Description

VF-103 Sluggers F-14a (1993) Model

Fly with the VF-103 Sluggers in this handcrafted F-14a Model.  Each piece is carved from wood and painted to provide a one of kind piece.   Our pieces seek to recreate memories of these glorious aircraft.

• Length – 18 inches
• Wingspan – 18.5 inches
• Made from Mahogany
• US Veteran Owned Business

In the 1990s, the USS Saratoga was deployed to the Mediterranean and Red Sea in response to the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. The VF-84 squadron, which was part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group, participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. VF-103 and VF-74 worked together to develop the tactics used by fighter pilots during the Gulf War. When the war began in January 1991, VF-103 provided fighter escort, reconnaissance, bomb damage assessment, and combat air patrols. On the fourth day of the war, an F-14A+ aircraft from VF-103 was shot down over enemy territory and the radar intercept officer, Lieutenant Larry Slade, was captured and held as a prisoner of war until the end of the conflict. The pilot, Lieutenant Devon Jones, was able to evade capture and was rescued by USAF Special Operations Forces after spending eight hours in enemy territory.

In 1995, VF-84 was disestablished, leading VF-103 to request the use of the Jolly Rogers insignia and name previously used by VF-84. That same year, VF-103 conducted testing of the LANTIRN targeting pod for the U.S. Air Force and, when it deployed with the USS Enterprise in 1996, became the first Tomcat squadron to introduce the LANTIRN to operational service. In 1997, VF-103 transferred to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and deployed to the Balkans in support of NATO operations in Kosovo in June 1998. The carrier was then moved to the Persian Gulf in November of that year in response to Iraqi aggression.