Carrier Air Wing Seven

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Carrier Air Wing Seven
- CVW-7 -

Association badge
Lineup July 20, 1943
Country United StatesUnited States United States
Armed forces United States Navy
Strength approx. 2,500 people
Location Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia ;
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)

The Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7) is an aircraft carrier squadron of the US Navy and currently the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower allocated.

history

Second World War

The later Carrier Air Wing Seven was founded on July 20, 1943 as Carrier Air Group Eighteen (CVG-18) at the Alameda Naval Air Force Base (California). After the training period was completed, the squadron was relocated to Oahu and on August 16, 1944, transferred to the aircraft carrier Intrepid . On September 6th, CVG-18 flew the first attacks on the Palau Islands . Further attacks on Mindanao , Luzon and Coron in the Philippines followed . In mid-October 1944, the squadron's planes attacked targets on Okinawa and Formosa , especially the Tansui seaplane base and Shinchiku airfield. On October 18, attacks were again carried out on targets in Luzon. After US troops landed on the Philippines island of Leyte on October 20, 1944 , the Japanese attempted a large-scale operation to destroy the US armed forces. The aircraft carriers, almost without planes, were supposed to lure away the American carriers. This became known as the Sea and Air Battle in the Gulf of Leyte from October 23-26, 1944.

CVG-18 aboard the Intrepid 1944

On October 24, a CVG-18 scout discovered the Japanese combat group surrounding the battleships Yamato and Musashi in the Sibuyan Sea, which was then attacked by the aircraft of the carrier combat groups . On October 25, the aircraft of the CVG-18 were involved in the sinking of the Japanese aircraft carriers Zuikaku and Zuihō . On October 30th, the squadron attacked Clark Field airfield on Luzon. Further attacks on Luzon followed in November, until the Intrepid was so badly damaged on November 25, 1944 by two "Kamikaze" planes that it could no longer land aircraft. The airplanes of the CVG-18 had to land on other carriers or on Leyte. They rejoined the Intrepid on November 30th at the Ulithi naval base , but the Intrepid had to go to the USA for repairs. During its service on the Intrepid , the squadron was awarded 154 aircraft destroyed in the air and 169 aircraft destroyed on the ground. Furthermore, 53 ships of all kinds could be sunk. In return, CVG-18 lost 66 aircraft with 31 pilots and 27 other crew members.

Postwar and Korea

CVG-7 returning to Pearl Harbor in 1952

In September 1945 the squadron was transferred to the Quonset Point base (Rhode Island). CVG-18 was not used again on the Leyte aircraft carrier until September 1946 . During this mission, it was renamed CVG-7 on November 15th . By 1950, four trips to the Mediterranean followed, two with the Leyte and one each with the porters Philippine Sea and Midway . From May 1952 to January 1953, the squadron was used aboard the Bon Homme Richard in the Korean War. In mid-June 1952, the squadron's planes launched attacks on North Korean power plants and in mid-October they supported the fake landing at Kojo, in addition to the daily missions to support the UN troops.

Cold War

1953/54 followed a mission trip on the Bennington into the Mediterranean, before 1955 for a trip with the Hornet again went to the western Pacific. 1957 transferred the squadron to the aircraft carrier Saratoga and was used again in the Mediterranean. The Randolph entered the same waters in 1958/59. In 1958, NAS Oceana , Virginia, became the squadron's new home base. From here it was stationed on the Independence carrier for 18 years and made 16 trips to the Mediterranean and one to Vietnam from May to December 1965 . During this time, Carrier Air Group Seven (CVG-7) was renamed Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7) on December 20, 1963 .

At the end of October 1962, the Independence and its squadron were the strongest units involved in the naval blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis . 1963/64 CVW-7 took part in joint maneuvers with British, French, Italian and Turkish forces. In 1965 there were 100 days of action in the Vietnam War , during which the squadron's aircraft flew around 7,000 combat missions. The VA-75 Sunday Punchers attack squadron flew the first combat missions of the Grumman A-6 Intruder , which dropped around 900 tons of ordnance.

The Landing Signal Officers of the CVW-7 1974

In September 1970, the Independence, along with the aircraft carriers Saratoga (with CVW-3 ) and John F. Kennedy (with CVW-1 ), stood ready to respond to a possible crisis in the Middle East following the death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser . However, a real crisis did not arise until 1973 when Israel suffered serious losses in the Yom Kippur War . In support of this, the USA initiated Operation Nickel Grass , with which Israel was massively supplied with supplies by airlift. USAF transport aircraft flew only over international waters from the USA and were escorted in the Mediterranean by the fighters of the carrier squadron CVW-1 (on the John F. Kennedy ), CVW-6 (on the Franklin D. Roosevelt ) and CVW-7 . The porters operated about 500 kilometers apart, Independence being the furthest east, south of the island of Crete . In addition, the aircraft carriers also served as stopovers for A-4E Skyhawk fighter-bombers, which were handed over to Israel from stocks of the US Navy to compensate for the losses suffered.

