Another shift of assigned carrier took
place with USS Enterprise (CVN 65)
receiving CVW-8 for the rst time in the
ship’s history as work-ups began for a
deployment in April 2001. This cruise
was to be the last with the F-14 for both
VF-14 and VF-41 and both moved to NAS
Lemoore, California, in preparation for
conversion to the Super Hornet.‘Rhino’ arrival
The ‘Tophatters’ was o cially re-
designated as a Strike Fighter Squadron
(VFA-14) on December 1, 2001, and the
rst personnel began F/A-18E Super
Hornet training nine days later. After ying
the Tomcat for almost 28 years, the unit’s
nal F-14A (BuNo 162604) headed to
storage in Arizona on February 7, 2002.
The transition plan for the ‘Rhino’
determined that each air wing would
typically operate one squadron equipped
with the two-seat F/A-18F, with another
ying the single-seat F/A-18E model. The‘Tophatters’ initially received Block I/Lot
XXIV production standard F/A-18Es, the
rst example being BuNo 165870 that was
taken on charge on March 22, 2002 and
the unit was declared safe for ight on
the F/A-18E on April 1, as the rst former
F-14 squadron to complete the transition.
The squadron went to sea the following
month with CVW-11 and its assigned
carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). It was the start
of a condensed work-up cycle towards the
next deployment, which was set against
the growing likelihood of combat over Iraq
as President George W. Bush’s ‘Global War
on Terror’ expanded beyond Afghanistan.
By the time VFA-14 deployed on March 3,
2003, the initial war plans for Operation
‘Iraqi Freedom’ (OIF) were already held in
secure storage aboard Nimitz.
When the carrier was still a week away
from entering the Northern Arabian Gulf
(NAG), VFA-14 forward deployed two
jets (alongside a pair from VFA-41) some
2,700 miles via Diego Garcia to arrive inUSS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) on March
31 — the carrier was already two weeks
into OIF missions. The four Super Hornets,
all ying in ‘ ve wet’ con guration (each
carrying four 480-gallon external tanks
and a centrally mounted ‘buddy’ airborne
refueling store), brought a much-needed
additional, organic refueling capability
to Lincoln’s CVW-14, which was relying
on four VFA-115 F/A-18Es and S-3B
Vikings until this point. After four days of
operations from Lincoln, the jets returned
to Nimitz. VFA-14 continued at the
forefront of the opening phase of OIF until
the carrier came about in the Arabian Gulf
on September 3.
Back home at Lemoore, VFA-14 received
the rst Block II standard F/A-18Es in 2004,
which featured the new APG-79 active
electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.
The ‘Tophatters’ returned to Nimitz in
2005 for a cruise that saw intense activity
supporting US troops in Iraq. The unit
conducted another three WESTPAC/Above left to right:
F/A-18E BuNo
168926 is the
current squadron
commander’s
aircraft. CDR Matt
Nieswand’s name
appears under
the cockpit, the
‘88’ signifying he
is the 88th CO of
the ‘Tophatters’.
US Navy
Current VFA-14
commanding
offi cer CDR Matt
Nieswand, aboard
the USS John C.
Stennis. US Navy/
MCS2C Charles D.
Gaddis IV
Below: A VFA-14
F/A-18E (BuNo
166433) over the
Middle East in
2005 while on
cruise aboard the
USS Nimitz (CVN
68). USAF/TSgt
Rob TaborSQUADRON SHOWCASE // VFA-14 ‘TOPHATTERS’
58 September 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
52-59 Tophatters C.indd 58 18/07/2019 13:39