The VFA-201, Strike Fighter Squadron was an aviation unit of the
United States Naval Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...
based at
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth,
Texas (USA). It was established in 1970 as part of
Reserve Carrier Air Wing 20 (CVWR-20) and deactivated in 2007. During its service VFA-201 could be identified by the tail code "AF" and nose numbers (MODEX) in the "100" series, typically 100 to 113. The squadron's nickname was the ''Hunters.''
History
![Vought F-8H 147055 VF-201 Dallas NAS 19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Vought_F-8H_147055_VF-201_Dallas_NAS_19.10.75_edited-3.jpg)
The United States Naval Reserve fighter squadron VF-201 was established at
NAS Dallas
The Grand Prairie Armed Forces Reserve Complex or Grand Prairie AFRC (formerly Naval Air Station Dallas or Hensley Field) is a former United States Navy Naval Air Station located on Mountain Creek Lake in southwest Dallas. The installation was e ...
on 25 July 1970, succeeding VF-124D1. It first flew the
Vought F-8H Crusader, and in 1976 it transitioned to the
McDonnell Douglas F-4N Phantom II. In 1984, the squadron transitioned to the
F-4S Phantom II, the most advanced Phantom to enter service with the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. Soon the U.S. Navy moved to the policy that reserve units would have the same equipment as front line units, VF-201 transitioned to the
Grumman F-14A Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after t ...
in early 1987 and was the last Navy squadron to fly the F-4. It took six months to complete the transition and soon VF-201 was carrier qualified on board the aircraft carrier . Even some of the F-14As received came directly from the production line at
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 bomb
A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly p ...
s 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.
![F-14A Tomcat of VF-201 fires AIM-54 in 1987](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/F-14A_Tomcat_of_VF-201_fires_AIM-54_in_1987.jpg)
Later the unit would also be able to conduct
TARPS reconnaissance missions, which were originally carried out by
VF-202
Fighter Squadron 202 (VF-202) nicknamed the ''Superheats'' was an aviation unit of the United States Naval Reserve initially based at Naval Air Station Dallas,
Texas. Following that installation's BRAC-directed closure, the squadron relocated to ...
. But as some front line F-14 squadrons saw disestablishment during the 1990s, 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 RCVW-20, deployed on the , during this deployment VF-201 had the opportunity to fire live weapons. The unit fired 7
AIM-9 Sidewinders, 6
AIM-7 Sparrow
The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces ...
s 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 U.S. 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. In November 1996 VF-201 deployed to NAS Fallon where they provided Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) for
Carrier Air Wing Two
Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) is a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Lemoore. The air wing is attached to the aircraft carrier .
Subordinate units
CVW-2 consists of 9 Squadrons
History
1940s-50s
Origi ...
. After this deployment to NAS Fallon, VF-201 moved to
NAS Fort Worth
Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (abbreviated NAS JRB Fort Worth) includes Carswell Field, a military airbase located west of the central business district of Fort Worth, in Tarrant County, Texas, United States. This military ai ...
.
In 1997 the ''Hunters'' deployed for three days with six aircraft to
Elmendorf AFB,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
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
Strike Fighter Squadron 101 (VFA-101), also known as the "Grim Reapers", was a United States Navy Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) based at Eglin AFB, Florida. After the West Coast FRS for the F-14 Tomcat, VF-124, was disestablished in the mid-199 ...
.
In January 1999 the ''Hunters'' transitioned to the
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...
because the F-14 Tomcat was out of production and the Navy senior leadership wanted the F-14As in the Naval Air Reserve reassigned back to active duty F-14 squadrons. VF-201 was re-designated VFA-201 to signify its new multi-mission capability as a strike fighter squadron.
Some of their deployments included:
Carrier detachments:
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower,
USS John F. Kennedy,
USS Kitty Hawk, and the
USS John C. Stennis.
Tours of Duty locations:
Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico,
Sigonella Airbase, Sicily,
Key West NAS, FL.,
Fallon, NV.,
Oceana, VA.,
Point Magu, CA., and
Eglin AFB, FL.
2003 combat deployment
VFA-201 was the seventh tactical Navy reserve squadron mobilized since the Korean War (three East Coast based and three West Coast based USNR squadrons were activated during the Vietnam war on 28 January 1968), and were one of three reserve squadrons to deploy for combat operations (the other two were HCS-4 and HCS-5). 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 from 6 January to 29 May 2003, where they received numerous awards for their performance over Iraq during the first phases of
Operation Iraqi Freedom
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. In fact, the squadron delivered over 220,000 pounds of ordnance on Iraq targets. 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. Eighteen of the nineteen pilots deployed were graduates of TOPGUN.
Decommissioning
VFA-201 was officially deactivated on 30 June 2007, and all hardware assets were transferred to their Reserve sister squadron, VFA-204, or other active-duty Navy and Marine Corps units.
[Thirty-Seven Years Of Existence: The VF-201 / VFA-201, Legend Of Texas: Naval History Questions, p. 1, Aurelio Derrah, 2021]
Notable members
*
John M. Lounge, astronaut
See also
*
History of the United States Navy
The history of the United States Navy divides into two major periods: the "Old Navy", a small but respected force of sailing ships that was notable for innovation in the use of ironclads during the American Civil War, and the "New Navy" the ...
*
List of inactive United States Navy aircraft squadrons
There are hundreds of US Navy aircraft squadrons which are not currently active dating back to before World War II (the U.S. Navy operated aircraft prior to World War I, but it did not organize them in squadrons until after that war). To be mo ...
*
List of United States Navy aircraft squadrons
References
VF-201 History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vfa-201
Military units and formations in Texas
Strike fighter squadrons of the United States Navy