F-14 VF-103 jolly rogers

Flight Journal, Dec 2001 by Llinares, Rick

GALLERY

Fly too close to a U.S. Navy carrier battle group and you will see this in your rearview canopy mirror. Long-range fleet air defense is the Tomcat's primary use, and with its powerful AWG-9 radar and AIM-- 54 Phoenix missiles, this big cat can claw targets from more than 50 miles away. Typically, during high threat scenarios, Tomcatsalong with the E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft-are on station far from their carrier. Using a secure data-link transmission, the Hawkeye can identify and then direct the Tomcats to meet airborne threats well over the horizon. With its mix of AIM-54 Phoenix, AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, a fully loaded Tomcat can engage up to 10 individual targets.

One of the most well-known Navy fighter squadrons is the "Jolly Rogers" Fighter Squadron VF-103, based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. The squadron's 34 officers and 237 enlisted personnel operate 10, F-14B Tomcats. The unit's topnotch maintenance crews keep the 15-year-old jets in superb flyable condition. The famous skull-and-crossbones design has been with the squadron since its inception as VF-17 in 1943. The Jolly Rogers name and motif was handed down from the squadron's first aircraft, the F4U Corsair. Traditions run deep in naval aviation, so the name has been faithfully carried forward ever since.

-Rick Llinares