VFA-11
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| VFA-11 | |
|---|---|
 VFA-11 Insignia |
|
| Active | 1927-Present |
| Country | United States of America |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Type | Fighter/Attack |
| Role | Close air support Air interdiction Aerial reconnaissance |
| Garrison/HQ | NAS Oceana |
| Nickname | "Red Rippers" |
| Engagements | World War II Korean War Vietnam War Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom |
VFA-11, also known as the "Red Rippers", are a United States Navy fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana. Their call sign is Ripper, tail code is AC, and they have transitioned to the F/A-18F Super Hornet.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Early years
The Navy fighter squadron known as the Red Rippers were established as VF-5S in 1927 at Hampton Roads, Virginia. They flew the Curtis F6C-3 Hawk and have served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. From 1927 to World War II, the Rippers flew several propeller aircraft including the Boeing F3B-1 and F4B-1, the Grumman FF-1 and F3F-1 and also held the following designations: VF-5S, VB-1B, VF-5 and VF-4.
During World War II, the Rippers were known as VF-41 and supported the Allied invasion of Northwest Africa, downing 14 Vichy French aircraft in the Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat.[1] They conducted air strikes against German forces in Norway in September 1943. The Red Rippers were designated VF-A when they transferred to the Pacific Theatre in 1944 on board USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) and USS Essex (CV-9). In the Pacific they flew the first air strikes against Tokyo in the Grumman F6F Hellcat.
In 1948, the Red Rippers were redesignated VF-11. After World War II, the squadron leaped into the jet age, flying the McDonnell F2H Banshee during the Korean War from the USS Kearsarge (CV-33). On February 15, 1959, the original Red Rippers were disestablished, but when VF-43 was redesignated as VF-11 on the following day, they decided to adopt the traditions and insignia of the Red Rippers. The "new" VF-11 Red Rippers transitioned to the Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader on USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CV-42), where they helped quell the unrest in the Dominican Republic in 1961. In 1965 the Rippers moved to NAS Oceana flying the F-4 Phantom and saw action in North Vietnam in 1967 flying from the decks of USS Forrestal (CV-59).
[edit] 1980s & 1990s
The Red Rippers transitioned to the F-14 in 1980 and made the first cruise two years later. The squadron’s combat debut occurred in early December 1983 when VF-11 F-14s were fired upon by Syrian surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery as well as engaging eight Syrian MiGs over Lebanon. On December 4, 1983 the squadron flew combat air patrols over a Navy strike force from the carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), attacking Syrian positions in Lebanon. The strikes were in response to the Syrian SAM and AAA engagements. Two of the twenty-eight strong strike package were shot down, one A-7 from USS Independence (CV-62) and one A-6, the pilot of the A-6 crew died while the B/N was held prisoner by the Syrians for a year before being released. While they were deployed for operations in Lebanon, one aircraft sustained damage from a suspected surface-to-air missile.
After three cruises with Carrier Air Wing Three and the Kennedy battlegroup, VF-11 and its sister squadron changed air wing and carrier, too CVW-6 and USS Forrestal (CV-59), and made they first cruise in 1986, and stayed with CVW6/Forrestal until its last cruise in 1991, making a total of five deployments. In January 1992, VF-11 and VF-31 moved to NAS Miramar and made the transition to the F-14D Super Tomcat with VF-124. VF-11’s F-14As were moved to VF-24 and VF-211. In June 1992 they got their first F-14Ds and made carrier qualification one month later, and participated in Cope Thunder ’92 in Alaska Elmendorf Air Force Base. By 1993, VF-11 had mastered the new jet and was ready for deployment. The same year the Red Rippers celebrated 66 years of existence, which also saw the disestablishing of several F-14 squadrons, so VF-11 bought VF-114’s squadron bus that is still in use with VFA-11. In March they sent a detachment to NAS Fallon and completed a Combat Systems Sea Qualification Tests and three Tailored Ship Availability Training on board the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), which, alongside CVW-14 was their new home. During the rest of the year VF-11 deployed to NAF El Centro for the “High Noon” air-to-air gunnery completion where the F-14D’s new gun sight proved very effective, and made carrier air wing workups at NAS Fallon, setting a new record for numbers of bandits killed in relation to friendliest lost.
