Carrier Air Wing Two

Carrier Air Wing Two - CVW-2 -
Lineup	May 1, 1945
Country	United States
Armed forces	United States Navy
Strength	approx. 2,500 people
Location	Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76)
motto	"For Liberty, We Fight"

Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) is an aircraft squadron of the US Navy , which on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is stationed. This squadron has a total of around 2,500 men and women, officers and crew ranks. It includes around 75 aircraft and helicopters, from fighter-bombers to transport machines.

history

CVBG-74 in 1946 in the Arctic on the USS Midway

The later CVW-2 was founded on May 1, 1945 as CVBG-74. It consisted of the squadrons VF-74 and VBF-74 with 96 F4U-4 Corsair and some F6F-5N Hellcat night fighters as well as VB-74 and VT-74 with 46 SB2C-4E and -5 Helldiver . It was stationed in October 1945 on the Midway aircraft carrier, which had entered service a month earlier . From November 1945 to February 1946 the carrier was in the Caribbean for testing. The first mission was to the Arctic in March 1946 (Operation Frostbite). The squadron remained stationed on the Midway until 1949 , but was renamed CVBG-1 on November 15, 1946 . The first regular mission took place in 1947/48 to the Mediterranean . On September 1, 1948, the company was renamed CVG-2. In 1949 the squadron made another mission to the Mediterranean, this time on the Coral Sea .

Korea

In 1950, the squadron switched to the Pacific Fleet and was used in four missions on the carriers Boxer (1950 and 1952), Valley Forge (1950/51) and Philippine Sea (1951) in the Korean War. 1952 was u. a. the squadron GMU-90 ( Guided Missile Unit ) deployed from the boxer . GMU-90 was equipped with F6F-5K Hellcat , which had been converted into drones with a 454 kg bomb attached. Directed by AD-2D Skyraider control aircraft, six Hellcats were used against targets in North Korea between August 28 and September 2, 1952. One target was hit, four were missed and a mission had to be abandoned. During the same mission on August 6, an F9F Panther exploded . As a result, nine crew members died and twelve aircraft were destroyed.

ATG-2 1953 on the USS Essex

Between 1953 and 1957, CVG-2 made three missions to the Western Pacific on the aircraft carriers Yorktown , Essex and Shangri-La . 1958 to 1965 the squadron was again stationed on the Midway . Renamed the CVG-2 to Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) on December 20, 1963 .

Vietnam

The last deployment on the Midway was also the first deployment in the Vietnam War . During this mission on June 17, 1965 F-4B Phantom of the VF-21 Freelancers were able to shoot down three MiG-17s . Another MiG-17 was shot down three days later by two A-1H Skyraiders of the VA-25 Fist of the Fleet attack squadron . When the Midway went into the shipyard in 1966, the CVW-2 made a mission to Vietnam on the Coral Sea until it was stationed on the Ranger for ten missions from 1967 to 1982 . Half of these missions were combat missions in Vietnam. In 1967, CVW-2 was the first squadron to use the Vought A-7 Corsair II in the Vietnam War. In 1968, the Ranger was deployed around 30 days in the Japanese Sea to take countermeasures in response to the seizure of the scout ship Pueblo against North Korea . During the last deployment at Yankee Station in 1972, the VF-154 Black Knights fighter squadron used laser-guided bombs against bridges in Vietnam .

At the end of May 1976, the HS-4 Black Knights squadron together with the HC-3 squadrons on the supply ships Camden , Mars and White Plains saved around 1,900 people from flooded areas in the Philippines. In 1984 CVW-2 was stationed on the Kitty Hawk for a period of service, only to be used again for six trips on the Ranger between 1986 and 1993 , until it was decommissioned. From 1986 CVW-2 exchanged the two attack squadrons equipped with A-7E Corsair for one with A-6E Intruder . Since the F-14 Tomcat , the EA-6B Prowler and the E-2C Hawkeye of the squadron had been manufactured by the Grumman company , they were called "All Gruman Airwing" (ie "Grumman-only squadron"). On August 3, 1989, an SH-3H Sea King of the HS-14 Chargers squadron was able to rescue 39 Vietnamese castaways.

CVW-2 began in 1979 as the last squadron RA-5C Vigilante one

middle East

During the next mission in 1990/91, however, the CVW-2 was used in the Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations to liberate Kuwait. The squadron flew missions for 43 days, with the A-6E Intruders mostly deployed at night - 75% of the 10,500 flight hours were flown at night. On February 6, 1991, a Tomcat of the VF-1 Wolfpack fighter squadron shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-8 helicopter. On August 1, 1992, the Rangers and CVW-2 went to their last joint deployment in the Indian Ocean to enforce the no-fly zone in Iraq, which had been ordered by the United Nations, as part of Operation Southern Watch . On December 3, the CVW-2 was relocated off the coast of Somalia to participate in Operation Restore Hope and to fly air security for the ground forces in Mogadishu . The mission ended on January 30, 1993.

