VFA-41
| Strike Fighter Squadron Forty One | |
|---|---|
 VFA-41 Insignia | |
| Active | June 1, 1945 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | US Navy |
| Type | Fighter Attack |
| Role | Close air support Air interdiction Aerial reconnaissance |
| Part of | Carrier Air Wing 11 |
| Garrison/HQ | Naval Air Station Lemoore |
| Nickname(s) | "Black Aces" |
| Motto(s) | First to Fight, First to Strike |
| Equipment | F/A-18F Super Hornet |
| Engagements | Yom Kippur War Cuban Missile Crisis Vietnam War Iranian Hostage Crisis Operation Desert Shield Operation Desert Storm Operation Provide Comfort Operation Deliberate Force Operation Deny Flight Operation Southern Watch Operation Allied Force Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom |
| Decorations | COMNAVAIRLANT Safety “S” Award, 1975 COMNAVAIRLANT Safety “S” Award, 1981 COMNAVAIRLANT Safety “S” Award, 1989 COMNAVAIRLANT Safety “S” Award, 1992 Battle Efficiency "E", 1981 Battle Efficiency "E", 1985 Battle Efficiency "E", 1989 RADM Clarence Wade McClusky Award |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Commander Gregory J. Keithley |
| Notable commanders | Captain(deceased) Henry (Hank) Kleeman |
VFA-41 Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41) also known as the "Black Aces" is a United States Navy strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore California.
The "Black Aces" are an operational fleet squadron and fly the F/A-18F Super Hornet. The Black Aces are attached to Carrier Air Wing 11 (CVW-11), a composite unit made up of a wide array of aircraft performing a variety of combat and support missions. The squadron is currently deployed onboard the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and was featured on PBS's Carrier.
History
1940s to the 1970s
The “Fighting Forty-One” began on June 1, 1945 when it was commissioned at NAS Chincoteague, Virginia, flying the F4U Corsair. In July 1948, the squadron was designated Fighter Squadron 3B (VF-3B), only to be re-designated VF-41 in September of the same year. The squadron made early deployments to the Mediterranean aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and USS Midway]. After being decommissioned for a short period, the Black Aces were re-commissioned in 1950 at NAS Oceana. The Black Aces began flying the F2H Banshee in 1953, deploying to the Mediterranean and Far East aboard USS Independence. In 1959, the Banshee was replaced by the F3H Demon.
In February 1962, VF-41 transitioned to the F-4 Phantom and made a special deployment to Key West, Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In May 1965, the Black Aces deployed to the western Pacific for seven months of combat operations in Vietnam. They flew a wide range of missions:- fighter cover, reconnaissance escort, flak suppression and day/night interdiction, thus demonstrating just how versatile a platform the F-4 was.
The next deployment was on USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War. They were part of the peacekeeping force that helped keep the truce after the October War.
In 1975, VF-41 had transitioned from the F-4B to the F-4N and their last cruise with the Phantom was onboard the USS Roosevelt. During that year VF-41 was awarded the COMNAVAIRLANT Safety “S”, which they also would receive in 1981, 1989 and 1992. In April 1976 VF-41 transitioned to the F-14 Tomcat and their first cruise began in December 1977 as part of CVW-8 on the USS Nimitz, the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to join the Atlantic Fleet. More cruises followed in 1978 and 1979, both to the Mediterranean Sea.
1980s
In 1980, Nimitz and CVW-8 took part in a round the world cruise. While on this cruise, the carrier served as the seaborne base in response to the Iran hostage crisis and the subsequent attempted rescue of the U.S. Embassy hostages from Iran. VF-41 (and the rest of the battle group) spent 144 continuous days at sea, the longest period the squadron had spent at sea without break since World War II.
During workups for the 1981-1982 Mediterranean cruise, an EA-6B Prowler crashed on the deck of the Nimitz which caused damage and started fires. VF-41 lost three sailors and three F-14s were destroyed.
While on deployment in the Mediterranean Sea on August 19, 1981, during a routine combat air patrol mission over the Gulf of Sidra, two Libyan Su-22 “Fitter” aircraft were shot down by Black Aces aircraft. The incident marked the first Navy air combat confrontation since the Vietnam War and the first ever for the F-14A Tomcat. It was the first time a variable wing geometry aircraft shot down another variable wing geometry aircraft. 1981 was also the first year in which the Black Aces won the COMNAVAIRLANT Battle Efficiency "E", signifying them as the most efficient squadron in the Atlantic Fleet. VF-41 was also awarded the Battle “E” in 1985 and 1989.
In November 1982, the squadron embarked on an extended deployment off the coast of Beirut, Lebanon, in support of a multinational peacekeeping force.
