VMA-214
|
VMA-214 |
|
|---|---|
 Internal association badge (coat of arms) |
|
| active | July 1, 1942 to the present |
| Country |
 United States
|
| Armed forces | USMC |
| Locations | Marine Corps Air Station Yuma |
| commander | |
| Commodore | LtCol Robert Schroder |
| Honorary Commodore |
Col Gregory Boyington |
| Aircraft | |
|
Fighter aircraft / helicopter |
McDonnell Douglas AV-8 |
The Marine Attack Squadron 214 (VMA-214) Black Sheep is a present with AV-8B Harrier II equipped task force of States United Marine Corps (USMC). The squadron is stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma (Arizona) and reports directly to the command of Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13), which in turn reports to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3d MAW).
The squadron became known as "the black sheep" during World War II under the direction of Colonel "Pappy" Gregory Boyington and was the template for the television series Pazifikgeschwader 214 . The squadron was the first USMC fighter pilot unit to receive a Presidential Unit Citation for its services .
history
The unit was set up on July 1, 1942 as Marine Fighter Squadron 214 (VMF-214) on the Marine Corps Air Station Ewa ( Oʻahu ), where they initially referred to themselves as "Swashbucklers" ("saber rasslers") and only in August 1943 when Gregory Boyington commanded the reorganization, they chose the name "Black Sheep". The VMF-214 equipped with Grumman Wildcat had its first missions from March to May 1943 on Guadalcanal . After being converted to Chance Vought Corsairs , the squadron took part in the fighting for the Solomon Islands from July 1943 to January 1944 .
Under the five-month leadership of Boyington, the VMF-214 claimed the destruction or damage of 203 aircraft during their deployment in the Pacific War, 97 of which were shot down as air combat. In January 1944 it was relocated to Santa Barbara (California) and in February 1945 it was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) . VMF-214 took part in the fighting for Okinawa. In April 1945 the squadron was relocated to California and served on various aircraft carriers after the Second World War.
In August 1950, VMF-214 was the USMC's first squadron to be used in the Korean War equipped with F4U-4B Corsairs . Shortly before the end of this war, they were relocated to El Toro to be converted to the new jet-powered Grumman F9F Panther fighter , but the next change in aircraft material took place in the spring of 1953 when the McDonnell F2H Banshee was introduced.
In March 1958, the next conversion followed, this time to the North American FJ-4 Fury , previously on July 9, 1957, the renaming in Marine Attack Squadron 214, which is still valid today. In August, the squadron was awarded the Commandant of the Marine Corps flight safety award Safety Award given for more than 20,000 accident-free flight hours. In January 1963 the next conversion to the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk took place, which was flown by the VMA-214 for the next 27 years.
From June 1965 to April 1967, the unit was stationed in Chu Lai and used in the Vietnam War, with 13,000 sorties flown. After that, the focus was on training new operational pilots in El Toro. In June 1989, the squadron introduced the AV-8B Night Attack Harrier as the first operational unit . In the 1990s, parts of VMA-214 (detachments) were stationed on various ships of the LHA and LHD types and took part in operations Restore Hope , Quick Draw , Distant Runner and many more.
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assignment
Offensive air support, armed reconnaissance and air defense for the I. Marine Expeditionary Corps .
Origin of the designation of origin
In July 1941, the 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) were set up and each wing was assigned a Marine Air Group (MAG). MAG-21 belonged to the 2nd MAW and was officially stationed in San Diego, but most of the group was in Oahu, Hawaii. In the designation VMF-214, the 2 stood for the 2nd MAW, 1 for the MAG and 4 as a consecutive number for the Squadron in the group.
The unit's tail code is “WE”. This was assigned in August 1948.
literature
- Barrett Tillman: US Marine Corps Fighter Squadrons of World War II , Osprey Publishing, 2014, ISBN 978-1-78200-410-3 , pp. 104-106
