August 8 and VF-14 returned home to
NAS Cecil Field, Florida. The ‘Tophatters’
sailed with the rest of Attack Carrier Air
Wing One (CVW-1) aboard USS Franklin
D. Roosevelt (CVA 42) for its rst Phantom
II deployment between April 28 and
December 22, 1964.
A further Sixth Fleet deployment
concluded in December 1965, and
immediately afterwards the ‘Tophatters’
moved north to Virginia’s NAS Oceana
as part of a ‘base loading’ concept to
concentrate speci c aircraft types at a
single air station on each coast, primarily
to ease maintenance and logistics
burdens. Within two weeks, work-ups
began for both CVW-1 and the Roosevelt
towards making a South-East Asia
deployment to help relieve the burden on
Paci c Fleet air wings and carriers in the
growing Vietnam campaign. The Roosevelt
eventually deployed from Mayport,
Florida, on June 20, 1966, headed for war.
VF-14’s Phantom IIs ew their rst
combat missions under Operation
‘Rolling Thunder’ on August 10, ying
from Roosevelt as she steamed on ‘Yankee
Station’ in the Gulf of Tonkin. Aside fromcombat air patrol (CAP) missions, the hot
and humid climate restricted some of the
co-embarked Douglas A-4C Skyhawks,
leading to VF-14 (and the paired squadron
VF-32 ‘Swordsmen’) being allocated a
growing number of strike missions as the
cruise progressed. Three line periods on
‘Yankee Station’ were conducted, the last
ending December 27. VF-14 saw 581 of
its 967 total combat sorties being CAP
missions, though low MiG activity at
this stage of the con ict resulted in zero
engagements. VF-14 dropped and red
651,624lb of ordnance, including 863
Mk80-series bombs. Just one operational
loss of a ‘Tophatters’ F-4B took place,
due to an apparent fuel management
error, with both crew ejecting and being
rescued from the Gulf of Tonkin.‘Camelot’ cats
CVW-1 and its new carrier the USS John
F. Kennedy (CV 67) conducted four Sixth
Fleet deployments between 1969 and
the end of 1973. VF-14, still paired with
VF-32, was almost exclusively ying the
oldest Phantoms in the Atlantic Fleet
until a signal from the Pentagon on JuneLeft:: VF-1B Boeing
F2B-1 serial
A-7440 is seen
at San Francisco
airport in 1929
— note the motif,
which was termed
‘high hat’ at that
time. Tailhook
Association via
Peter B. Mersky
Right: A division
of VF-14 F-4Bs
seen circa 1967.
The following year
saw a change in
markings, moving
the top hat motif
to the fi n and
losing the red
fl ash along the
fuselage. US Navy
via author
Below: A VF-14
F4U-5 Corsair
is seen aboard
USS Franklin
D. Roosevelt in- Tailhook
Association via
Peter B. Mersky
SQUADRON SHOWCASE // VFA-14 ‘TOPHATTERS’
54 September 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
52-59 Tophatters C.indd 54 18/07/2019 16:08