In 1993 the CVW-2 switched to the Constellation until it was decommissioned in 2003 . New on board were the F / A-18C Hornet with the squadrons VFA-137 Kestrels , VFA-151 Vigilantes and VMFA-323 Death Rattlers , while the squadrons VA-145 Swordsmen , VA-155 Silver Foxes and VF, equipped with Intruder and Tomcat -1 Wolfpack were decommissioned. The first trip took the squadron from Florida to San Diego around Cape Horn . In 1994/95 CVW-2 took part in numerous exercises, such as Beachcrest '94, Nautical Artist, Neon Arrow, Eager Archer and Beacon Flash. The squadron also participated in Operation Southern Watch to enforce the no-fly zone over Iraq. By 2003 another five trips to the Indian Ocean followed. CVW-2 fighter planes deployed around 44 t of ordnance in 1999 as part of Operation Southern Watch , but in July 1997 they also rescued two shipwrecked Iranian seamen. During the 1999 crossing from San Diego to Hawaii , CVW-2 also took part in the JTFEX maneuver. Furthermore, various ports in the region were called during these deployments, including Pusan, Korea, Yokosuka, Japan, Singapore and Kelang, Malaysia. In 2002/03 the squadron was used as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom . The squadron's aircraft flew around 1,500 sorties and deployed around 450 tons of ordnance.

Helo CONOPS concept

Since 2004 CVW-2 was stationed on the Abraham Lincoln . Since then, it has also been the first squadron to introduce the Helo CONOPS ( Helicopter Concept of Operations ). In future, the omitted VS squadron with S-3B Viking will be replaced by a complete light helicopter submarine squadron (HSL). These currently still fly the SH-60B Seahawk , but will be converted to the newer version MH-60R / S in the future .

On August 7, 2012, the Abraham Lincoln ended her last service voyage for the time being before she began her four-year stay in the shipyard in 2013, where u. a. the nuclear fuel rods are replaced. After the budget disputes in the USA could not be resolved in March 2013, there were press reports that the CVW-2 would be retired in April 2013 as part of cost-cutting measures. However, CVW-2 was assigned to the USS Ronald Reagan .

Current composition

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-2 was assigned the letter "M". In 1957 the individual letters were replaced by doubles. In general, the squadrons of the Atlantic Fleet have an "A" as their first letter and those of the Pacific Fleet an "N". The Carrier Air Wing TWO can be recognized by the code ( tail code ) NE . The individual squadrons of the squadron are numbered in increments of 100, the aircraft of the squadron commander ( Commander, Air Group (CAG) ) can be recognized by the tactical number ending in "00".

F / A-18F of the VFA-2 squadron of the CVW-2 (2004)

A Sikorsky SH-60F Seahawk from the HS-2 Golden Falcon prepares to land on the USS Abraham Lincoln (July 2008).

The following squadrons belonged to Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) in October 2013:

tactical number	Season	Aircraft type	Nickname	Radio callsign
from 101	VFA-2	Boeing F / A-18F Super Hornet	Bounty Hunters	Bullet
from 201	VFA-137	Boeing F / A-18E Super Hornet	Kestrels	Falcon
from 301	VFA-86	McDonnell Douglas F / A-18E Super Hornet	Sidewinders	?
from 401	VFA-34	McDonnell Douglas F / A-18C Hornet	Blue Blasters	Blaster / Joker
from 501	VAQ-131	Grumman EA-6B Prowler	Lancers	Lancer
from 601	VAW-113	Grumman E-2C Hawkeye 2000 NP	Black Eagles	?
from 610	HSC-4	Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk	Black Knights	?
from 710	HSM-78	Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk	Blue Hawks	?
27, 37	VRC-30 Det. 2	Grumman C-2A Greyhound	Providers	Password

Web links

• Web presence of the Carrier Air Wing Two (English)
• Site from Japan with comprehensive information on squadrons and squadrons (English)
• United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995. In: history.navy.mil. US Naval Institute, archived from the original on October 15, 2014 (English, table of contents; PDF documents for download). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ gonavy.jp
2. ^ Korean War: Chronology of US Pacific Fleet Operations, May – August 1952. In: history.navy.mil. Archived from the original on August 12, 2006 ; accessed on March 10, 2019 (English). 
3. ↑ CV 41 Midway on navy.mil
4. ↑ CV61 Ranger on navy.mil
5. ↑ CV64 Constellation on navy.mil
6. ↑ Future Helo Concept of Operations ( Memento of the original from August 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ US Navy Sets Budget-Cutting Plans in Motion ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on defensenews.com of March 2, 2013 (English). 
8. ↑ http://www.cvw2.navy.mil/index.htm
9. ↑ history.navy.mil (PDF; 118 kB)
10. ↑ [1] on cvw2.navy.mil