operation Iraqi Freedom Phase II.
Image:FA-18 Super Hornet VFA-103.jpg Until becoming the Jolly Rogers, VF-103 adorned their tailfins of their aircraft with a horizontal yellow arrow outlined in black. The original squadron insignia was a cloverleaf. Later a stylized aircraft darting through the leaf was added, along with a baseball bat. The baseball stemmed from an early skipper who often carried one with him. In 1991, VF-103's birds began to use its squadron insignia as their tail-art, in place of the trademark bold arrow. When the Sluggers became the Jolly Rogers it adopted the famous white skull-and-crossbones on black background as their new tail adornment.
Because VF-103 took over the Jolly Roger after the disestablishment of VF-84 (rather than being organized as a new squadron), the Navy does not consider it to be part of the Jolly Rogers lineage; however they are listed here in the squadron history because they are the present Jolly Rogers. The F/A-18Fs of the squadron are sometimes referred to as "Bugs with Bones." VFA-103 is currently based at NAS Oceana, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, under Carrier Air Wing 7. The squadron is currently flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet, having replaced the F-14B Tomcat. They were previously deployed on John F. Kennedy and CVW-17, until December 2004 and are currently preparing for deployment on Dwight D. Eisenhower.
[edit] The skull and crossbones
The Jolly Rogers have always displayed some of the most recognizable squadron markings in the world: sinister white skull-and-crossbones on all-black tails, with gold bands wrapped around the tip of the tail fins, and black bands with gold V's run down the sides of the forward fuselage (these were from the Vagabonds days). The squadron's prized mascot is a set of skull and crossbones enclosed in a glass encasement. "Passing of the bones" from the outgoing skipper to the incoming skipper is a time-honored Jolly Rogers tradition. The bones are supposedly the remains of Ensign Jack Ernie of VF-17. Ernie was killed during the Okinawa invasion in World War II, as his flaming aircraft spiralled towards earth; he made one last radio transmission asked "to be remembered with the skull-and-crossbones". According to the story, Ernie's family later presented the squadron with the set of skull and crossbones and asked the squadron to fulfil Ernie's last wish. Aviators from sister squadrons often attempt (sometimes successfully) to "kidnap" the bones from VF-103 and ransom them back as part of friendly rivalry.
[edit] Chronology of Squadrons using the Jolly Roger
- VF-17 ("Fighting 17")
- Activated: January 1, 1943
- Aircraft: F4U-1 Corsair, F4U-1A Corsair
- Deactivated: April 10, 1944
- Reactivated 1944
- Aircraft: F6F-5 Hellcat, F4U-4 Corsair
- Redesignated 15 November 1946 as: VF-5B
- VF-5B
- Aircraft: F4U-4 Corsair
- Redesignated 28 April 1948 as: VF-61
- VF-61 ("Fighting 61")
- Aircraft: F8F-2 Bearcat, F9F-2/4 Panther, F9F-8 Cougar, F3H-2M Demon
- Deactivated:April 15, 1959
- VF-84 ("Fighting 84")
- Activated: July 1, 1955 (formerly the Vagabonds)
- Deactivated: September 29, 1995
- Aircraft: FJ-3 Fury, F-8C Crusader, F-4B/J/N Phantom II, F-14A Tomcat
- VF-103 ("Fighting 103")
- VFA-103 ("Fighting 103")
- Aircraft: F/A-18F Super Hornet
- Still active as of 2006
[edit] The Jolly Rogers in Popular culture
- The markings of Roy Fokker's VF-1S Valkyrie in Macross is obviously inspired by the squadron insignia of VF-84, and his "Skull Squadron" is considered the equivalent of VF-84. In the movie Macross: Do You Remember Love this is even more apparent, as the skull-and-crossbones insignia is worn by all Valkyries in Skull Squadron.
- VF-84 plays a predominant role in The Final Countdown
- VF-84 is featured in Executive Decision
- VF-103 is referred to in Tomcat Alley
- VF-84 is one of two squadrons that help dismantle the Soviet fighter force based on Iceland in Tom Clancy's novel Red Storm Rising
- A Squadron is featured in the novel Scarecrow by Matthew Riley
[edit] References
- VF-84 History
- VF-103 History
- The Jolly Rogers Squadron: Past and Present
- Tony Holmes (2005). US Navy F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Osprey Publishing Limited.
- Barrett Tillman, U.S. Navy Fighter Squadrons in World War II (Specialty Press, 1997).
- Tom Blackburn, The Jolly Rogers (Orion Books, 1989)