A-7E of the VA-12 Squadron 1987

In 1977 CVW-7 left Independence and from 1978 was stationed on the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower , which had just been put into service . By 1992 the squadron made twelve trips with the Eisenhower to the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans . From April to December 1980 there was a transfer to the Indian Ocean to fly air support for the liberation of the hostages in Tehran ( Operation Eagle Claw ). On the way back, the squadron took part in exercises in the North Atlantic. In 1982, CVW-7 was relocated to the Mediterranean with the Eisenhower to assist in the evacuation of Americans from Lebanon . In April 1983, the squadron relocated to the Mediterranean. During this time, an F-14 Tomcat made an intercept flight over 1000 nautical miles and the squadron took part in a multiple aircraft carrier exercise. In addition to the Eisenhower , the porters Independence and John F. Kennedy also took part. The multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon was also supported. CVW-7 was also relocated to the Mediterranean in 1984/1985 . Then the Eisenhower went to the shipyard for an overhaul.

1990s until today

A-6E Intruder of the CAG of the CVW-7 (1996)

In February 1990, the Dwight D. Eisenhower relocated to the Mediterranean Sea to take a detour to the Red Sea from here to fly attacks on Iraq in Operation Desert Storm . In September it was stationed in the Red Sea / Arabian Gulf to take part in post-war operations. CVW-7 was the first squadron to participate in the Desert Storm / Shield Operation for the second time . In 1992 the association took part in Operation Teamwork off the coast of Norway.

In September 1992 the squadron was stationed on the George Washington . In 1994 the association went to Portsmouth ( Great Britain ) to take part in the 50th anniversary of D-Day . Ceremonial activities continued with visits to ports, including ports in Great Britain and Brest in France, and President Clinton's visit aboard the porter. From there, the association was transferred directly to the Adriatic Sea and took part in operations Deny Flight and Sharp Guard . In response to Iraq's troop movements south towards Kuwait , the unit was relocated through the Suez Canal directly into the Indian Ocean. Operations Vigilant Warrior and Southern Watch followed . After the Iraqi forces were defeated, CVW-7 was relocated back to the Mediterranean and returned to Norfolk on November 17, 1994 . In 1995 CVW-7 took part in the exercises TSTA I & II, COMPUTEX and JTFEX. Another mission followed in 1996. The Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf were approached and the Deny Flight and Southern Watch operations participated.

From February to August 1998, CVW-7 orbited the earth aboard the John C. Stennis and supported Operation Southern Watch for four months . Since then, the squadron has supported various operations in the Indian Ocean, such as Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, from various aircraft carriers. In 2002 CVW-7 was stationed on the John F. Kennedy , in 2004 on the George Washington and in 2000, 2006/07 and 2009 again on the Dwight D. Eisenhower .

Current composition

An F / A-18F of the VF-103 on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2006

The US Navy has had a fixed system for identifying squadrons or squadrons ( Visual Identification System for Naval Aircraft ) since 1945 . Initially, this consisted of geometric patterns on the tail unit. However, since these were difficult to remember or to describe, letters were introduced as early as June 1945 to distinguish the squadrons. CVG-7 was assigned the letter "L". In 1957 the individual letters were replaced by doubles. In general, the squadrons of the Atlantic Fleet have an "A" as the first letter and those of the Pacific Fleet an "N". The Carrier Air Wing Seven bears the tail identification ( tailcode ) AG .

The individual squadrons of the squadron are numbered in increments of 100. Each squadron has a so-called CAG Bird , which is officially assigned to the squadron commander ( Commander, Air Group (CAG) ), but is usually not flown by him. The CAG Birds of a Carrier Air Wing can be recognized by the tactical numbers ending in “00”, which are also referred to as “Modex”.

The Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7) currently (June 2010, CVN-69 USS Dwight D. Eisenhower) consists of the following squadrons:

tactical number Season Aircraft type Season name Radio callsign
from 100 VFA-143 Boeing F / A-18E Super Hornet Pukin 'Dogs Dog / taproom
From 200 VFA-103 Boeing F / A-18F Super Hornet Jolly Rogers Victory / Bones
from 300 VFA-83 McDonnell Douglas F / A-18C Hornet Rampagers R.A.M
from 400 VFA-131 McDonnell Douglas F / A-18C Hornet Wildcats Cat / Wildcat
from 500 VAQ-140 Grumman EA-6B Prowler Patriots Stinger
from 600 VAW-121 Grumman E-2C Hawkeye Blue details Bluetail / Griffin
from 610 HS-5 Sikorsky SH-60F / HH-60H Seahawk Nightdippers Canvas / Dipper
45, 52 VRC 40 Det. 2 Grumman C-2A Greyhound (NP) Rawhides Rawhide

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ USS Intrepid (CV 11). (No longer available online.) In: navy.mil. Archived from the original on December 18, 2007 ; accessed on February 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ http://www.wa3key.com/cv11data.html
  3. ↑ USS Bon Homme Richard (CV 31). (No longer available online.) In: chinfo.navy.mil. Archived from the original on September 8, 2001 ; accessed on March 17, 2019 (English).
  4. ↑ http://www.intruderassociation.org/squadrons/va75.html
  5. ↑ http://aupress.maxwell.af.mil/saas_Theses/colella/colella.pdf pp. 45-52
  6. ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/cvw7.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.gonavy.jp/CVW-AGf.html
  8. ↑ http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/APP23.PDF
  9. ↑ CombatEdgeProductions.com/CVW-7