With pre-cruise workups continuing in 1994, VF-11 and CVW-14 deployed in February 1994 on board USS Carl Vinson, but after only a few days VF-11 lost one of their F-14s on February 22 due to an airborne catastrophic engine failure. VF-11 supported Operation Southern Watch and flew 197 sorties with 676.9 hours in the air with a 96% sortie completion rate. The Red Rippers returned to NAS Miramar on August 15.
During the rest of the year, VF-11 provided aircraft for the APG-71 ECCM evaluation with VX-9 and deployed to NAF El Centro for air-to-air gunnery training and provided adversary flights for CVW-11 as they prepared for the upcoming cruise. VF-11 also acquired Night vision goggles which were mounted on the pilot’s helmet and flipped up and out of view when not needed. As NVG's multiply available light hundreds of times, changes had to be made to the F-14's internal and instrument lighting, which if left at their normal level would blind pilots wearing NVG's. Thus VF-11 developed a set of filters and lenses to fit over F-14 cockpit instruments and controls to allow the flight crew to change between normal and NVG lighting. Unusually the VF-11 NVG system was developed in house by the squadron, rather than first being tested by Naval test and evaluation squadrons. This saved time and money over normal methods.
In 1995, VF-11 honed their air-to-air refuelling skills and saw made several detachments to NAF El Centro, and for the “High Noon” competition, VF-11 set a new record of 38.84% hit ratio. They also participated in Roving Sands ’95, DoD’s biggest air defence exercise and began preparations for their 1996 deployment in June. VF-11 would also receive upgrades in 1995 inform of the D-02 tape which provided air-to-ground ordnance capability and two weeks after the upgrade, VF-11 began exercising these new capabilities and dropped their first Mk-76 training bombs in August. Late August they deployed for a mini-cruise to Hawaii with CVW-14 and USS Carl Vinson, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. With the newly acquired air-to-ground skills, VF-11 sent aircrews to Forward Air Controller school in September, taking part in Weapons Tactics Instructor courses at MCAS Yuma, by September they deployed with CVW-14 to NAS Fallon for air wing work-ups which would also be the squadrons first deployment of live Mk-80 unguided bombs. Between November 26 and December 20 they deployed for a Composite Unit Training Exercise, certifying the battle group for deployment.
VF-11 won the 1995 Fightertown Derby awards and was on first place in both the “High Noon” gunnery competition and ECCM competition. Another high light of 1996 was the first night drop of an Mk-82 with NVG’s and successful launches of 2 AIM-7 Sparrows and 2 AIM-9 Sidewinders. Tragedy struck VF-11 on February 18 as another F-14D was lost, and Lieutenant Terry Clark and Commander Scot Lamoreaux were killed in the accident which resulted in a Navy-wide two-day F-14 safety stand-down. In May, CVW-14 departed with USS Carl Vinson, supporting Operation Southern Watch., and on August 31 the Iraqi army attacked the town or Irbil in northern Iraq and several SAM missiles were launched against US aircraft. The United States responded with attacking 14 targets in the southern no-fly zone with cruise missiles launched from B-52s escorted by VF-11and VF-31, Operation Desert Strike as it was named continued on September 4 with another 17 cruise missiles launched from destroyers in the Gulf. The southern and northern no-fly zones were extended. By October 1 Carl Vinson had left the Gulf. VF-11, and other Miramar based F-14 squadrons, did not return to Miramar and instead moved to NAS Oceana as the US Marines took over Miramar. At the same time, VF-11 transitioned to the F-14B and changed air wings to Carrier Air Wing Seven.
VF-11 was rewarded the Battle E and Clifton Awards as VF-11 celebrated their 70th Anniversary in 1997. The rest of the year followed with extensive Strike Fighter training, carrier qualifications and FAC(A) training, and in November VF-11 dropped their very first laser guided bomb, a GBU-16. The move the F-14B was needed due to the limited number of F-14D airframes in the fleet as it was at the time impossible to support three active duty squadrons, one training squadron and various test squadrons. The Red Rippers soon began work ups for the first cruise with the F-14B, the LANTIRN and CVW-7 which took them on a world cruise with the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) on its maiden deployment. They departed in February 1998 and supported Operation Southern Watch, after leaving the Gulf, USS John C. Stennis travelled to Australia and Pearl Harbor before the carrier arrived at its new home, Naval Air Station North Island.
