Aviation Specials - July 2018

F

ORMED AS VF17 — an F4U

Corsair operator — in January

1943, the ‘Jolly Rogers’ have

existed under a number of

guises, now as VFA-103. The

squadron has been  ying the

F/A-18F Super Hornet since 2005. The

Yearbook caught up with the squadron

in April at NAS Fallon, Nevada, as it spun

up for yet another operational cruise.

Its last deployment was with Carrier Air

Wing 7 aboard the USS Harry S. Truman

(CVN 75) from late 2015 into 2016. This

saw the unit spending eight months

away from home and notching up some

impressive milestones during Operation

‘Inherent Resolve’. CVW-7 as a whole

expended 580 tons of ordnance during

1,407 sorties against so-called Islamic

State (IS), exceeding the weight and

numbers dropped by all previous carrier

US Navy deployments.

The ‘Jolly Rogers’ were at Fallon for

their air-to-ground Strike Fighter

Advanced Readiness Program (SFARP)

with the unit’s new Lot 35 F/A-18Fs. On

January 1, 1943, VF-17 started as the

‘Jolly Rogers’ and VFA-103 marked the

75th anniversary milestone in January

this year at NAS Oceana, Virginia. Its

present identity came when VF-84 was

decommissioned in 2005, and VF-103’s

squadron name changed from being the

‘Sluggers’ to the ‘Jolly Rogers’.

Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 ‘Jolly Rogers’ marks

its 75th anniversary.

REPORT AND PHOTOS Jamie Hunter

Left: VFA-103

Super Hornets

over Lake Tahoe

during the

squadron’s April

deployment to

NAS Fallon.

This image: ‘Jolly

Rogers’ skipper

CDR Danny

Westphall and his

WSO in VFA-103’s

recently repainted

CAG-bird, BuNo

168493/AG-200.

VFA-103 ‘JOLLY ROGERS’^39

US NAVY & MARINE CORPS AIR POWER YEARBOOK 2018

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