Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (United States Navy)

Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4

VQ-4 insignia
Active 1 July 1968 - present
Country United States of America
Branch United States Navy
Type Fleet Air Reconnaissance
Role TACAMO
Garrison/HQ Tinker Air Force Base
Aircraft flown
Reconnaissance Lockheed EC-130G/Q Hercules
Boeing E-6 Mercury

Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4 (VQ-4), nicknamed the Shadows, is a naval aviation squadron of the United States Navy based at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The squadron flies the Boeing E-6B Mercury airborne command post and communications relay aircraft. It is part of the U.S. Navy's TACAMO community, whose mission is to enable the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense to directly communicate with U.S. submarines, bombers, and missile silos during a nuclear war.[1]

Operations

VQ-4 has a complement of 78 officers and 426 enlisted personnel. Since 1992, it has operated under Navy Strategic Communications Wing 1 at Tinker Air Force Base. It forward deploys aircraft to fly operational patrols out of NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. The acronym "TACAMO" stands for "TAke Charge And Move Out", supposedly the first operational directive given to the squadron's at its inception.

Lockheed EC-130G Hercules of VQ-4 visiting RAF Mildenhall England in 1972.

From 1968, the squadron first operated the EC-130G Hercules aircraft, a specially modified radio relay version of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft and was based at both NAS Patuxent River, Maryland and NAS Agana Guam. In the late 1970's the Squadron from NAS Agana relocated to NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii. In the mid-1980's, the squadron based at NAS Patuxent River began receiving EC-130Q aircraft, transferring the older EC-130G aircraft to the squadron based at Barbers Point. Both squadrons transitioned to the E-6A Hermes in 1991-92, and co-located at Tinker Air Force Base in 1992.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Peloni, Matthew (2011-06-03). "Navy VQ-3 squadron welcomes new commander". Inside Tinker AFB. Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma: Tinker Air Force Base. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
  2. ↑ Polmar, Norman (2005). The Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 377–378. Retrieved 2015-07-05.
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