Description

VF-154 Black Knights F-14 Tail

Relive flying with VF-154 Black Knights in this carefully carved and painted F-14 tailflash. Each model is made of wood and hand-painted to provide a unique piece of art you’ll treasure for many years!

• 15.5 x12 inches
• Made from Mahogany
• US Naval Aviator Owned Business

Strike Fighter Squadron 154 (VFA-154), also known as the “Black Knights”, is a United States Navy strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore. The Black Knights are an operational fleet squadron flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet. They are currently attached to Carrier Air Wing Eleven and deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Their tailcode is NH and their callsign is “Knight”.[1]

Between 1999 and 2002, VF-154 would participate in five deployments in the Pacific as well as the Indian Ocean. In 2001, CVW-5 flew more than 600 missions and 100 combat sorties in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

In 2003, VF-154 would make their last cruise with the F-14, this time in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This would be the first time CVW-5 would deploy to the Persian Gulf since 1999. USS Kitty Hawk arrived on station on February 26 and CVW-5 was chosen to be the dedicated Close Air Support wing. VF-154 deployed with 12 F-14As and detached five F-14As and five air crews to the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar where these F-14s and its crews would work closely with Royal Air Force Panavia Tornado’s, USAF F-15E’s, F-16CGs and F-16CJs and Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18As. CENTCOM had contacted CVW-5 and specifically asked for the air wing to deploy Forward Air Controller capable Tomcats and crews to support coalition land-based aircraft as well as Special Forces squads operating inside Iraq. The F-14s were usually paired with the aircraft already deployed to the airbase, dropping bomb themselves or guiding other aircraft bombs. The aircrews would fly daily missions and in one 48-hour period the VF-154 detachment flew 14 sorties totalling 100 hours of flight time. The crews at Al Udeid flew more than 300 combat hours and delivered 50 000 pounds of ordnance, (98 GBU-12s) during the 21-day stay at the airbase.

On April 1, 2003, VF-154 lost one of its aircraft over southern Iraq when it suffered a single engine and fuel transfer system failure which caused the remaining engine to run dry. The crew, already two hours into its mission and having dropped some bombs, ejected and was soon picked up by an HH-60G helicopter. This F-14A was the first coalition aircraft to crash as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The remaining F-14s on USS Kitty Hawk, piloted mostly by junior officers, expended 246 GBU-12s, ten GBU-16s and four GBU-10s during 27 days of combat. By the end of the war, VF-154 had dropped 358 laser-guided bombs, buddy-lased 65 more and passed target coordinates for 32 JDAMs in 286 sorties. The squadron had expended more ordnance than any other unit in CVW-5, despite flying the oldest jets in the air wing.