[edit] 2000s
VF-11 made a deployment in 2000 on board USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), supporting Operation Southern Watch.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, VF-11 emergency sortied all squadron aircraft in seven hours after the attacks to support Operation Noble Eagle, embarking on USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). Their cruise in support of Operation Enduring Freedom began in early February 2002, one notable high light was the first employment of JDAM bombs from F-14s in combat which occurred on March 11, 2002 by then skipper Commander John C. Aquilino. During their OEF-cruise, VF-11 flew 1,300 sorties and 3,500 flight hours with a 98& completion rate even though all F-14s were grounded several times during the deployment requiring complete disassembly and inspection of all nose landing gear struts and examination of all tailhooks[2].
In 2004 they deployed for the last time with the F-14 on board USS George Washington (CVN-73) in support of Iraqi Freedom.During that cruise F-14s (from both VF-11 and VF-143) would participate in 40 sorties, dropping bombs during a 48-hour period over Fallujah between April 28 and 29.
The transition to the Rhino had begun in November 2004, the final F-14, side number 100, was delivered to the “boneyard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona on April 20, 2005. It was a difficult task for those who had strong ties to the F-14. The aircrew reported to VFA-106 in April 2005 and were divided into two classes, with the second starting two weeks after the first. The Red Ripper Maintenance Department also received considerable training. On November 5, VFA-11 had completed their transition and the squadron’s sole focus now was training for individual qualifications and combat readiness as part of CVW-17.
In January 2006 VF-11 started the year by taking two jets to the Gator Bowl for a flyover. And the following month they participated on deck certification on board USS George Washington (CVN-73). On February 26, VFA-11 headed to Tyndall Air Force Base to acts as red air for the F-22’s stationed there. In May, VFA-11 deployed to the Caribbean Sea supporting the Partnership of the Americas for two months. After returning to Oceana, they conducted normal operations and training. By late September, VFA-11 headed towards NAS Fallon to get a few aircrew qualified as FAC(A)’s, and in November VFA-11 participated in Operation Jaded Thunder at MacDill Air Force Base, the purpose of that exercise was on Close Air Support.
By this time, VFA-11 had switched air wings once again to Carrier Air Wing Three and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and started workups for the upcoming 2007-2008 cruise.
Throughout 2005 and 2006, VFA-11 acquired several awards, the Golden Wrench for best maintenance department, the Safety “S” for 2006 and the final awards was CNAL Grand Slam for their hard work in 2005, designating the Red Rippers as the “Most Capable Air-to-Air Squadron” in the Atlantic Fleet.
In late March 2007, VFA-11 and the rest of CVW-3 embarked on USS Harry S. Truman for a 25-day Tailored Ship’s Training Availability (TSTA) assessment, evaluating the combat readiness of CVW-3 and USS Harry S. Truman.[3].
In mid 2007, VFA-11 was the first operational squadron to employ the Navy's newest weapon, the BRU-41 IMER. The attack was a failure because the IMER fell approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 m) short of the target. The large error has been attributed to a lack of proper testing and evaluation of this new weapon. As a result the IMER is currently undergoing modifications and testing at NAS China Lake so that it can be the Navy's most effective weapon on the War Against Terrorism.
In November 2007, VFA-11 deployed with the rest of CVW-3 on USS Harry S. Truman to the Persian Gulf[4].
On January 7, 2008, VFA-11 lost 1 F/A-18F (BuNo. 166632) when it was involved in a mid-air crash with a VFA-105 "Gunslingers" F/A-18E (BuNo. 166656). Both pilots and the NFO were rescued. The cause for the crash is still under investigation. At the time the two aircraft were providing CAS over Iraq.[5]
[edit] References
- VF-11 History
- Squadron History VF-11 Red Rippers
- Lebanon: VF-11 and VF-31 in Lebanon
- US Multinational Force (USMNF) Lebanon
- VFA-11 Red Rippers Web Page
- Tony Holmes (2005). US Navy F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Osprey Publishing Limited.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Barrett Tillman, 1995, Wildcat Aces of World War 2 Oxford Osprey Publishing, p.91
- ^ Red Rippers, The - Wings of Gold Fall 2002
- ^ - Truman Undergoes Combat Readiness Training
- ^ - Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group Deploys
- ^ Two US Navy Super Hornets crash in Persian Gulf
