VFA-32

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The VF-32 Swordsmen are a U.S. Navy strike fighter squadron stationed at NAS Oceana. Their call sign is Gypsy, tail code is AC, and they are currently operating with the F/A-18F Super Hornet.

1 History
2 References

[edit] History

[edit] Late 1940s to the 1980s

The insignia of the VFA-32 Swordsmen.

The VFA-32 lineage can be traced back to its establishment as VBF-3 on February 1, 1945; three years later on August 7, 1948 VBF-3 became VF-32. The Swordsmen were deployed in support of the Korean War in 1950 with F4U Corsairs.

On December 4 1950 Ensign Jesse L. Brown was shot down while on a strike against the Chosin reservoir. To try and save his squadron mate from capture, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Thomas J. Hudner, Jr. landed his plane alongside Brown, although the attempted rescue failed, Hudner received the Medal of Honor and Brown received the Distinguished Flying Cross. After Korea, VF-32 transitioned to the F9F Cougar and in 1956 VF-32 became the first squadron to transition to the F-8 Crusader, thus becoming the first supersonic squadron in the Navy. VF-32 flew nine years with the Crusader until they transitioned to the F-4 Phantom in 1965. In 1975 VF-32 moved up to the F-14 Tomcat, VF-32 became the first east coast fighter squadron to do so.

Their first deployment with their new aircraft began in June, 1975. During this cruise the squadron received the Adm. Joseph Clifton Award, signifying them as the best squadron in the Navy, an impressive achievement after only so short a time with their new equipment.

Image:F-14 Tomcat VF-32.jpg In the early 1980s, VF-32 Tomcats were wired to carry the TARPS pod. This capability was to be extremely useful during their upcoming cruise when USS Independence (CV-62) was deployed to support operations in both Grenada and Lebanon.

On January 4, 1989, VF-32 was assigned to the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), and during a routine patrol over the Gulf of Sidra, two F-14s from the squadron encountered two Libyan MiG-23s which had originated from the Al Bumbai airfield in Tobruk. The MiG-23s began to close on the two F-14's. For several minutes the MiG's tried to maintain a bearing that would enable them to engage the F-14's, while the F-14's strove to disengage themselves without being forced to leave the area. However after several maneuvers and confirmation that the MiG's were armed (using the F-14's Television Camera System (TCS)) it was decided the Libyans had shown hostile intent (although they had not actually fired) and so the Tomcats were cleared to engage. One F-14 turned in and fired an AIM-7 Sparrow, which failed to track. His wingman, also fired a Sparrow, which tracked and destroyed one of the MiG's, its pilot successfully ejecting. The first F-14 then closed to within AIM-9 Sidewinder range and managed to maintain a firing position. Once fired the Sidewinder continued to track and hit the MiG-23's rear fuselage. Again the pilot managed to eject successfully.

[edit] 1990s

Image:F-14A Tomcat VF-32 USS John F Kennedy.jpg VF-32 was called upon to take part in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. The USS John F. Kennedy was deployed, and VF-32 mostly flew combat air patrol, escort and TARPS missions. One of the squadron’s crew had the distinction of being the last US Navy crew over Baghdad five days after cease fire.

VF-32 had been paired with VF-14 Tophatters on most cruises until the early 1990s when the US Navy decided to have only one F-14 squadron per carrier air wing and VF-32 was then on its own. The 1992-1993 cruise was the first cruise for VF-32 as a strike fighter.

In late 1996, VF-32 had an other upgrade, this time with the addition of digital cameras to it’s TARPS pods. The new cameras could take up to two hundred digital images and being able to store them onboard or transmit them to appropriately equipped ground or sea based receivers up to 300 kilometers. An almost real time reconnaissance capability for the F-14 Tomcat. It was also the second F-14 squadron to fly with LANTIRN and being able to drop, and lase, laser guided bombs without being “buddy lased” from an F/A-18.

After it’s homecoming VF-32 transitioned to the F-14B Tomcat and its first cruise with the Bravo models was in 1998 onboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65).

With Iraq’s failure to cooperate with United Nations inspections of known weapon sites Operation Desert Fox was launched on December 16 1998. F-14Bs from VF-32 took part in a 33-aircraft strike package on December 16, the first night of the four day operation was conducted by the US Navy only. F-14 Tomcats were assigned most of the hard targets because of it’s superior LANTIRN pod. VF-32 dropped 111,054 lb of ordnance which consisted of 16 GBU-10s, 16 GBU-16s and 26 2000-lb GBU-24s during 16 strike missions and 38 sorties. During Desert Fox many Tomcat firsts were achieved which included the first GBU-24's dropped in combat by the US Navy, the first multiple GBU-24 drop by any platform in combat, the first combat use of the LANTIRN, the first autonomous F-14 delivery of a GBU-10/16/24 and the first use of Night Vision Devices in combat. The Swordsmen returned home in May 1999.

[edit] 2000s

VF-32 deployed once again in November 2000 for the maiden voyage of the USS Harry S. Truman. They spent four months in support of Operation Southern Watch and achieved a 99.7% sortie completion rate. VF-32 returned home on May 23, 2001. In December 2002 VF-32 deployed once again on the USS Harry S. Truman in support of Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Northern Watch. Once again, VF-32 set a Tomcat benchmark being the first fighter squadron to release multiple JDAM. In January 2004 marked a historic first event for the Tomcat community as VF-32 became the first operation squadron to attempt the launch of six AIM-54C Phoenix missiles from one aircraft. A launch such as this had not been attempted since 1972. The Swordsmen launched 5 of the 6 active radar missiles.

In support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, VF-32 was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea onboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). VF-32 flew strike missions but also several missions in support of US Special Forces on the ground. VF-32 would be unlucky enough to be involved in the worst friendly fire incident during the war when on April 6, 2003 an F-14 dropped a single laser guided bomb on a vehicle convoy consisting of US Special Forces and Kurdish resistance fighters. The F-14 crew had been cleared to attack an Iraqi tank near Dibakan, 30 miles south east of Mosul, and that single bomb killed 18 Kurdish fighters, 4 US soldiers and a BBC translator with additional 80 wounded. An investigation following the war found that the pilot had been cleared to drop his bomb without the benefit of target coordinates by the Forward Air Controller who was “operating under great stress” at the time. The F-14 crew had spotted and knocked out a tank alongside an intersection where the coalition convoy had stopped and the F-14 crew had mistakenly identified the coalition convoy as their intended target, the F-14 pilot had contacted the FAC and told him he saw a road with an intersection and vehicles and was then cleared by the FAC to attack. Despite this, VF-32 flew 275 sorties totalling 1247 flight hours, a 100% sortie completion rate and expanded 247 laser guided bombs, 118 JDAM as well as firing 1128 rounds of 20 mm ammunition. VF-32 Swordsmen returned to Oceana in May 2003.

In 2004 VF-32 would deploy once again to Operation Iraqi Freedom which was highlighted by the successful deployment of the use of the LANTIRN pod in the urban Close Air Support environment as the Swordsmen delivered multiple precision guided munitions on insurgent hideouts. This would be their final deployment with the F-14

In October 2005, VF-32 transitioned to the F/A-18F Super Hornet and in November 2005 the squadron was designated Strike Fighter Squadron Thirty Two (VFA-32).