On This Day in Aviation History: September 29th

[PhilDernerJr]

On September 29, 1995, the Navy disbanded the Jolly Roger Squadron. I've read so much about them over the years, and most of my interest came from watching my favorite movie, The Final Countdown, which I just needed to plug in this day's article. Namely, the dogfight scene where tow F-14s go up against two Japanese Mitsubishi zeros (Played in the movie by repainted T-6s).

Grab some popcorn and check out the video...

:arrow: On This Day in Aviation History: September 29th

[Steven Holzinger]

The Jolly Rogers live on in VF(A)-103, which I believe was formerly the Sluggers(?).

[Hussman75]

Right on the money, Steve...

After BRAC dictated that VF-84 be shut down, the then- CNO, Adm Jay Johnson (whose squadron command tour was with VF-84, by the way) essentially forced VF-103 to abandon its history as the "Sluggers" and adopt the "Jolly Rogers" mantle. It was popular with enthusiasts worldwide, but caused quite a stir within the Navy, and within VF-103, in particular. After Adm Johnson departed the fix and retired, his successor, Adm Vern Clark created and passed a naval regulation that strictly forbids this type of thing from happening again. A dis- established squadron can be re-established (see VFC-111), or another unit can voluntarily choose to incorporate the dis- established unit's history and mantle into their own (such as VF-211 did when VF-24 was closed down), but "forcibly" replacing one unit's mantle with another based on a senior officer's whim is now verboten.

The VF-103 line at Oceana, back in June '04... Ens Jack Ernie and "The Bones" lives on!

[Jetinder]

Wish our Royal Navy had F14s, but all we have are Sea Harriers........... doh