Official VMFA-224 Bengals UK/Finland deployment commemorative chest and shoulder patch set.
Bengals in Europe — F/A-18D Hornets, NATO interoperability, Atlantic side trip.
Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 224 (VMFA-224), the "Bengals," is a USMC strike fighter squadron based at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina under Marine Aircraft Group 31 (MAG-31) and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing — recently redesignated from VMFA(AW)-224 to VMFA-224 on June 26, 2025 as the squadron transitions from the F/A-18D Hornet (which it flew for over 32 years) to the F-35B Lightning II. The squadron was originally established as VMF-224 on May 1, 1942 at NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii, arrived at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal on September 3, 1942, and earned its first Presidential Unit Citation in the Cactus Air Force; transitioned to the F4U Corsair and earned a second PUC in the Marshall Islands and Okinawa campaigns (105 enemy aircraft destroyed); flew the F2H-3 Banshee, F9F-5 Panther, A-4 Skyhawk (1956), A-6 Intruder (1966), and F/A-18D Hornet (1993) before the F-35B redesignation. The Bengals' all-weather Hornet sundown years included multiple deployments to the Indo-Pacific UDP cycle through MAG-12 at MCAS Iwakuni, Aviation Training Relocation Program (ATR) deployments, and partner-nation engagements across Europe alongside other 2nd MAW Hornet squadrons — the kind of distributed aviation operations that built the interoperability foundation now carrying into the F-35B era. This UK/Finland commemorative chest and shoulder set captures the Bengals' Atlantic-side deployment chapter.
Perfect For: VMFA-224 Bengals active-duty and veteran personnel, F/A-18D Hornet and F-35B Lightning II pilots and maintainers, MCAS Beaufort Marines, MAG-31 and 2nd MAW personnel, NATO partner-nation Hornet community members, Guadalcanal Cactus Air Force historians, and Marine fighter community deployment-patch collectors.
Bengals — UK to Finland to Beaufort, Hornets to Lightnings.
