The U.S. armed forces and different international locations’ militaries comply with a system of designations for squads and armaments. Whereas aviator name indicators have been popularized by leisure franchises comparable to “Prime Gun,” the protection wings additionally comply with a codified system in addition to casual naming conventions for squadrons in addition to jets. For instance, the F-35 famously goes by the title “Battle Penguin.” In case you are questioning what odd letters, comparable to ZRP, HCT, and RVAH, stand for, nicely, they’re all tactical squadron designations. One such notation that always pops up in discussions in regards to the Navy is VF, with a wealthy historical past behind it.
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Based on the U.S. Naval Institute, the protection wing follows a letter-number designation system for squadrons. In VF, the letter “V” stands for a fixed-wing plane. It’s derived from the Latin phrase “volare,” which USNI explains means “to fly.” Curiously, combined squadrons with fixed-wing plane and helicopters additionally take the “V” designation, whereas these consisting solely of helicopters go together with the “H” identifier. The letter after “V” denotes the mission kind. For instance, in VF, the “F” stands for fixed-wing fighter squadron.
A by-product is VFA, which designates a Strike Fighter squadron. And if the squadron is linked to the Marines, the letter M is added to the designation title, and it turns into VMF. Along with the squadron fighter designation and the distinctive quantity assigned to them, as in VF-1, the teams usually take unofficial nicknames comparable to “Black Knights” and “Diamondbacks.”
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The importance of all of it
The 2-letter designation system, tagging alongside a numerical identifier, has been in place since 1922. Again then, the acronym “VF” was the official designation for Fight Squadron. Again then, F stood for preventing or Fighter. This isn’t too completely different from the method adopted by NATO, the place the primary letter of an unofficial title was often the weapon kind. Take, for instance, the “Fishbed” nickname of the legendary MiG-21.
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The letter “F” right here stands for “fighter jet” classification, following within the footsteps of names comparable to Foxbat, Fencer, Fiddler, and Flogger, for different fighter jets. Likewise, names starting with “B” have been classifiers for bombers, and “H” stands for helicopters. Through the years, the designation system has undergone just a few adjustments with out altering the figuring out letters as extra sorts of weapons and fight plane have been developed.
“VF-1 from World Struggle II has no direct relationship to VF-1 established within the Seventies,” explains (PDF) a coaching materials courtesy of the US Navy. As per the newest guidelines, 4 standards broadly dictate the designation names: mission, technical advances in plane, adjustments in techniques, and naval organizational adjustments. Circling again to the VF designation, it broadly referred to a fighter jet squadron, however has now shifted the official designation to “fixed-wing plane” squadron. The elemental classification stays the identical, as fighter plane depend on the fixed-wing design. The F-35C Lightning fighter jet you see within the image above is operated by the “Argonauts” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147, based mostly on the usCarl Vinson (CVN-70).
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A little bit of historic glory
Over the previous century, a number of fighter squadron items have notched historic accolades in warfare. On the Battle of Halfway in 1942, by which the U.S. Navy dealt a crushing blow to the Imperial Japanese Navy, the VF-3 “Felix the Cat” squadron executed the well-known “Thach Weave” fight formation for the primary time. Led by Lieutenant Commander John S. “Jimmy” Thach, the crew switched to the VF-6 title and finally morphed into the VFA-31 Tomcatters squadron. As a part of the VF-3 Felix the Cat squadron, Lieutenant Edward H. “Butch” O’Hare turned the primary naval pilot to be awarded the Medal of Honor after capturing down 5 bombers.
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The VFA-14 Tophatters, then again, command a hundred-year operational historical past. Initially recognized by the title Excessive Hats, it was house to Ensign Jesse Brown, the primary African-American naval aviator within the U.S. Navy. Curiously, squadronmate Lieutenant (j.g.) Tom Hudner was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic act to save lots of Brown. The squadron continues to serve spiritually underneath the VFA-32 Swordsmen designation to this present day.
One other well-known title is the VF-17 Jolly Rogers, which was the primary to fly the F4U Corsair fighter jet throughout World Struggle II. This record-setting squadron downed 154 Japanese airborne autos in half the variety of days. The legendary duo of Lieutenant Randall Cunningham and Lieutenant (j.g.) William Driscoll served within the VF-96 Combating Falcons squadron, which held the file for destroying MiG fighter jets within the Vietnam Struggle.
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