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Through
the years the Tomcatters and their predecessors have served aboard the
Navy’s finest aircraft carriers, including: USS Langley (CV-1); USS
Lexington (CV-2); and the USS Enterprise (CV-6).
In 1980 VF-31 and USS Saratoga (CV-60) concluded a 24 year period
of continuous service together, the longest in naval history.
Since that time, the Tomcatters have served aboard USS Carl Vinson
(CVN-70), USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), and
now currently with USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71).
The
squadron was aboard USS Enterprise during the bombing of Pearl Harbor as
well as the Battles of Wake Island,
Marcus
Island
, Coral Sea, Midway,
Guadalcanal
and the Eastern Solomons. The
squadron has seen aerial combat over the Phillipines,
Formosa
, Okinawa and
China
. Overall, the Tomcatters’
total combat experience includes fierce battles in
World War II
,
Korea
,
Vietnam
, as well as regional conflicts all over the world and the support of
recent global operations. In
1972, flying the F-4J Phantom, Tomcatter aircrew shot down a MiG-21 over
North Vietnam
and distinguished VF-31 as the only
US
fighter squadron to achieve aerial victories in all three wars. |
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