During 1985, VF-41 spent 68 days off the coast of Lebanon in response to the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. If not that situation had been solved by other means, it's quite probable that VF-41 (and its sister squadron VF-84) would have been employed in the same way as VF-74 and VF-103 during the Achille Lauro incident, to intercept the hijackers and force them down to be arrested.
The 1986 cruise was the last with USS Nimitz; it began in December and ended in June 1987 when Nimitz got to her new home in San Diego. In October that year, CVW-8 was deployed with USS Theodore Roosevelt and the first cruise was in the North Atlantic for Exercise Teamwork ’88 which involved operations with the Royal Norwegian Air Force and the first Mediterranean deployment was in December.
1990s
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On December 28, 1990, VF-41 embarked on Theodore Roosevelt to support Operation Desert Shield, arriving in the Persian Gulf shortly after hostilities with Iraq began. By the end of the war, the squadron had amassed over 1,500 combat flight hours, with an unprecedented 100% sortie completion rate. After the war, the Black Aces remained in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea as part of a military presence enforcing the Operation Desert Storm cease fire until late April 1991, when the squadron was tasked with providing air support for ground forces assisting Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq during Operation Provide Comfort.
VF-41 was soon training for the F-14’s new role: air-to-ground bombing. In late 1991, VF-41 had flown over 46.500 hours without an accident over a period of 11 years.
In 1995 VF-84 was disestablished and VF-41 picked up the TARPS mission. The disestablishment of VF-84 was the only occasion in which a TARPS capable unit was disestablished instead of a non-TARPS capable unit. This happened probably because at the time the Admiral commanding all Navy squadrons was F. Lewis, who had previously commanded VF-41.
In early 1995 VF-41 deployed on a six month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf and the Adriatic Sea. During this cruise VF-41 conducted combat operations in support of Operation Deliberate Force and Operation Deny Flight over Bosnia and Herzegovina and Operation Southern Watch over Iraq. On September 5 1995, two VF-41 F-14A’s dropped laser-guided bombs for the first time in combat during Operation Deliberate Force. The target was an ammunition dump in eastern Bosnia. The bombs were buddy lased by F/A-18s. VF-41 adopted the slogan “First To Fight, First To Strike” in recognition of being the first F-14 squadron to score air-to-air kills and drop bombs in combat. During this deployment VF-41 logged over 600 combat hours and 530 sorties.
In 1996, VF-14 joined VF-41 in CVW-8. The squadron did a mini-cruise onboard USS John F. Kennedy[. The ship made port calls to Ireland and the United Kingdom. VF-41 (and VF-14) sent each one F-14A to the RNAS Yeovilton air show as static display while the rest of the air wing spent time at RAF Lakenheath providing an impressive spectacle for those attending the air show as the air wing made a mass takeoff.
In 1999, USS Theodore Roosevelt departed for the Mediterranean and joined NATO forces for Operation Allied Force. VF-41’s first strike was against an ammunition storage facility in Pristina, Kosovo on April 6. Their targets were destroyed with laser guided bombs and everything within a three block radius was destroyed. The resulting fire would continue for a week and other pilots would use it as a directional beacon.
VF-41 would plan and lead one of air wing’s most successful missions during the war, against the Podgorica airbase in Montenegro that posed a great threat to US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters in Albania. The Serbs had moved a significant number of attack aircraft to the base and General Wesley Clark wanted the airbase destroyed. Clark had first asked the USAF to undertake the mission, but they couldn’t do it in such a short period of time as Clark wanted. General Michael C. Short (who headed the war’s air operations) instead recommended the Navy. The airbase sat at the base of a mountain and the primary target was the huge underground hangar dug into the mountain. VF-41’s F-14’s carried GBU-24s and attacked the main target. By the end of the mission, F-14s, EA-6Bs and F/A-18s destroyed runways, hangars, MiG-21s, surface-to-air missile sites and other targets in four waves on April 15. On June 9, the last day of the war, two VF-41 F-14s flying a mission over Kosovo were vectored by an E-2 to search after a Serb helicopter coming from the south south from Pristina but the helicopter eluded the F-14s. Later the E-2 wanted the F-14s to attack an SA-9, maybe ten miles from the peace-signing site inside the Kosovo border, the F-14s did just that and the SA-9 was destroyed, VF-41 dropped the last bombs of the war.
In July, USS Theodore Roosevelt was ordered to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch where VF-41 wrote another page in the history books by becoming the first squadron to expend ordnance in two theatres on a single deployment.
Due to VF-41’s successes of 1999, the squadron won the RADM Clarence Wade McClusky Award which previously only had been given to A-6 and F/A-18 units. The award is usually reserved for the finest attack squadron in the Navy. This marked the first time an F-14 squadron would win the award.
