Official VMFA-314 Black Knights Shoulder Patch — Eight Decades of Being First
From Corsairs over the Pacific to Panthers over Yemen, the Black Knights have always been the ones writing the next chapter of Marine aviation history.
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 was commissioned on October 1, 1943, at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, originally nicknamed 'Bob's Cats' and flying the F4U Corsair in World War II. The squadron saw intense combat across the Pacific, and after the war transitioned through a succession of iconic aircraft — always among the first to do so. VMFA-314 was the first 3rd MAW squadron to fly jet aircraft with the F-9F Panther in the early 1950s, the first Marine squadron to receive the F-4B Phantom II in 1961, and the first Department of the Navy squadron to fly the F/A-18 Hornet in the 1980s. That pattern of firsts has defined the Black Knights for over eighty years. In Vietnam, the squadron flew more than 25,000 combat hours out of Chu Lai and Da Nang, delivering over 100 million pounds of ordnance in support of Marine ground forces and earning the Hanson Trophy as the best fighter-attack squadron in the Marine Corps under the command of Frank E. Petersen — one of the Corps' most legendary aviators. The Black Knights deployed for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, flew strikes over Libya during Operation El Dorado Canyon, and in 2014 became the first Marine squadron to conduct offensive operations against ISIS. In 2020, VMFA-314 became the first Marine Corps squadron to transition to the F-35C Lightning II, and in 2022 made history again as the first Marine F-35C squadron to deploy aboard a Navy aircraft carrier — USS Abraham Lincoln with Carrier Air Wing Nine. During their 2024 deployment, the Black Knights delivered over 72,000 pounds of ordnance in strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, marking the first combat employment of the F-35C Lightning II. Based at MCAS Miramar, California under MAG-11 and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, this shoulder patch represents a squadron that has been at the absolute cutting edge of Marine Corps fighter aviation for every generation since World War II.
