Carrier Air Wing CVW-5 Foreign Legion Patch
Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5)
Originally commissioned as Carrier Air Group Five (CVG-5) on 15 February 1943 at Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia, and assigned to USS Yorktown (CV-10), CVW-5 rapidly became embroiled in the Pacific War. After World War II, the air group recorded a number of firsts, including the first squadron to land a jet aircraft aboard a carrier in 1948. The wing was redesignated Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) on 20 December 1963 and in 1973 embarked on USS Midway to become part of the first carrier/air wing team permanently forward deployed overseas, to Yokosuka, Japan.
CVW-5 completed 111 continuous days on station in the North Arabian Sea in 1984, guarding the Straits of Hormuz. On 2 October 1990, the wing began its final combat cruise aboard the Midway as part of Operation Desert Shield, and when Desert Storm commenced on 17 January 1991, CVW-5 flew 3,383 combat sorties and expended more than four million pounds of ordnance over 43 days. The wing subsequently deployed aboard USS Independence, USS Kitty Hawk, and USS Ronald Reagan, participating in Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan where aviators flew over 600 missions including more than 100 combat sorties, and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Today, CVW-5 is based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, attached to USS George Washington, and operates an upgraded lineup including F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, and E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes. The "Foreign Legion" nickname reflects the wing's unique permanently forward-deployed status far from the continental United States.
Perfect For: CVW-5 veterans, naval aviation officers and aircrew, carrier air wing personnel, USS Midway and USS George Washington sailors, and forward-deployed naval aviator collectors.
Honoring America's only permanently forward-deployed carrier air wing, whose eight decades of service span from World War II to today's Indo-Pacific operations.
