VFA-201
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The VFA-201 Hunters were a U.S. Navy reserve strike fighter squadron based at NAS Fort Worth. Their call sign was Hunter, tail code is AF, and they flew the F/A-18 Hornet A+.
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[edit] History
VF-201 was established at NAS Dallas on July 25, 1970 and first flew the F-8 Crusader. In 1976 they transitioned to the F-4N Phantom II. In 1984 the squadron transitioned to the F-4S Phantom, the most advanced Phantom to enter service with the US Navy. Soon the Navy moved to the policy that reserve units would have the same equipment as front line units, VF-201 transitioned to the F-14A Tomcat in early 1987. It took six months to complete the transition and soon VF-201 was carrier qualified on board the USS Forrestal (CV-59). Even some of the F-14A’s received came directly from the production line at Northrop Grumman, and the unit received the final F-14A ever built. Within years the squadron was capable of dropping unguided bombs, cluster munitions TALD decoys, air laid mines, practice bombs, marker flares and various laser guided bombs as the F-14 was reconfigured as a strike fighter. In 1993 they won the Battle “E” award and in 1994 the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Safety “S” award. The strike capability of the F-14 has been proven in exercises such as the deployment the squadron made to NAS Fallon in 1995 as part of training for the reserve air wing CVWR-20.
Later the unit would also be able to conduct TARPS missions, which was originally carried out by VF-202 Superheats. But as some front line F-14 squadrons saw disestablishment during the 1990’s, so did the two reserve fighter squadrons and VF-202 was disestablished. Due to budgetary cutbacks in active fleet aggressor squadrons, VF-201 also began flying as aggressors when needed. In 1996 VF-201, along with the rest of the reserve air wing, got to fly from the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), during this deployment VF-201 had the opportunity to expand live weapons. The unit fired 7 AIM-9 Sidewinders, 6 AIM-7 Sparrows and 1 AIM-54 Phoenix, two additional Phoenix missiles were planned to be fired but due to technical difficulties this was aborted. VF-201 also dropped 17,000 lb of bombs.
In July 1996 VF-201 deployed to NAS Key West in Florida to provide dissimilar air training for VFA-106 Gladiators, the East Coast F/A-18 training squadron. In August and September the same year, VF-201 deployed to NAS Oceana and got to fire two Phoenix missiles as well as participating in the SFARP (Strike Fighter Air Readiness Program) course. VF-201 was busy the rest of the year around their home base in preparation for inspections by the air wing’s command staff. November VF-201 deployed to NAS Fallon where they provided Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) for Carrier Air Wing 2. After this deployment to NAS Fallon, VF-201 moved to NAS Fort Worth.
In 1997 the Hunters deployed for three days with six aircraft to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska for Exercise "Arctic Express 1-97". Originally this deployment had been scheduled for an active F-14 squadron, but they were unable to attend and so VF-201 filled the slot. Less than two weeks later. In late January, VF-201 took part in a scheduled deployment to NAS Fallon and the squadron dropped 195,000 lb of ordnance and shoot 3500 rounds of 20 mm cannon ammo. In March, VF-201 deployed to NAS Key West for a two week detachment providing training to new F-14 crews from VF-101.
In January 1999 the Hunters transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet and were re-designated VFA-201 to signify its multi-mission capability as a strike fighter squadron.
[edit] Activated for OIF
VFA-201 was the seventh tactical Navy reserve squadron mobilized since the Korean War (three East Coast based and three West Coast based USNR Attack Squadrons were activated during the Viet Nam conflict on 1/28/68), but were the only squadron to actually deploy for combat operations. After completing the Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program (SFARP) from their home base in Fort Worth and the Carrier Air Wing Eight coordinated strike detachment in Fallon, Nevada, they deployed on board USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), where they received numerous awards for their performance over Iraq during the first phases of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In fact, the squadron delivered over 220,000 pounds of ordnance on thousands of Iraq targets and was directly credited with the destruction of a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist camp located in the As Sulaymaniyah region of northeast Iraq along the Iranian border. Additionally, VFA-201 had an unprecedented 84.6 target acquisition rate during Iraqi Freedom and won the Carrier Air Wing Eight landing grade competition for their entire workup and combat deployment.
[edit] Deactivated
VFA-201 was officially deactivated on June 30, 2007, and all hardware assets transferred to their sister squadron, VFA-204, or other active duty Navy and Marine Corps units.[citation needed]