2000s
In April 2001, VF-41 embarked on their final F-14 cruise onboard USS Enterprise, supporting Operation Southern Watch and Operation Enduring Freedom. As the carrier headed for home and on it’s way to South Africa they were given order to head to the North Persian Gulf after the September 11, 2001 Attacks. During the build-up to war, VF-41 conducted several TARPS missions near the Pakistani/Afghani-border, and even had two Afghani MiG-21 on their radar, but as the MiG’s didn’t fly further south, the two VF-41 Tomcats were denied permission to engage[1]. The USS Enterprise/CVW-8 had been elected to be the night carrier during OEF and thus didn’t see action until October 8, VF-41 attacked several cave complexes during it’s first missions[2]. VF-41 were given some of the toughest targets at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom such as Al Qaeda training camps, airfields, air defense sites and bunkers. One of the first target hit was the Shindand airbase in western Afghanistan where the Taliban were storing a lot of aircraft, radar and vehicles. After their return to the US in November, VF-41 had dropped over 200,000 lbs of ordnance (202 laser guided bombs) and a 82% hit rate, a level of accuracy that had never previously achieved by the US Navy[3].
Shortly after their return in late 2001, VF-41 transitioned to the F/A-18F Super Hornet and was redesignated VFA-41.
On October 18, 2002 four VFA-41 aviators died when two F/A-18Fs collided in mid-air off the coast of California
During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Two F/A-18Es (VFA-14) and two F/A-18Fs (VFA-41) were forward deployed to USS Abraham Lincoln in late March 2003. These F/A-18s were requested to boost the air refueling capabilities of CVW-14 as well as qualified Forward Air Controllers (the F/A-18Fs). The section of F/A-18s flew from USS Nimitz to USS Lincoln, a 2700 mile trip. On April 6, the Hornets returned to USS Nimitz. During the war VFA-41 expended laser guided bombs, as well as JDAM and AGM-65 Maverick missiles.
In May of 2005 VFA-41 again deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In 2007 VFA-41 deployed onboard the USS Nimitz for a WESTPAC cruise and particiapted in Operation Valiant Shield, a joint-force exercise in the vicinity of Guam.
On January 18, 2008, it was announced that CVW-11 would deploy on January 24 to the Pacific for a surge-deployment onboard the Nimitz[4]. On February 13, 2008, it was reported that several Russian Tu-95 bombers were intercepted over the Pacific by F/A-18s from USS Nimitz while on a surge deployment in the region. One Tu-95 was escorted and flew directly over the carrier at 2000 feet. Subsequently, the US Navy released several pictures taken during the interception, and if looking closely one can see at least one F/A-18F (VFA-41) [5] and one other picture one can see the distinct fuselage of an F/A-18 Super Hornet[6] (weather or not it’s an E or F model can’t be distinguished). The Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead called the incident “benign” [7] and said: “they came out to look. We joined up (and) flew with them until they went home”. A total of four Russian bombers were involved, two remained about 500 miles east of the carrier strike group, and another orbited about 50 miles away as one Tu-95 did two low passes over the Nimitz carrier group.
Current Command Office
Squadron Commander: Commander Gregory J. Keithley
Squadron XO: Commander Robert R. Osterhoudt
Squadron Command Master Chief: CMDCM(AW/SW) Adriana M. Lewis
References
- ^ Tony Holmes (2008). F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Enduring Freedom, Osprey Publishing Limited - Chapter One – Build-up To War, page 22
- ^ Tony Holmes (2008). F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Enduring Freedom, Osprey Publishing Limited - Chapter Two – OEF Begins, pages 32-37
- ^ Tony Holmes (2008). F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Enduring Freedom, Osprey Publishing Limited - Chapter Three – Ground War, page 52
- ^ Nimitz Carrier Strike Group Set to Deploy
- ^ Picture of one Tu-95 intercepted by an F/A-18F
- ^ Picture of one Tu-95 intercepted by an F/A-18 Super Hornet
- ^ CNO Calls USS Nimitz Incident 'Benign'
"Global Security.org: Strike Fighter Squadron 41". Retrieved 2006-10-31.
"Official Website: Strike Fighter Squadron 41". Retrieved 2006-10-31.
- VF-41 History
- Strike missions against terror
- Tony Holmes (2005). US Navy F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Osprey Publishing Limited.
- Robert K. Wilcox (2002). Black Aces High, St. Martin's Press.
- Tony Holmes (2005). US Navy Hornet Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom Part One, Osprey Publishing Limited.
External links
- Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (official site)